The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) dollars are apportioned for advancing equity and closing opportunity gaps. The ESSER fund awards schools and districts $13 billion to help address some of the unprecedented challenges facing school leaders, educators, parents, and families. The National Education Association urges associates and members to advocate that federal funding be used to advance equity, close opportunity gaps for vulnerable students, and protect the educator workforce (National Education Association, 2020).

Funds should be used to meet the unique academic, social, and emotional needs of students attending under-resourced schools, students with disabilities, English learners, students of color, foster care youth, and students experiencing homelessness. This organization works to ensure equity and success for vulnerable students.

National Education Association. (2020). The ESSER Fund: Let’s make it count | NEA. Nea.org. https://www.nea.org/advocating-for-change/new-from-nea/esser-fund-lets-make-it-count.

·      This article is about the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) making critical changes for foster care students, such as requesting school districts to disclose achievement data and graduation rates for children in foster care.

·      ESSA calls for students in care to stay in their current school even if it is not any longer in their neighborhood. If transportation is required, the state must work with the district to provide appropriate transportation.

·      The national news site, which covers child welfare, surveyed all 50 states, beginning in November 2018. Forty-four responded to the Chronicle. Of those that responded, thirty-three stated they were working with local school districts to comply with the law (Klein, 2018).

·      There is an estimate of 162,000 foster children, which is about 37 percent of those in foster care nationally are living in states where compliance is in question (Klein, 2018).

Klein, A. (2018). What's new for children in foster care under ESSA?. Education Week. https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/whats-new-for-children-in-foster-care-under-essa/2018/09.

·      Recently attention had been given to America's children in the 'School-To-Prison Pipeline.' There are zero-tolerance policies, the criminalization of adolescence, and pushing disadvantaged children out of the classroom, much foster youth.

·      Approximately 90 percent of youth in foster care have experienced trauma leading to behavioral issues and mental health problems. About half of the foster youth experience arrests, stay overnight in a correctional facility, or face a conviction. These factors contribute to directing our most vulnerable into new homes behind bars. We need to change the way we care for our foster youth to keep them from this tragic fate.

·      Texas has tried to overhaul its broken foster care system through legislation and efforts to work with the Department of Family Protective Services.

·      Provide trauma-informed care and education for foster parents and students. A trauma-informed approach can help to decrease the number of foster youths put in group homes and institutions nationwide.

Baugh, R. (2018). The foster care-to-prison pipeline, by Reighley Baugh. TribTalk. 

https://www.tribtalk.org/2018/12/14/the-foster-care-to-prison-pipeline/.

 

·      The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution is adopted as part of the Bill of Rights. It constructs the foundation for educational equity. It warrants that all citizens have equal access to public education.

·      This Amendment is significant because it clarifies that state governments must recognize the same individual rights as their citizens. This has occurred through the United States Supreme Court's interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause, Due Process Clause, and rights such as freedom of speech protecting individual rights in public elementary and secondary education.

·      The U.S. Supreme Court case of Brown v. Board of Education finds that African-American children have the same educational rights as all other children and ends segregation in schools. 

·      In public education, the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place. Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal, depriving children of the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. 

·      This case helped set the precedence for all children being treated equitably in the school system. Regardless of where a child comes from or their background, they still have the same educational rights as other children.

·      The Federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. 

·      The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. 

·      An Amendment was made allowing educational agencies and institutions to disclose a student's education records to child welfare caseworkers or other representatives of a state or local child welfare agency. 

·      An agency or organization legally responsible for the care and protection of the student is allowed access to education records.

·      The Federal Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 requires state child welfare agencies to work with their state and local education systems to support initiatives to improve educational outcomes for children in foster care. 

·      This law ensures that children in foster care maintain educational stability.  

·      Foster care students are not in control of their situation; therefore, their situation should be handled on a case-by-case basis and maintain educational stability. 

·      Assurance that the placements consider the appropriateness of the current educational setting and proximity to the school where the child is enrolled at the time of placement in foster care.

·      Child welfare agencies are required to have a plan to ensure the child's educational stability while in foster care. 

·      Brownwood ISD Student Handbook states that a student in the state's conservatorship who enrolls in the district after the beginning of the school year will be allowed credit-by-examination opportunities at any point during the year. 

·      The district will grant partial course credit by semester when the student only passes one semester of a two-semester course. 

·      The district recognizes that foster care students have many extenuating circumstances and will follow all laws and go above and beyond in order for the student to exceed. 

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2018). The AFCARS report: Preliminary FY 2017 estimates as of August 10, 2018 – No. 25. Administration for children and families, administration on children, youth and families, children’s bureau.
https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/afcarsreport25.pdf

·      Develop an understanding of what is new for foster students on the state and federal levels.

·      Advocate and ensure laws are being followed to ensure that children in foster care maintain educational stability.
·      Provide trauma-informed care and education for foster parents and students. Without adequate support, trauma can impact a student's executive functioning and memory affecting their ability to learn.
·      School counselors should be aware of the barriers to access that exist for students in foster care and should be intentional in removing any inequities.

·      Provide a strengths-based approach that acknowledges the skills, strengths, and resiliency of students.
·      Focusing on a positive school climate would be an effective approach in supporting students in foster care, as positive school relationships can also help close achievement gaps between these students and their peers.

·      School counselors can advocate for foster students by informing and educating all stakeholders to understand why students with insecure attachment behave and react in specific ways while also helping staff respond to students undergoing these issues (Brinser & Wissel, n.d.).

Brinser, H., & Wissel, A (n.d.). Serving Students in Foster Care: Implications and Interventions for School Counselors – The Professional Counselor. Tpcjournal.nbcc.org. https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/serving-students-in-foster-care-implications-and-interventions-for-school-counselors/.
https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/serving-students-in-foster-care-implications-and-interventions-for-school-counselors/.