The nonregulatory guidance for the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) describes how a State education agency must coordinate with the State or Tribal child welfare agency to ensure that the local education agencies implement the educational stability requirements for children in foster care as stated in title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. To do this, child welfare agencies, courts, and local education agencies must work together and use data to ensure that there are minimal interruptions to a child's learning, which often means that children and youth entering foster care remain in the same school unless it is determined to be in the child's best interests to transfer to a different school. These provisions help support positive educational outcomes for children and youth in out-of-home care. Below, find resources about the specific provisions included in ESSA, along with general resources to support educational stability for children and youth in foster care.
- Immediate enrollment
- State ESSA points of contact
- Best-interest decision-making and dispute resolution
- School transportation
- Joint collaboration
- Data sharing
- State highlights
Immediate enrollment
Best Practices: Immediate Enrollment for Children and Youth in Foster Care (PDF - 154 KB)
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, Foster Care Education Program (2016)
Examines the statistics regarding the educational success of children in foster care and offers strategies for reducing the barriers that hinder educational opportunities for children involved with the child welfare system.
Enrolling Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness in School
National Center for Homeless Education at SERVE (2018)
Explains key provisions of the McKinney-Vento Act related to enrolling students experiencing homelessness immediately in school and connecting them with appropriate resources.
Legal Fact Sheet: Public School Enrollment (PDF - 306 KB)
New York State Kinship Navigator (2023)
Catholic Charities
Provides guidance and procedures for informal kinship caregivers in New York to enroll children they're caring for in a public school.
State ESSA points of contact
Oregon’s 2022-23 Foster Care Technical Assistance Manual: Every Student Succeeds Act
Oregon Department of Human Services and Oregon Department of Education
Describes the major roles and responsibilities of the school district’s point-of-contact and Department of Human Services’ caseworker, the best interests determinations process, and transportation cost procedures.
Best-interest decision-making and dispute resolution
Better Decisions for Better Results
Annie E. Casey Foundation (2019)
Presents information on how two county agencies applied a quality improvement process to improve their decision-making processes and achieve better outcomes for children and families.
Best Interests Determination and Transportation Plan (PDF - 70 KB)
Arizona Department of Child Safety (2019)
Provides a downloadable template that can be used by local education agencies to document best interests determination discussions for students in foster care, including how school transportation will be provided.
Child Welfare Forms and Policies
Colorado Department of Human Services
Provides forms and helpful documents related to educational success, including a best interest determination worksheet and a best practices in child welfare to support educational stability training.
Determining the Best Interests of the Child
Title I, Part A Foster Care Sample Dispute Resolution Process (PDF - 317 KB)
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (2016)
Outlines a sample that can be used to resolve disputes related to best-interest decision-making for youth experiencing educational instability.
School transportation
Considerations for Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) in Developing Transportation Procedures for Students in Foster Care Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (PDF - 217 KB)
The School Superintendents Association & National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth (2016)
Discusses the transportation requirements for local educational agencies to obtain Every Student Succeeds Act title IA funds, including having enough buses and drivers and providing comparable transportation services to all students.
Foster Care Procedures (PDF - 293 KB)
Tennessee State Board of Education (2020)
Outlines Tennessee’s policy for serving students in foster care, including best interests determination and transportation procedures for compliance with ESSA.
Transportation Guidelines and Procedures to Ensure Educational Stability for Children and Youth in Foster Care (PDF - 793 KB)
Kentucky Department of Education (2021)
Outlines Kentucky's guidelines on the processes and mechanisms for both the lead education agencies and child welfare agencies collaborating to pay for transportation in accordance with ESSA.
Transportation for Students in Foster Care: A Legal and Practical Reference Tool
School House Connection (2018)
Reviews transportation requirements for child welfare and educational agencies. This resource includes information on the development of transportation procedures for youth in foster care and samples of transportation guidelines and procedures.
Written Transportation Plan to Ensure School Stability for Students in Foster Care (PDF - 263 KB)
Indiana Department of Child Services
Provides a template that can be used clarifying how transportation costs are shared between education and child welfare agencies.
Joint collaboration
The Most Frequently Asked Questions on the Educational Rights of Children and Youth in Homeless Situations (PDF - 1,185 KB)
Santos (2017)
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty & National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
Describes the school selection, transportation, enrollment, and best-interest decision-making guidelines associated with educational stability to support related professionals in partnering with the child welfare system.
Nebraska Juvenile Courts: Education Court Report (PDF - 137 KB)
Nebraska Supreme Court Commission on Children and Families in the Court (2014)
Contains a series of questions that provide juvenile court judges with information about a child’s education and development thereby helping to ensure the academic needs of court-involved children and youth are addressed.
Texas Child Welfare Law Bench Book and Bench Cards
Supreme Court of Texas Children's Commission
Offers a Bench Book which provides an overview of the state and federal statutory requirements for judges and Bench Cards that provide high-level legal and topical information on relevant laws at varying stages of child welfare cases.
Data sharing
Beyond ESSA: How to Use Your Data to Make Informed Decisions
English (2018)
eSchool News
Presents tools and processes to effectively manage data used in best-interest decision-making.
Data and the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Data Quality Campaign (2019)
Provides resources that State and local child welfare and school agencies can use to meet educational goals, including report card and achievement gap data.
ESSA Resources to Make Data Work for Students
Data Quality Campaign (2019)
Provides resources that State and local child welfare and school agencies can use to meet educational goals, including report card and achievement gap data.
Foster Care Data Exchange Policies and Practices: Washington (PDF - 199 KB)
U.S. Department of Education, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (2022)
Presents a data snapshot of Washington State’s academic outcomes for students in foster care as a result of a data-sharing agreement between the State educational agency and the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families.
Roadmap for Foster Care and K–12 Data Linkages: Key Focus Areas to Ensure Quality Implementation (PDF - 414 KB)
Data Quality Campaign & American Bar Association Center for Children and the Law, Legal Center for Foster Care and Education (2017)
Highlights the importance and benefits of child welfare and educational agencies sharing data and working together to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. This resource provides suggestions for ways to improve and build linkages between agencies when additional resources are available.
State highlights
ESSA: A Plan for Georgians, By Georgians
Georgia Department of Education (2019)
Details the history and cohesive plan, including implementation and accountability systems, Georgia is using to respond to feedback and share their vision of offering a holistic education youth within the State.
Commonwealth of Kentucky Revised Consolidated State Plan Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (PDF - 2,520 KB)
Kentucky Department of Education (2023)
Details how the State of Kentucky will implement the law and how Federal education dollars will be spent.
Students in Foster Care
Ohio Department of Education
Provides guidance and documents, including an implementation checklist, student checklist, educational stability process, best interest determination form, and sample transportation procedures.
Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
Iowa Department of Education
Provides guidance and allocations but also includes information on their school performance profiles, which displays results based on a school’s overall performance and the performance of subgroups of students, such as children from low-income backgrounds.
Every Student Succeeds Act
California Department of Education
Details the development of California's plan to implement the Federal education act.