Tools and Resources
This page includes tools and resources both created by and leveraged by the SEAC. These tools for SEAs and LEAs to use and adapt in their student attendance and engagement efforts. Its briefs combine subject matter expertise and peer learning from SEAC events and summarize the latest thinking on topics important to SEAs and LEAs.
SEAC Briefs
These short briefs feature information on a particular topic or problem of practice and leverage promising practices and strategies. The briefs combine subject matter expertise and peer learning from SEAC events and summarize the latest thinking on topics important to SEAs and LEAs.
Needs Assessment (December 2020) SEAC conducted interviews, focus groups, and an online needs-sensing activity to inform its 2020-2021 technical assistance offerings at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The executive summary provides an overview of the needs assessment approach and findings. The addendum summarizes common challenges and strategies plus, it includes the complete dataset of responses from LEAs.
Promising Practices Brief: Improving Student Engagement (July 2020) This brief elevated promising practices to improve student engagement and attendance during nationwide school closures at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As schools reopened, these promising practices may be relevant to attendance in online or hybrid learning environments.
SEAC Tools
These interactive tools are designed to support further reflection on student attendance and engagement and facilitate additional actions.
SEA Attendance Reflection Tool: SEA staff may use this tool to review their attendance guidance and supports to identify opportunities to strengthen these supports for LEAs across instructional settings. The tool’s primary intended users are SEA staff who work closely with attendance data, attendance policies, or attendance-related supports.
LEA Attendance Reflection Tool: LEA staff may use this tool to review existing attendance plans and approaches and identify opportunities to strengthen those plans across instructional settings. The tool’s primary intended users are LEA staff who work closely with attendance data, attendance policies, or attendance-related supports.
Equity Discussion Guide: SEA and LEA teams may use this guide to identify and reflect on changes to attendance policies and practices to better align them with equity considerations. The guide invites teams to explicitly focus on one or more groups of students as part of increasing equity in attendance-related work. In addition to consideration of family income or socioeconomic status of student groups, the guide encourages consideration of other student groups that chronic absenteeism may disproportionately affect, such as students grouped by racial/ethnic identity, physical or cognitive ability, and/or circumstances such as housing stability. SEA and LEA staff may also use the guide to proactively consider equity when making changes in data collection on attendance and in practices related to communication with families about absenteeism.
Youth Engagement Tool: This tool supports SEAs, LEAs, and other educators to work as a team to leverage relationships with young people and establish meaningful engagement. By using a continuous improvement process, teams at local, district, and state levels will collaboratively assess current youth engagement practices, identify gaps, determine improvement practices that align with the components of authentic engagement, and prioritize practices to implement. Teams will then create an actionable plan to monitor and adjust practices for continuous improvement with the goal of effectively engaging a diverse range of youth and their families and using their lived experiences to improve school engagement and attendance supports and outcomes.
Family Engagement Tool: This tool supports SEAs, LEAs, and other educators to work as a team to leverage relationships with families and establish meaningful engagement. By using a continuous improvement process, teams at local, district, and state levels will collaboratively assess current family engagement practices, identify gaps, determine improvement practices that align with the components of authentic engagement, and prioritize practices to implement. Teams will then create an actionable plan to monitor and adjust practices for continuous improvement with the goal of effectively engaging a diverse range of youth and their families and using their lived experiences to improve school engagement and attendance supports and outcomes.
