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Adapt, Advance, Achieve: Connecticut’s Plan to Learn and Grow Together
Attendance and Discipline
Maximizing in-person instructional time after a lengthy period of disruption is critical. The CSDE,
in consultation with stakeholders, will continue to support LEAs in developing options for
students and families related to attendance and disciplinary issues in future guidance.
Guidance
• Address school attendance with parents, through teachers in the classroom, with
community providers, and through all modes of communication.
• Ensure that systems are in place for early identification of students who are missing
too much school, detecting the root causes, and implementing and monitoring
effective tiered interventions for reversing a pattern of absenteeism.
• Revisit school discipline policies with a focus on re-engaging students in their
building rather that removing them from school. Consider the unique circumstance
students are facing returning to the structure of school after a period of disruption,
and potentially factors such as grief or trauma that might influence behavior.
• Review the CSDE resource entitled Improving Attendance by Addressing School
Health Assessments and Immunizations, which provides strategies for schools,
districts, and community health providers to work together to ensure that school
health and immunization requirements are met prior to deadlines for school
exclusion. Be reminded that on June 17, 2020, DPH confirmed the decision to require
that all students be up to date on their immunizations when school starts.
• Further guidance for assessing student engagement and participation during remote
learning and discipline in schools in the context of the pandemic is evolving and will
be shared as it is released.
• Consider the following guidance:
Special Education
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Attendance Guidance and Ensuring Student Engagement during School
Class Cancellations Due to COVID-19, Memorandum, Commissioner Miguel A.
Cardona, April 9, 2020
Attendance Playbook: Smart Strategies for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism in
the COVID Era, FutureEd, Georgetown University, and Attendance Works
Guide to Using the Attendance Playbook: Smart Strategies for Reducing
Chronic Absenteeism in the COVID Era, Attendance Works, June 2020
Monitoring Attendance in Distance Learning, a new data framework for
monitoring attendance whether school is virtual or blended, Attendance
Works, June 2020
While reopening may present challenges for all, students with disabilities may experience these
challenges to a greater extent than their peers and take longer to remediate lost skills. Students
with disabilities face many challenges, including health concerns and may be disproportionately
affected by changes in their education, requiring flexibility in how their re-entry occurs.
To address the complexities of returning to school for our students who receive special education
and related services, further guidance will be forthcoming and will be shared as it is released. See
current special education guidance on the CSDE website.