Independent Study Agreements: Every Required Element, as a Checklist

If a field is blank, the agreement is not done. Education Code 51747(g) is a list, not a vibe. CDE’s independent study guide uses the same list and adds the student data the form still forgets: name, address, grade, school of enrollment, program placement.

This page is the checklist for that form. It is not a second 15-day explainer. We already wrote Short-Term Independent Study in California for the 15-schoolday line, the signature window, and the ADA tests. Use that post for the clock. Use this one when you print the master agreement and need every box marked.

Independent study is a program. It is optional. It is not a later packet that erases Monday. CDE’s instructional time FAQ directs that a pupil cannot use later independent study to recover an earlier absence. Makeup is Attendance Recovery under Education Code 46211, or Saturday school under Education Code 37223 if you are a district or county office.

Nine required elements in every written independent study agreement under Education Code 51747(g)

Before the nine: policy, or you do not have ADA

Education Code 51747 and Education Code 51748 are the gate. No adopted, implemented written independent study policies? No independent study ADA. No grade level, program placement, and school of enrollment on the written record? No apportionment. Missing policies go into the audit guide, with loss of independent study apportionment, per Education Code 51747(k).

CDE directs boards to set, at least, the maximum time between assignment and completion, the missed-assignment evaluation, and a current agreement for each pupil that contains every required element. 5 CCR 11702(a) says the agreement is not in effect until it is complete, signed, and dated.

Print this. Check boxes in the browser if that is easier. Either way, the items are the statute, not a vendor scorecard.

Student data the form still drops

Identify the pupil before the nine

Name and address
CDE's independent study guide puts both on the agreement. A SIS ID with no address is not the guide.
Grade, school of enrollment, program placement
Education Code 51748 will not let a district or county office claim independent study ADA without those three on the written record. The 2026-27 audit guide, section D samples them, including short-term pupils.

CDE lists name, address, grade, school, and program placement together. Statute for apportionment is Education Code 51748.

The nine required elements

Education Code 51747(g) says a current written agreement for each independent study pupil shall be maintained on file, including, but not limited to, all of the following.

Education Code 51747(g) checklist

1. How work comes back, and how you talk to the family
Manner, time, frequency, and place for submitting assignments, reporting academic progress, and communicating with a parent or guardian about that progress. Education Code 51747(g)(1).

Fails when the form says "as assigned" with no day, no place, and no parent contact. A sample that passes: work is submitted in the district platform by 4 p.m. each Friday; the supervising teacher emails a progress note every Friday; families can reach that teacher at a named school phone during listed hours.
2. Objectives, methods of study, methods of evaluation
The objectives and methods of study for the pupil's work, and the methods used to evaluate that work. Education Code 51747(g)(2).

Fails when the packet is a photocopy of last year's worksheets with no objective. Passes when the agreement names the grade-level standards or courses, how the pupil will study (packet, platform, lab), and how the teacher will judge the work (rubric, quiz, work product).
3. Resources, including a device and connectivity
The specific resources, including materials and personnel, that will be made available. Those resources shall include confirming or providing access to connectivity and devices adequate to participate and complete assigned work. Education Code 51747(g)(3).

Fails when the form assumes every family has a laptop. Passes when it names the teacher, the materials, and either confirms the pupil already has a device and connectivity or records that the LEA is providing them.
4. Your board policies, written onto the form
A statement of the policies adopted under subdivisions (a) and (b): maximum time between assignment and completion, satisfactory educational progress, and the number of missed assignments before an evaluation. Education Code 51747(g)(4).

Fails when the agreement says "see board policy" and the family never sees the numbers. Passes when the days and the missed-assignment count are on the page the parent signs.
5. Beginning and ending dates
Duration of the agreement, including beginning and ending dates. No independent study agreement is valid for any period longer than one school year. Education Code 51747(g)(5).

Fails when dates are blank, or the window runs past June into the next school year. Passes when the eight-day trip is eight dated school days inside this year.
6. Credits or other accomplishment
The number of course credits or, for elementary grades, other measures of academic accomplishment appropriate to the agreement. Education Code 51747(g)(6). CDE wants the subjects or courses listed on the same line.

Fails when a grade 4 form lists "ELA" with no measure of what done looks like. Passes when it names the subjects and the accomplishment (completed assignments, unit, credits).
7. Supports, named
Academic and other supports for pupils not performing at grade level, English learners, pupils with IEPs or 504 plans, foster and homeless pupils, and pupils who need mental health supports. Education Code 51747(g)(7).

Fails when the box says "as needed." Passes when the form either names the supports for this pupil or states how the LEA will provide them if those needs apply, consistent with the IEP or 504 plan.
8. Optional, in those words
Each agreement shall include a statement that independent study is an optional educational alternative in which no pupil may be required to participate. If the pupil is referred or assigned under Education Code 48915 or 48917, the agreement also shall say instruction may be provided through independent study only if the pupil is offered classroom instruction as an alternative. Education Code 51747(g)(8).

Fails when you assign a chronically absent pupil to a 10-day packet as punishment. Independent study is optional. Attendance Recovery cannot be the stick either. Education Code 46211(c).
9. The right signatures, dated
Pupil. Parent, legal guardian, or caregiver if the pupil is under 18. The certificated employee designated for general supervision. The certificated employee designated for special education programming, as applicable. Education Code 51747(g)(9).

When those signatures land depends on length. More than 15 schooldays: before independent study begins. 15 schooldays or fewer: during that school year, with the Legislature's intent that families get the form at or before the year starts. That clock is the short-term independent study post, not a second copy of it here.

Statute: Education Code 51747(g). CDE's independent study guide is the same nine, plus student data. Electronic files and electronic signatures are allowed if they meet Education Code 51747(g)(9)(B) through (E).

What this checklist is not

It is not the 15-day line. Education Code 51747(g)(9)(A) splits signatures at 15 schooldays. Education Code 51747(i) turns off reengagement, sync plans, and the five-day return for pupils who participate for fewer than 16 schooldays in a school year, and for certain medically documented placements. CDE names short-term independent study as fewer than 16 school days. Read the 15-day guide before you skip those plans.

It is not Attendance Recovery. The 2026-27 audit guide, section HZ checks that sampled Recovery pupils were not continually enrolled in independent study for longer than 15 days on the dates they participated in Recovery. Do not run both playbooks on the same hours.

It is not a truancy letter. A SARB file that “offers independent study” without a complete 51747 agreement has not offered a program. It has offered a PDF.

A worked week, without invented money

A grade 4 pupil will miss eight instructional days for a family trip. That is short-term. The agreement still needs every box.

Hand the family the form before the first missed day if you can. Name, address, grade 4, school, program placement. Dates match the eight days. Assignments exist. Device access is confirmed. The optional sentence is on the page. Supports are named or marked as not applicable with a reason you can defend. While they are gone, the certificated supervising teacher has work due inside the board’s maximum time. When they return, the teacher judges time value against the grade 4 minimum day under Education Code 51747.5. A day that misses the floor is not ADA. Collect any remaining signatures during the school year. Education Code 51747(g)(9)(A)(ii) lets you do that for short-term. It does not let you skip the nine.

Do not mark the eight days present because someone promised a packet. Do not use those days as Attendance Recovery for last month. I am not attaching a statewide dollar to the week. LCFF does not price one ADA for the whole state.

What I tell CWA directors this week

Print Education Code 51747(g) next to your master agreement. Check the nine. Check name, address, grade, school, placement. For the last 20 independent study pupils, can you show a complete, signed, dated agreement, and a teacher who will own the time value?

If the answer is a shared drive named “IS_FINAL_v7,” you do not have an independent study program. You have a scavenger hunt.

Your SIS is your system of record. Attendly is your system of action. We do not replace the SIS. We also do not pretend a missing signature is a software problem.

FAQ

Do we still need an agreement for a three-day trip? Yes. The three-day ADA minimum is gone. The agreement is not. Education Code 46300(e) and Education Code 51747(g). Details on that shift sit in the short-term guide.

Can we collect signatures after the pupil is already gone? For a program scheduled for 15 schooldays or fewer, during that school year, yes. Get the form to families earlier anyway. Education Code 51747(g)(9)(A)(ii).

Can we require independent study for chronically absent pupils? No. Independent study is optional. Education Code 51747(g)(8).

Are electronic signatures allowed? Yes, if they meet the standards in Education Code 51747(g)(9)(E), including Government Code 16.5 and the Title 2 digital-signature rules.

What will the auditor open? Section D of the 2026-27 K-12 audit guide. Missing grade, school, or program placement is a finding. A thin agreement is a finding.

If the leak you actually have is extra instruction that can earn ADA, start with Attendance Recovery.

Let’s talk about where Attendly fits.

Independent Study Agreements: Every Required Element, as a Checklist

Before the nine: policy, or you do not have ADA

Student data the form still drops

Identify the pupil before the nine

The nine required elements

Education Code 51747(g) checklist

What this checklist is not

A worked week, without invented money

What I tell CWA directors this week

FAQ

Sources

Let’s talk about where Attendly fits.

Before the nine: policy, or you do not have ADA

Student data the form still drops

Identify the pupil before the nine

The nine required elements

Education Code 51747(g) checklist

What this checklist is not

A worked week, without invented money

What I tell CWA directors this week

FAQ

Sources

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Short-Term Independent Study in California: Requirements, Agreements and the 15-Day Line

Let’s talk about where Attendly fits.

Never Miss Critical Policy Updates
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