The passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) that has been known as No Child Left Behind since 2002, will usher in key provisions to support the educational needs of children and youth in foster care.

When children are placed foster care, their school of origin may be in a different neighborhood, city or school district than their current placement. Delays can occur in getting these children enrolled in school in their new community, which then disrupts their learning, often leading to poor achievement outcomes. The ESSA addresses these concerns through a number of provisions, including:

  • Allowing youth to remain in the same school even when their foster home placement changes
  • Requiring schools to enroll children in foster care immediately if they change schools due to a move in placement
  • Requiring state education agencies and many school districts to provide a point of contact for communication and support
  • Requiring transportation plans for children in care
  • Requiring the tracking of achievement outcomes for children in care

Senator Al Franken (D-MN), along with several ranking Democratic members of the US Senate recently wrote a letter to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Secretary of Education, urging them to move swiftly to implement the provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act that relate to educational stability for children in foster care.

While the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 did include a provision obliging states to ensure that children in foster care were able to continue attending the same school they had been attending prior to their placement, ESSA builds on that provision.

Maintaining attendance at their school of origin facilitates some stability for children when their housing situation is insecure. Because children in foster care are placed in a home, and therefore don’t meet the definition for homeless, their educational needs are not protected by the McKinney Vento Act.

Children who are placed in foster care have lacked key protections of the McKinney Vento Act, which requires schools to make provisions for children who are homeless to attend the school they had been attending at the time that they became homeless, and provide transportation. ESSA expands on the McKinney Vento Act by requiring local transportation plans for the transportation of children in foster care to attend school, which is anticipated to facilitate a higher rate of compliance with the school stability requirement. The plan is to outline how the costs of transportation will be covered, either through the child welfare agency, the education agency or a combination of the two.

There are also provisions for youth who are placed in out of home care through the juvenile justice system. Upon entry into a juvenile facility, youth must receive an educational assessment, with a transfer of record and academic credit from their most recent school. Schools must develop a process for re-enrollment in a timely manner for youth who left school and entered the juvenile justice system. Academic credits earned while in a juvenile justice facility are required to be transferred, in an effort to keep youth on track for graduation, though ESSA doesn’t require that juvenile justice facilities offer credit for academic work during placements.

Tracking academic achievement for children in foster care will provide educators, policy makers, and child welfare professionals with valuable information about their unique needs and allow for greater insights into planning for more effective educational strategies to ensure that foster youth continue to make academic progress regardless of placement status.

In Minnesota, the Department of Education (MDE) has recently held meetings to discuss the new law and develop a plan to implement this law. The meeting held on May 2, 2016, focused on foster care and homeless youth. Notes from this meeting  are available on their website.

MDE will convene work groups in June and July to begin discussing the framework for the statewide implementation plan, which will take effect for the 2017-2018 school year.

Anyone who would like to participate in an upcoming work group or provide input can email [email protected] or mail Michael Diedrich, Minnesota Department of Education, 1500 Highway 36 West, Roseville, MN, 55113.

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