Connecticut's Learner Engagement and Attendance Program, or LEAP, sends home visitors to directly ... [+]
While many states are making big investments in educational recovery, few dedicate as much to the actual evaluation of those programs as Connecticut.
State leaders have developed the Center for Connecticut Education Research Collaboration, or CCERC, a research partnership between state education leaders and state colleges and universities to do more than just collect good stories about programs. They’re applying high-quality analysis – quickly – so they can say with confidence that they are funding what works.
Case in point is an innovative state program launched in early 2021 to curtail chronic student absenteeism—the Learner Engagement and Attendance Program, or LEAP.
Traditional approaches to handling absenteeism have been punitive. But Connecticut has realized the reasons why kids miss class are often complicated. Financial insecurity, transportation, mental or physical illness can all play a part—and punishment is not the solution.
Instead, LEAP sends home visitors into communities (15 school districts across the state so far) to connect directly with parents and families. In this way they better understand challenges and help them work around these problems so that students can return to a more regular form of school attendance. They also assist with enrollment in summer, after school and learning programs.
Gov. Ned Lamont has been a champion of the program from its start, telling me, “LEAP is so successful because you had a trusted member of your community knocking on your door…Those personal contacts make a big difference in getting a person back in the classroom.”
Evaluation of the LEAP program by the Connecticut Department of Education has shown as much as a 30% ... [+]
Thanks to CCERC, he knows his comments aren’t just conjecture. Their recent evaluation prove the program’s impact. For most students examined, attendance rates increased by 4 percentage points in the month immediately following the first LEAP visit. Attendance continued to rise in subsequent months, reaching an average increase of approximately 7 percentage points for students in summer school in 2021 and nearly 15 percentage points for students served during the 2021-22 school year.
The benefits of LEAP were most noticeable in the Hartford schools, officials reported, where attendance rates increased by nearly 30 percentage points six months or more after intervention. That an initiative is having such positive impact in a large city school system like Hartford’s is a big deal, for certain. But just as noteworthy is the transparency about how education recovery is progressing in K-12 schools. Releasing the LEAP evaluation so publicly is a commitment to data and transparency and a show of respect to teachers, parents and most importantly students, who will benefit the most.
“We have made it a priority to remain transparent about the effectiveness of federal and state recovery funding used to create programs such as LEAP,” said Charlene Russell-Tucker, the education commissioner. “This is why we created a robust and nationally recognized research collaborative to study and independently evaluate such programs.”
“These important evaluations and their results enable us to continue what’s working, refine what’s not as effective, and recommend targeted investments where necessary,” she added.
Morgaen Donaldson, associate dean for research at the University of Connecticut’s Neag School of Education, says CCERC “is a shining example of how research can make a positive difference. Bringing together researchers from across Connecticut's higher education institutions, CCERC breaks down barriers to produce research that addresses pressing issues in the state's schools.”
States are spending quite literally billions of dollars in taxpayer funds to help students recover from the pandemic. They are using funds to march out programs and provide new trainings for educators. But how are they working? Should they be modified in some substantial way? The answers to those questions can help school systems make headway and steer at-risk students towards a path to success. Seems obvious, but so many states are not effectively assessing their education recovery approaches.
Connecticut is different. The Constitution State is an exemplar of how to both implement education recovery programs and how to monitor and evaluate them to better serve students.
