The South Carolina Department of Education (SCDE) and TransACT Communications are announcing a partnership with South Carolina School Food Authorities (SFA’s) and ActPoint^®  KPI, a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) analytics system to help manage high quality food services programs.

As part of our commitment to provide school district administrators with resources and guidance on federal program compliance and administration, we regularly publish blogs featuring guest writers. We are honored to feature a co-written article between TransACT Executive Director of Federal Compliance and State Relationships, Dr. Holbrook, and his former colleague Keja Nokomis Whiteman, 

an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians discussing the importance of incorporating cultural history to support positive learning outcomes for Native Americans. 

I was motivated to initiate the writing of this blog when I saw a news story via Politico about the return of the remains of four Native American children from the graveyard associated with the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, one of the boarding schools that were part of past attempts to forcibly assimilate Native Americans into the dominant American culture. The mortality rate for Native American students at this school was approximately 2%. The school operated from 1879 through 1918 and over that time period housed about 10,000 students.

TransACT Communications, the leader in parent engagement compliance, is proud to announce that Executive Director for Federal Compliance and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, will serve as a policy adviser for the Ellevation Advisory Board.  In this role, which is the first of its kind at Ellevation, Dr. Holbrook will help the Ellevation ELL community understand the impact of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015 on the work of English Language Learner (ELL) educators and their students.

TransACT’s Executive Director for Federal Compliance and State Relationships, Dr. David Holbrook, has been selected to serve as the Executive Director of the National Council of State Title III Directors (NCSTIIID). In this role, David will be responsible for guiding the board and its activities associated with advocacy for English Learners and immigrant students. 

This blog was updated on July 25th, 2023. 

The beginning of the school year is a very busy time for school district staff, especially those working in the front office of schools. Enrolling new students can be a time-consuming process.

The multitude of forms to be completed and information to be loaded into student information systems can consume enormous amounts of time. This can take the focus off of other important student-related issues. One such issue is identifying students newly experiencing homelessness who became homeless over the summer. These students may be eligible for services but may not receive them if they are not identified.

The National Council of State Title III Directors (NCSTIIID) has opened registration for a special meeting. This National Special Meeting will be held November 14, 2018 in Santa Fe, New Mexico in collaboration with La Cosecha. The NCSTIIID typically only meets face-to-face with members once annually.

Back in February I wrote about the U.S. Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos’, proposed reorganization of the U.S. Department of Education (USED) that would eliminate the USED’s Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). Since then, a group of 18 EL advocacy organizations and members of the U.S. Congress have written letters in opposition to the elimination of OELA.

Charter schools continue to be a hotly debated topic in the world of education, with educators and administrators tending to be either strongly for, or strongly against, the charter school movement. No matter if you are pro-charter school or anti-charter school, there are many facts and figures that seem to support both sides of this movement.

School choice is a hot topic in the education world, especially lately. With the change in presidential administration, there have been many promises regarding how charters schools may be a mechanism for education reform. This conversation really began back in the late 1980s, when Albert Shanker rocked the educational world with his speech on school choice, and a subsequent New York Times article that became widely circulated.

Charter schools are known throughout the U.S. for endeavoring to provide students with resources to better channel their energies into their studies by experimenting with new or modified methodologies. Depending on the charter network you visit, you might see strategies focused on increased parental involvement, modified school days, smaller class sizes, and/or a greater level of attention for those who need more assistance, such as special education students and English Language Learners (ELLs).