Parent Notification Requirements

Teacher Qualifications

At the beginning of each school year, a local educational agency (LEA) that receives funds under Title I, Part A, must notify the parents of each student attending any school receiving these funds, that the parents may request, and if the agency will provide the parents on request (and in a timely manner), information regarding the professional qualifications of the student’s classroom teachers, including at a minimum:

• Whether the student’s teacher
  • Has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
  • Is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and
  • Is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher.
    • Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

Additional Information
A school that receives Title I, Part A funds must provide to each individual parent of a child who is a student in such school, with respect to each student

• Information on the level of achievement and academic growth of the student, if applicable and available on each of the state academic assessments required; and
• Timely notice that the student has been assigned, or has been taught for 4 or more consecutive weeks by, a teacher who does not meet applicable state certification or licensure requirements at the grade level and subject area in which the teacher has been assigned.

Testing Transparency

Opting out of Assessments

At the beginning of each school year, a LEA that receives Title I, Part A funds must notify the parents of each student attending any school receiving these funds that the parents may request, and the LEA will provide the parents on request (and in a timely manner), information regarding any State or LEA policy regarding student participation in any required assessments, which shall include a policy, procedure, or parental right to opt the child out of such assessment, where applicable.

Additional Information
Each LEA must make widely available through public means (including by posting in a clear and easily accessible manner on the LEA’s website and, where practicable on the website of each school served by the LEA) for each grade served, information on each assessment required by the state, including

• The subject matter assessed;
• The purpose for which the assessment is designed and used;
• The source of the requirement for the assessment; and
• Where such information is available
  • The amount of time students will spend taking the assessment, and the schedule for the assessment; and
  • The time and format for disseminating results.

Language Instruction

Each LEA using funds under Title I, Part A or under Title III to provide a language instructional program must, not later than 30 days after the beginning of the school year, or within two weeks of identification as an English learner, inform parents of an English learner (EL) identified for participation or participating in such a program, of

• The reasons for the identification of their child as an EL and in need of placement in a language instruction education program;
• The child’s level of English proficiency, how such level was assessed, and the status of the child’s academic achievement;
• The methods of instruction used in the program in which their child is, or will be, participating and the methods of instruction used in other available programs, including how such programs differ in content, instructional goals, and the use of English and a native language in instruction;
• How the program in which their child is, or will be, participating will meet the education strengths and needs of their child;
• How such program will specifically help their child learn English and meet age-appropriate academic achievement standards for grade promotion and graduation;
• The specific exit requirements for the program, including the expected rate of transition from such program into classrooms that are not tailored for ELs, and the expected rate of graduation from high school if funds are used for children in high schools;
• In the case of a child with a disability, how such program meets the objectives of the individualized education program of the child; and
• Information pertaining to parental rights that includes written guidance
  • Detailing the right that parents have to have their child immediately removed from such a program upon their request;
  • Detailing the options that parents have to decline to enroll their child in such a program or to choose another program or method of instruction, if available; and
  • Assisting parents in selecting among various programs and methods of instruction, if more than 1 program or method is offered by the eligible entity.