The Department of Education on April 3, 2020, issued a detailed memo on how schools should monitor meaningful student engagement and interaction to account for attendance.

Read the DOE student attendance memo »

Here are the highlights:

• Attendance procedures at the school should be kept as simple as possible.
• Schools will be expected to submit daily attendance data to the DOE. The DOE is not tracking or collecting period-level attendance, and teachers are not expected to provide period-level attendance.
• The goals for attendance during remote learning are to: maintain regular contact with students to ensure participation and engagement; ensure the right supports get to the right students at the right time; and monitor student general well-being.
• The goal of the student attendance policy is to identify and support students who are not interacting, as long as teachers are not being asked to submit period-level attendance. The quality of the interaction is connected to the school’s remote learning grading policy, not the attendance policy.
• Schools can use existing school systems to track interactions/attendance.
• Schools should be able to identify the reason a student remains absent, identify appropriate follow-up action, and re-engage the student.