Parental Notification Requirements Under NCLB   

The No Child Left Behind Act requires notices and information be given to parents under several circumstances. All required information must be given in a “uniform and understandable format, and to the extent practicable, in a language that the parents can understand.” If the school has a schoolwide Title I program, required notices must be sent to parents of all students. If the school has a Title I Targeted Assistance Program, public school choice must be offered to all parents, but all other Title I notices go ONLY to parents of students in T.A.P. if priority is given to eligible students in greatest need. If services are not based on greatest need, notices go to all parents. The notices listed below are in addition to the required annual district report card. Requirements for the state and district report cards are listed separately at the end.

Achievement Level of Student
Schools receiving 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.

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 children are eligible to attend. They should also be notified that no homeless child is required to attend a separate school, and that homeless children must be provided transportation services, educational services and meals. The notice must also include contact information for the local liaison for homeless children and the state coordinator for education of homeless children.

Limited English Proficiency
If a school district uses federal funds to provide a language instruction education program for children with limited English proficiency, they must, no later than 30 days after the beginning of the school year, give parents of each student identified for participation or participating in that program the following information:

• Why the student is in the program
• The student’s level of English proficiency and how that level was determined
• The status of the student’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 age-appropriate 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
• Information about parental rights

If a child is 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 student being placed in the program.

Military Recruiters
Districts receiving federal education funds must notify parents of high school students that they have a right to request that their child’s name, address, and telephone number not be released to a military recruiter without their prior consent. Districts must comply with any such request.

Parent Involvement Policy
A district receiving Title I funds and schools 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 NCLB. Schools must:

• Hold at least one annual meeting for Title I parents to inform about the parental involvement policy, their rights under Title I, and how they can be involved in the planning, review, and improvement of Title I programs in the school
• 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
• If requested, opportunities for regular meetings to discuss the education of their children

In addition, schools must develop a school-parent compact that outlines the responsibilities of each party for improved student achievement. All parents of Title 1 students are required to sign compacts. The purpose is to design a plan for the teachers and parents to support the academic success of the student. It should also enhance communication between school and home. The compacts must include:

• How the school will provide quality curriculum and instruction to enable students to meet state standards
• Areas of parental responsibility, such as monitoring attendance, overseeing homework completion, monitoring television watching, volunteering in the classroom, and participating, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of the child and positive use of extracurricular time.
• Opportunities for communication, such as parent/teacher conferences, at which time the compact will be discussed relative to the child’s achievement; frequent progress reports; reasonable access to staff; and opportunities to volunteer and participate in the classroom.

Public School Choice
School districts receiving Title I funds must offer public school choice under either of three circumstances:

• To students enrolled in schools not making adequate yearly progress for two or more years
• To students enrolled in schools “persistently dangerous”
• To a student who has been the victim of a violent crime in or on public school grounds

Choice cannot be to a school in need of improvement or that is persistently dangerous. A choice of more than one school must be offered. The notice of choice must include information on the receiving schools’ academic performance.

When a school is designated by the state as being persistently dangerous, parents must be notified within 10 days of their right to request a transfer. The written notice must also indicate whether the child is entitled to transportation. The transfer must be completed within 30 days. See State Board rule 160-4-8-.16 for Georgia’s definitions and rules for the unsafe school option.

Right to Access Assessment Data
A district must make reasonable efforts to inform parents and the public about their right to access to all assessment data (except personably identifiable information), questions and current assessment instruments. Districts, schools, and students may voluntarily participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). 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.

Safe and Drug-Free School Programs
A district receiving safe and drug-free 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.

School Identified for Improvement or Corrective Action
School districts receiving Title I funds must promptly notify parents of each student enrolled in a school identified for improvement, corrective action or restructuring that the school has been so identified. The notification must include the following:

• An explanation of what the identification means
• How the school compares in terms of academic achievement with other schools in the district and state
• The reason(s) 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
• An explanation of the parents’ option to transfer their child to another public school or to obtain supplemental educational services for the student

If a school is subject to restructuring, the district must promptly notify the teachers and parents and provide them an opportunity to comment before any action is taken and to participate in developing any restructuring plan.

Supplemental Educational Services
If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress according to the state plan, the district must make supplemental services available to eligible students in the school. The district must provide annual notice to parents of the availability of these services, the identity of the approved providers, a brief description of the services, qualifications and demonstrated effectiveness of each provider.

Teacher Qualifications
At the beginning of each school year, all school districts receiving Title I funds must inform parents of all students attending schools receiving Title I funds that they may request information regarding the qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers and paraprofessionals. The district must provide the information upon request in a timely manner. Parents may request the following information:

• Whether the teacher has met state qualifications and has a license for the grade level and the subject area (s)he teaches
• Whether the teacher has an emergency or provisional license
• What the teacher’s undergraduate major was, any graduate certification or degree held by the teacher including the field of discipline of the certification or degree
• Whether the child is being taught by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications

Parents must be notified in a timely manner if a student has been assigned or has been taught for four or more weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. “Highly qualified” is defined in this law as teachers having, at a minimum, a bachelor’s degree, certified in the subjects and/or grades they teach, licensed to teach in the state, demonstrate subject knowledge and teaching skills, and not teaching with an emergency, temporary, or provisional license. “Highly qualified paraprofessionals” must have at least two years of college, an AA degree or higher, or must demonstrate a knowledge of instruction through a formal assessment.

Third Party Surveys
District must develop and adopt policies regarding the rights of parents to inspect third party surveys before they are distributed to students and take 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 all students; collection, disclosure or use 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.

Voluntary School Choice Program
If a district receives a federal grant to fund a voluntary school choice program, it must promptly notify parents of students in the area to be served by the program of the program’s availability and a clear explanation of how the program will work.

Annual State Report Card
The purpose of the report card is to inform parents and the community. Report cards influence public opinion and can influence policy and funding decisions. It is important that the public and media understand the information presented and its implications. The Report Card must include:

1. Information on student achievement at each proficiency level on the state academic assessments. The information must be aggregated and disaggregated by student gender, student migrant status, economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency. Disaggregation is not required when the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student or when the number of students in the category is so small the results would be statistically unreliable.
2. Information that compares the actual achievement levels of each group of students to the state’s annual measurable objectives for each group of students on each of the academic assessments.
3. The percentage of students not tested. This must be disaggregated by subgroups.
4. The most recent two-year trend in student achievement in each subject area and for each grade level for which assessments are required.
5. Aggregate information on state indicators used to determine the adequate yearly progress.
6. Graduation rates for secondary students.
7. The performance of the district towards reaching adequate yearly progress (AYP), including the number and names of each school identified for school improvement.
8. The professional qualifications of teachers in the district, the percentage of such teachers teaching with emergency or provisional credentials, and the percentage of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and disaggregated by high poverty (top quartile of poverty) compared to low poverty schools (Bottom quartile of poverty).
9. Other data that the state has determined will best provide parents, students, and other members of the public with information regarding the progress of each of the state’s public schools.

Annual School District Report Cards
Local school districts that receive Title I funds are required to prepare and disseminate an annual district report card. The report card requirement began with the 2002-3 school year. It must be provided to all schools in the district. Additionally, it must be disseminated to all parents of students attending those schools in an “understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, provided in a language that the parents can understand.” The report card must be made widely available through public means, such as posting on the internet, distribution to the media, and distribution through public agencies.

Data required for the district report cards includes:

1. For the district, and by individual school, information on student achievement at each proficiency level on the state academic assessments. The information must be aggregated and disaggregated by student gender, student migrant status, economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial and ethnic groups, students with disabilities, and students with limited English proficiency. Disaggregation is not required when the results would reveal personally identifiable information about an individual student or when the number of students in the category is so small the results would be statistically unreliable.
2. Student achievement at the basic, proficient, and advanced levels on state assessments.
3. The number and percentage of schools identified for school improvement and how long the schools have been so identified.
4. Information that demonstrates how district students in the aggregate achieved on the state assessments as compared to the state as a whole.
5. For each school, information that shows how the school’s students achieved on the statewide academic assessments and other indicators of adequate yearly progress compared to other students in the district and the state as a whole.
6. For each school, whether the school has been identified for school improvement.
7. The percentage of students who were not tested, disaggregated by subgroup.
8. For secondary schools, graduation rates.
9. The professional qualifications of district teachers in the aggregate and by school. Professional qualifications include the percentage of such teachers teaching with provisional or emergency credentials, and the percentage of classes not taught by highly qualified teachers, in the aggregate and disaggregated by high poverty (top quartile of poverty) compared to low poverty (bottom quartile of poverty).

Additional Resources:

NCLB Legislation, Regulations and Guidance, US Department of Education

Using NCLB to Improve Student Achievement - An Action Guide for Community and Parent Leaders, Public Education Network. Note: A copy of the Guide may be ordered online for $10 or downloaded in PDF format for free.

National School Board Association's Online Resource Guide, National School Board Association