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PARENTAL NOTIFICATION UNDER NCLBA
Tennessee Department of Education
Office of Federal Programs
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA)
makes it clear that Congress expects schools receiving federal funds to ensure
that parents are actively involved and knowledgeable about their schools and
their children’s education. The law requires schools to give parents many
different kinds of information and notices in a uniform and understandable
format and to the extent practicable, in a language that the parents can
understand. Listed below are some of these requirements. (It includes only
those notices that must be made to parents by school districts or individual
public schools.)
 | Report cards on statewide
academic assessment. No later than the beginning of the 2002-03 school
year, school districts that receive Title I funds must prepare and distribute
to parents an annual district report card showing the number and percentage of
schools identified for school improvement; how long the schools have been so
identified; and how students achieved on a statewide academic assessment
compared to students in the state as a whole. For each school in the
district, the report card must show whether the school has been identified for
school improvement and how the achievement of the school’s students on the
statewide assessment and other indicators of adequate yearly progress compare
to those in the district and the state as a whole. 20 U.S.C. §6311(h)(2).
For each school served under Title I, the district must determine and
publicize annually whether the school is making adequate yearly progress.
20 U.S.C. §6316(a)(1)(C). In Tennessee, these requirements are met through
our State’s report card. |
| Teacher qualification.
At the beginning of each school year, a district that received Title I funds
must notify parents that they may request information about the professional
qualifications of their children’s classroom teacher(s). If a parent requests
the information, it must include at least whether the teacher has met state
qualifications and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas
taught; whether the teacher is teaching under emergency or other provisional
status; the baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate
certification. The information must also disclose whether the child is
provided services by paraprofessionals, and if so, their qualifications. 20
U.S.C. §6311(h)(6). A Title I school must also give timely notice that the
parent’s child has been assigned or has been taught for four or more
consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. 20 U.S.C.
§6311(h)(6)(B); 20 U.S.C. §6312(c)(1)(N). |
| Individual achievement on
state assessment. A school that receives Title I funds must provide each
parent information on the achievement level of their child on each of the
state academic assessments as soon as is practicably possible after the test
is taken. 20 U.S.C. §6311(h)(6)(B); 20 U.S.C. §6312(c)(1)(N). |
| Limited English
proficiency programs. A school district that uses federal funds to
provide a language instruction education program for children with limited
English proficiency must no later than 30 days after the beginning of the
school year give the parent(s) of each child identified for participation or
participating in such a program the following information: why the child is
placed in the program; the child’s level of English proficiency, how that
level was determined and the status of the child’s academic achievement;
methods of instruction in the program in which their child is placed and those
of other available programs; how the program will meet the educational needs
of their child; how the program will help their child learn English and meet
the educational needs of academic achievement standards for grade promotion
and graduation; the specific exit requirements for the program; in the case of
a child with a disability, how the program meets the child’s IEP objectives;
and information about parental rights. For a child not identified as limited
English proficient prior to the beginning of the school year, the district
must notify parents within the first two weeks of the child being placed in
such a program. 20 U.S.C.§6312(g); 20 U.S.C. §7012(a) – (d). |
| Schools identified for
improvement, corrective action or restructuring. A school district
receiving Title I funds must promptly notify parents of each student enrolled
in an elementary or secondary school identified for improvement, corrective
action or restructuring that the school has been so identified, an explanation
of what the identification means, how the school compares in terms of academic
achievement with other schools in the district and in the state, the reasons
for the identification, what the school is doing to address low achievement,
what the district and state will do to help the school, how the parents can
become involved in addressing the school’s academic issues, and an explanation
of the parents’ option to transfer their child to another public school or to
obtain supplemental educational services for the child. If a school is
subject to restructuring, the district must promptly notify the teachers and
parents and provide them an opportunity to comment before an action is taken
and to participate in developing any restructuring plan. 20 U.S.C.
§6316(b)(6) – (8). |
| Supplemental educational
services. If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress according to
certain statutory timetables, the district must make supplemental educational
services available to eligible children in the school. The district must
provide annual notice to parents of the availability of these services, the
identity of approved providers of these services and a brief description of
the services, qualifications and demonstrated effectiveness of each provider.
20 U.S.C. §631(e)(2). |
| Parental involvement
policy. A district receiving Title I funds and each school served under
Title I must jointly develop with and distribute to parents of children
participating in Title I programs a written parental involvement policy. If a
school or district has a parental involvement policy that applies to all
parents, it may amend the policy to meet the requirements under the NCLB.
Schools must hold at lease one annual meeting for Title I parents; offer a
flexible number of meetings; involve parents in an ongoing manner in the
planning, review and improvement of Title I programs; provide Title I parents
with information about the programs, a description and explanation of the
curriculum, forms of academic assessment and if requested opportunities for
regular meetings to discuss the education of their children; and develop a
school-parent compact that outlines the responsibilities of each party for
improved student academic achievement. 20 U.S.C. §6318(b), (c). |
| Safe and drug-free
schools programs. A district receiving safe and drug-free school program
funds must inform and involve parents in violence and drug prevention
efforts. The district must make reasonable efforts to inform parents of the
content of safe and drug-free school programs and activities other than
classroom instruction. If a parent objects in writing, the district must
withdraw the student from the program or activity. 20 U.S.C. §7116(b); 20
U.S.C. §7163. |
| National Assessment of
Education Progress. Districts, schools and students may voluntarily
participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Parents of
children selected to participate in any NAEP assessment must be informed
before the assessment is administered that their child may be excused from
participation for any reason, is not required to finish any assessment and is
not required to answer any test question. A district must make reasonable
efforts to inform parents and the public about their right to access to all
assessment data (except personally identifiable information), questions and
current assessment instruments. 20 U.S.C. §9010 (c)(1)(A), (d)(2). |
| Military recruiter access
to student information. Districts receiving federal education funds must
notify parents of secondary school students that they have a right to request
their child’s name, address and telephone number not be released to a military
recruiter without their prior written consent. Districts must comply with any
such requests. 20 U.S.C. §7908(a)(2). |
| Homeless children.
To be eligible for federal funds for programs assisting the education of
homeless children, a district must provide written notice to the parents of
each child enrolled in a separate school for homeless children of the choice
of schools that homeless schools, and that homeless children must be provided
transportation services, educational services and meals through school meal
programs comparable to those offered to other children in the school
attended. The notice must also include contact information for the local
liaison for homeless children and the state coordinator for education of
homeless children. If the district sends a homeless child to a school other
that the school of origin or the school requested by the parent, the district
must proved the parents a written explanation for, including notice of the
right to appeal, the decision. The information must also be provided whenever
a dispute arises over school selection. 42 U.S.C. §11432(e)(3)(C), (E);
11432(g)(2)(B), (E). |
| Student privacy. A
district must develop and adopt policies regarding the rights of parents to
inspect third party surveys before they are distributed to students; measures
to protect student privacy when surveys ask for certain sensitive information;
parental right to inspect any instructional materials; administration of
physical examinations or screening of students; collection, disclosure or sue
of personal information from students for the purpose of marketing or selling
that information; and the parental right to inspect any instrument used to
collect personal information before it is distributed to students. Districts
must give parents annual notice of an adoption or continued use of such
policies and within a reasonable period of time after any substantive change
in such policies. Districts must give parents annual notice at the beginning
of the school year of the specific or approximate dates during the school year
when the following activities are scheduled or expected to be scheduled:
activities involving the collection, disclosure or use of personal student
information for the purpose of marketing or selling that information;
administration of surveys containing request for certain types of sensitive
information; any non-emergency, invasive physical examination that is required
as a condition of attendance, administered by the school, scheduled in advance
and not necessary to protect the immediate health and safety of student. 20
U.S.C. §1232h(c)(2). |
| Waiver request. If a
school district requests the U.S. Secretary of Education to waive any
provision or regulation of the NCLB, it must provide notice and information
about the waiver to the public in the manner in which is customarily provides
public notice. 20 U.S.C. §7861(b)(3) (B). |
| 21st Century
Community Learning Centers. A program or activity funded as part of a 21st
Century Community Learning Center providing before and after school activities
to advance student academic achievement must undergo periodic evaluation to
assess its progress toward providing high quality opportunities for academic
enrichment. If a district provides such programs or activities, it must
notify the public that the results of any such evaluation are available upon
request. 20 U.S.C. §7175(b)(2)(B). |
| Schoolwide programs.
A district must inform eligible schools and parents of schoolwide
program authority under which such schools may consolidate funds from federal,
state and local sources to upgrade the entire educational program of the
school. The school must serve an eligible attendance area in which at least
40% of the children in the area or enrolled in the school are from low-income
families. 20 U.S.C. §6312(c)(1)(A). |
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