New resource offers foundation for crafting key parent notifications

New requirements for parent and family engagement under the Every Student Succeeds Act, Pub. L. No. 114-95, necessitate communications with parents that inform them of their rights and opportunities to participate in their child(ren)’s education. To help ensure schools comply with the law’s parent notification requirements, LRP Media Group released Crafting Compliant Parent Notifications to Facilitate Family Engagement.

The pamphlet is a tool to assist district and school-level administrators in complying with their legal requirements to notify parents of their rights and opportunities. Sample notices and forms illustrate ways districts and schools can draft their own state-compliant parent notifications while adhering to the requirements of ESSA and related laws such as the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

While the sample notices provide a foundation from which to draft simple to more complex parent notices that are statutorily compliant, the pamphlet’s short explanations and examples help schools to initiate the family engagement process and maintain that engagement throughout the school year.

The pamphlet covers requirements for parent notifications under:

  • Title I of ESSA,
  • Subtitle VII-B of McKinney-Vento,
  • IDEA Part B, and
  • FERPA.

Specifically, these are requirements to notify parents of parent and family engagement rights and opportunities, rights to review state and local report cards, student rights to homeless education services, school choice resulting from the identification of “danger schools” and “schools needing comprehensive support and improvement,” and evaluations for English learner and special education programs.

Crafting Compliant Parent Notifications to Facilitate Family Engagement is available for purchase from LRP Publications’ online store.

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