Executive Summary
Teamwork is nothing new to the education field–it is a major part of the way we conduct the important business of educating children. Teachers are involved in grade-level or content area teams. Support and clerical staff work together on teams in the front office. Administrators operate on leadership teams at the district level. And there are teams on everything in between: from school climate committees to parent-teacher organizations to curriculum task forces to governing boards. But just because we’re all on teams doesn’t necessarily mean we automatically know how to interact, function, or execute our jobs or missions as one entity. Think about all of the teams you’ve participated on, either voluntarily or by assignment, and the qualities that made them successful…or not.
Orientation
Building a high performing attendance team can be a little more complex than groups that are affiliated by subject matter or job roles, since they tend to be multi-disciplinary, cross-functional, and far-reaching. However, they do passionately share the same goal: Improving attendance for our most marginalized students. Here are a few tips for creating and organizing a well-designed attendance team:
Upcoming Summit
Building Winning Attendance Teams:
Team-Based Approach to Attendance Improvement
11:30a – 2p ET | 10:30a – 1p CT 9:30a – 12n MT | 8:30a – 11a PT
Think outside of the box when deciding whom to invite.
Obviously, you want to include the director of student services, a nurse or child welfare specialist, a site administrator from each grade span, a counselor, and attendance clerks, but also think about adding a student, parent/caregiver, student information system manager, and external community partners that also serve families. They can each add unique and valuable perspectives and offer creative solutions to consider as you craft your strategies and approaches to reduce truancies and chronic absenteeism.
Relationships don’t build themselves.
Though there are many pressing and urgent issues to attend to in your meetings, the work can be done much more effectively when team members know each other as human beings, learn to trust each other, and share their stories together. Spend some time exploring what draws each member to the work, why they care, what motivates them, and what they hope to accomplish by joining the team. These strong relationships will help people commit to coming to meetings and participating with their whole selves for the long term.
Know and state your purpose.
In early meetings, the team should establish norms, define appropriate goals and expectations, and establish a flexible decision-making process. It’s also important to communicate with each other openly, freely, and democratically. Consider leveling the playing field and breaking down barriers by using first names rather than titles or ranking. When issues are handled professionally and promptly and each member knows how their own part contributes to the whole, teams can cover more ground and make a greater impact on student attendance.
As the African proverb says “If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together”. And since we have many miles to go before we sleep in the work of improving student attendance, it’s much more sustainable to do so as a team that works!
About the Author
Dr. Kim Wallace is a professional educational consultant with Process Makes Perfect. She started her career in public education 27 years ago as a high school instructor before going into site and district administration. She most recently served as the superintendent of a large San Francisco Bay Area district. Kim consults, writes, and presents on the topics of leadership, curriculum and instruction, policy and protocol, and future trends in education.
