Enrollment and Retention

Enrollment: State law prohibits schools from establishing “undue barriers” during either admissions or enrollment that have the effect of excluding students based on socioeconomic, family, or language background, prior academic performance, special education status, or parental involvement. To ensure prospective students do not face any of these discriminatory barriers, CSI schools must conduct a two-stage admissions and enrollment process, collecting only the most basic information about an applicant prior to offering the student a seat. In most cases, information about race, ethnicity, English Learner status, country or origin, disability status, or free and reduced lunch eligibility should not be collected until a student is offered a seat and the enrollment process begins.

Retention: Criteria for retention decisions for students with disabilities must take into account student attendance, whether the student has been retained before, and progress towards/completion of curriculum/IEP goals. Factors specific to students with disabilities, including transition planning, and the use of an alternate assessment, may also be weighed. The essential point is to make clear the distinctions between general education and special education decisions.  Most of the time, it will be appropriate to treat these decisions as general education matters. If a promotion or retention decision implicates the student’s right to FAPE, then the IEP team must, as with any other decision, examine all relevant documents, evaluations, teacher and parent reports, and other information in arriving at an appropriate promotion or retention decision for a student with a disability, consistent with that student’s individual needs and abilities.