It began in 2021, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic: an effort, backed by federal dollars from the American Rescue Plan Act, to get Connecticut students back in school amid a spike in chronic absenteeism. The strategy: send volunteers directly into homes to build relationships with families, connect them with resources and, they hoped, improve attendance.Five years later, state leaders and national experts on school attendance have declared the Learner Engagement and Attendance Program, or LEAP, a resounding success. In the 2021-2022 school year, chronic absenteeism in Connecticut reached 23.7%, nearly double what it was pre-COVID. This past school year, it dropped to 16.4% — a decrease of roughly 35,000 students. That’s still higher than before the pandemic but well below the 2021 peak.Gov. Ned Lamont, whose administration has overseen LEAP from its creation to the present day, said he’s pleased with the results.
“This is a program that I think is working,” Lamont told a large crowd of educators, LEAP home visitors and state officials at a gathering on Wednesday to celebrate LEAP’s five-year anniversary.LEAP operates as a partnership between the state of Connecticut, its Regional Education Service Centers and local community organizations. Pairs of trained home visitors visit families with children at risk of chronic absenteeism. Over several months, the home visitors build relationships with the families, identifying why the kids aren’t going to school and offering resources.
