88th Annual CASCWA State Conference

Learn how to make the most of a SART meeting at your site to explore barriers to attendance and engage students, staff, and family members in effectively identifying and committing to interventions to address barriers.

Learn about Lodi USD's system of approach for addressing student attendance and truancy.  This presentation will cover the following: district/school site structure for attendance/truancy, Lodi USD's truancy mediation process, and the use of RaaWee K12 Attendance Improvement software.

Taking a closer look into Sequoia Union High School District’s (SUHSD) planning and development of a secondary student engagement service structure. This session will include perspectives from both district and site levels on the development and implementation of SUHSD’s tiered interventions to address the often complicated barriers to high school student engagement. SUHSD is a 2024 Model SARB awardee.

With 40,000 students across nearly 70 schools, Garden Grove Unified School District transformed their post-pandemic attendance approach from compliance-focused to a comprehensive cultural shift emphasizing student engagement and family partnership. District leaders will share how they leveraged their MTSS framework to create sustainable attendance improvements, particularly among vulnerable populations. Learn how they aligned attendance initiatives with LCAP goals, integrated equity-focused practices into outreach strategies, and built a scalable system across all grade levels. Discover how their data-driven approach has created lasting improvements in student attendance and engagement.

This presentation will lay out how to partner with schools and districts to first prevent and reduce truancy and chronic absence without law enforcement involvement. I will cover best practices, district-wide attendance messaging, and how to effectively communicate with parents about absences. I will also cover how to establish and run an effective collaborative truancy court, that both supports parents who are struggling with a crisis leading to their child's truancy, and encourages accountability of the parents in order to achieve improved attendance rates.

From Covid to false school shooting threats, educators are dealing with a tsunami of causes of increased chronic absence. As the problem gets bigger then, so too must our solutions get smarter. In this presentation I will cover how partnership with the district attorney to prevent and abate truancy is a vital part of that solution. I'll lay out the mechanics of how to scaffold tiered, partnered interventions. And how to create a collaborative truancy court that not only addresses attendance, but the underlying crisis that the child or family is experiencing which lead to the chronic absence in the first place.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is a function of general education.  As a result, many of the general education staff responsible for implementing the Section 504 requirements lack the specialized training typically associated with special education, even though there are comparable procedural requirements as those found in special education.  This training provides an overview of the Section 504 process, including eligibility, assessment, and child find requirements.  This training is ideal for Section 504 Coordinators and any staff responsible for implementing Section 504 at school sites.

Chronic absenteeism poses a significant obstacle to student success and overall academic performance. Nevertheless, through strategic partnerships and expanded learning initiatives, schools can effectively confront this challenge and cultivate a culture of consistent attendance and active participation.

In this interactive workshop, participants will delve into the innovative approaches spearheaded by the Garvey School District in collaboration with expanded learning provider, Woodcraft Rangers. Together, they have established a comprehensive network of support and opportunities aimed at engaging and retaining students. From developing community and culturally tailored programs to providing immediate assistance for unhoused or foster youth, the partnership between Garvey and Woodcraft has capitalized on their respective strengths to optimize student engagement.

A student's truancy journey begins at their school site. We often have a well-established SARB process at the district level, but what preventative steps exist at the site level? Who do we engage? What does the SART process look like prior to the student being referred to the district-level SARB?

Next, we will explore the SARB process, which must follow various compliance aspects and there are many facets to a successful program. Participants will explore the legal aspects of SARB, learn step-by-step aspects of a successful SARB program, explore implementation procedures, and evaluate their site and/or district SARB process. Participants will walk away with tools to immediately implement when they return to their site and/or district.