from EDMS Expert Series: 02/17/2023

Interventions for Chronic Absenteeism

You cannot punish me if I am not there. Absent students have been screaming this at schools forever. It is a scapegoat complex. Schools believe adding more punishments or rewards will change behavior. It’s true, but only if the student shows up. Students with prolonged absences, for any number of reasons, become separated from the people and the process. No amount of incentives, positive or negative, will get them back. Wholistic targeted interventions, emphasizing people and services, aimed at re-establishing bonds at tier 3 is what is required. This session engages the participants in reviewing a common few interventions, some emerging ones, and top three tips on how to develop your own. In sum, prolonged absence, and avoidance, is more about the school and the people than the academics.

Beware the Likes

With every social media post comes the “likes” and “shares.” Whether we had a great dinner, passed a test, or just went somewhere new, our experiences are being rated. Of late, the rating has moved beyond the experience to a reflection of how much the person and their experiences are liked or un-liked.

The video RATED asked how many stars would you give yourself, if you were truly being honest about your actions, behaviors, and thoughts around others. Then imagine, based on that rating, you walked around with everyone knowing whether you were a 5 or a 1-star person. Even further, imagine your star now influencing your experiences; where ate, services you received, who talked to you, and how others perceived you?

The audience was asked to give their reactions on how they felt after watching the video trailer. Evident below some said it would feel good. Presumably, those were the ones with 4 or 5 stars who would want others to see that they have been good, kind, and trustworthy. On the contrary, many noted they feel bad, ashamed, pressured, embarrassed, frustrated, worried, and even nervous.

Embracing Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS)

The exercise gives us a glimpse into the thinking of students who have higher degree of absenteeism. Though we have embraced evidence-based practices like the Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) grounded in public health and framed as an organizing model for response and interventions, the model rates students. Upon reflection, it is a structure, which inadvertently labels students and limits service access based on that label. Thus, when trying to encourage students with prolonged absences to return and engage, they too feel bad, nervous, pressured, frustrated, ashamed, worried, judged, and so on. They feel their good may have been overlooked. The one or two wrong was judged incorrectly and there is no recovery.

Viewing Intervention through a New Lens

The topic my absence, your problem speaks to our response to interventions. We must be able to view interventions through a difference lens. For instance, simply adopting practice that became ‘best practices’ under curated circumstances to our own acculturated student body and resource-gaps is flawed. We must choose interventions to our situated context, leverage the data we have in defining DIY solutions, explore emerging practices in our own schools, and feel free to learn from others to curate our own circumstances. This is imperative because the students are finding themselves in tier 3 of the MTSS model are often less than 5% of our student bodies and require not wholesale interventions but as much specialized attention as possible.

We cannot go any further without defining absenteeism. My definition of absenteeism is

“Absenteeism is the total sum of a student’s in-school and out-of-school experiences”

Each experience fuels the pull and push factor of the student’s engagement in school.

In-school experiences are everything in and about the school environment, everyone in the school environment and all decisions having to do with the school. The converse is also true,
Out-of-school experiences involves everything NOT in or about the school environment, persons in it, and decisions having to do with school.

Therefore, if absenteeism is a problem about experiences, then interventions must be about solving problems. The interventions must solve problems by those who have decision-making power for those who will be impacted through any means (activity, behavior, technology) to disrupt a chain or create an outcome.

My absence means my experiences have created a problem for which YOU must find a solution because it has created a problem for you in keeping me engaged in education. Prolonged absence and school avoidance is more about the school and people in it than the academics. The child still wants to learn and fit in but the dynamics in the school or getting to and staying in the school have affected this desire.

Schools are exceptional in defining and implementing interventions to create outcomes. However, there has never been a true formula simply to enable good or better outcomes for students versus old models of increased punishment. I offer one formula to aid in decision making. Assume A squared is defined as excessive absenteeism and our discussion on experiences and interventions. Then the formula would read A²E + I.

Adjusting the Narrative of Control

The assumption being that anytime we have high rates of excessive absenteeism we would first aim to modify the student experiences in and out of school through interventions that are dialed up or down based on the severity and intensity of the push and pull factors impacting the student. In doing so we are clear that we know no number of in-school incentives will work with the student is absent and that holistic and targeted interventions are the best for the students where emphasize attention to people and services out-of-school to reengage through support, build school bonds, and better relationships. In the end control matters. Students who have moved from direct control to internal control do not respond to rewards and punishment nor pro-social relationships but to their own personal compass. As such, to reclaim them we must do the reverse. We must first appeal to their personal compass, what is important to them through out-of-school supports. Move into building pro-social relationships, which eventually moves them under a surveillance of influence where rewards and punishment can make an impact on decision-making.

Positive outcomes however depend on partnerships. Consider cross-system streaming to share and connect to out-of-school interventions and supports. When doing the intervention via:

DIY – Do. It. Yourself Method:

Be sure to leverage the current data you have and use the formula presented herein. Be sure to Devise, Define, Determine, and Deploy

CURRENT EXAMPLES:

When using a method already in place it is important to ensure that there is a direct match between the defined problem and Solution like the examples below.

EMERGING PRACTICES:

There are many organizations responding to how to effectively meet students where they are. One area is in socio-emotional learning. Some have used training of staff and personnel (like GCSORED)while others have used technology, AI, and other software like (Fight for Life Foundation). The goal is the same identify the problem and match with solution to enable measurement.

Relationships vs Punishment

Sadly, most interventions have been negative and punitive. We have data to show interventions like PBIS, MTSS, Science of Reading, Extra Curricular, etc. can change behavior but many times, we cannot define if the problem for which it was instituted has been solved. We must use the right type of interventions at the right time to make the best impact. Build relationships!

About the Author

Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, founder, lead consultant, and Chief Education Officer for Pivot Attendance Solutions, has inspired many administrators, educators, students, and school social workers as a past chair of the school’s concentration Masters Curriculum, tenured professor, and Director of the Bachelors for Social Work Program. Having worked closely with Indiana Department of Education to assist school counselors in acquiring a school counselor license and coordinating curriculum mapping and application, she knows the intricacies of working with school-community partnerships. She has been a forerunner in responding to school absenteeism, truancy, and social bonding. She has over 30 years in youth development, 20 years in dropout and truancy and more specifically she brings over 12 years studying, researching, presenting, and writing about absenteeism locally, nationally, and internationally. In the US she is a leader in absenteeism and understanding school attendance problems and translating such into practice models for implementation. She is forging partnerships in colleges to establish the area as a formal field of study.

Federal & State Funding Opportunities

Understanding the world of education finance can be daunting for even the most seasoned of school and district leaders. The good news is, you don’t need to be a financial wizard to make fiscal decisions that will last a lifetime for your students by investing in attendance tracking and improvement technology. Implementing a robust digital platform that includes proactive and reactive strategies, multi-tiered interventions, high quality real time data, and two-way communications has proven to be the most effective approach to truancy abatement.

While chronic absenteeism preceded the pandemic and ballooned during, it has not quite bounced back in the aftermath (if we can even say we have fully reached post-pandemic status). According to the National Center for Education Statistics (July 6, 2022) “Compared to a typical school year prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, 72 percent of U.S. public schools reported an increase in chronic absenteeism among their students. So, what’s happening? That’s what we’d all like to know.

Attendance Tracking

Discovering the root causes of absenteeism, school refusal, chronic truancy, avoidance, or whatever other terms exist to describe the post-pandemic epidemic of student non-attendance is essential before allocating funding to address the issues. Since we know that there is no single or predominant reason, but rather an intricate mix of ingredients that contribute to truancy behaviors, addressing the problem systemically requires multi-pronged approaches. If we can reframe non-attendance as a symptom rather than “the problem” we can get closer to addressing the core of why many students have not returned post-pandemic. And only then does the conversation about resource allocation follow.

Most schools and districts have not seen these incredible amounts of education funding coming through to mitigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic in decades, if ever. Even so, dollars remain limited and often time-bound, so it’s important to leverage short-term activities with an eye on long-term solutions for attendance improvements. Distinguishing between limited-term revenue and ongoing funding can help leaders determine appropriate and sustainable allocations.

Simply put, one-time dollars, otherwise known as “soft money” should only be spent on actions or items that are expected to fulfill short-term purposes. Ongoing dollars can be relied on for longer term applications. Covid relief funds, for example, such as the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations (CRRSA) Act, American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, and Governor’s Emergency Relief Programs (GEER), all have a shorter shelf life than the annually distributed Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I-IV funds.

When adopting an attendance monitoring program, consider braiding different funding streams to cover your initial costs with limited-term funding, such as professional development and training, hardware purchases, technology infrastructure or upgrades, attendance incentive campaigns, or technical support. After you get up and running, ongoing funding can be used to pay for annual licensing/contracts for attendance and student information systems, support staffing, interventions, and communications.

In my experience, most school and district leaders, outside of business services departments, confess that managing budgets is their least favorite part of the job—and one they weren’t often explicitly trained for.

Try inverting your thinking from the traditional approach…

“We have a grant allocation of $500,000 that lasts for three years; what can we buy?”

…To a different mindset: “We have two major attendance issues to address—one for long-term truants and one for students who were previously attending but stopped after the pandemic.” Then ask these questions:

What tools do we need to monitor and communicate attendance issues effectively?
Which funding sources can we tap that will address each major problem?
What kinds of support are necessary to move the needle for each group?

Once you’ve asked and answered those questions, then the dollars will follow. And your inquiry before investment will pay off in the best ways for the students you serve.

About the Author

Kim Wallace, Professional Educational Consultant & Author at Process Makes Perfect

Kim joined the UC Berkeley School of Education Leadership Programs division as the Associate Director of the 21^st Century California School Leadership Academy (21CSLA) State Center in 2020. She also runs her own consulting company Process Makes Perfect, specializing in real world solutions for practitioners in the field. Kim consults, writes, and presents internationally on systems change and emerging trends in educational leadership. An award-winning, innovative educator, Kim leverages her abilities in educational administration, program management, and relationship development to optimize institutional effectiveness and deliver remarkable results.

Dr. Wallace’s book Leading the Launch: A Ten-Stage Process for Successful School District Initiatives was published by Solution Tree Press in 2021, followed by Leading Through an Equity Lens in 2023. Her upcoming book, Gamechanging Leadership in Action: An Educator’s Companion is in production with Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Fall 2025). Kim attended the University of California Santa Barbara for her undergraduate degree in history. She then earned her Master’s in Education (M.Ed.) at the University of California Los Angeles and culminated her educational goals with a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) from the University of California Davis.

Introduction

On January 19, the Katy Independent School District Team shared their comprehensive approach to Attendance Improvement at the Every Day Matters Summit. Check it Out!

About Katy ISD

Katy Independent School District (Katy ISD) is located in Katy, Texas, just west of Houston. Katy ISD values unique learners and promotes personalized learning experiences. The district believes that collaboration, honoring all voices, fosters ownership and personal accountability.

Role in Attendance and Truancy

In terms of attendance and truancy, everyone at both campus and district levels plays a crucial role. The Departments of Attendance and Truancy, under School Leadership and Support, create guidelines and training to help campuses re-engage students in regular attendance. These departments ensure accurate attendance coding and systematic truancy prevention to combat low attendance rates and promote academic success.

Campus-Level Strategies

At the campus level, principals and their teams know their students best. They have the autonomy to implement strategies that maximize attendance results.

Mayde Creek High School exemplifies this approach by fostering an attendance-focused culture. Serving 2,935 culturally diverse students, 80% of whom are economically disadvantaged, the school’s support staff collaborates to meet with students, review attendance records, and create Attendance Improvement Plans.

Chronic Absenteeism Challenges and Solutions

Reaching students and families can be challenging, but persistence leads to successful home visits, which provide opportunities for connection and referrals to counseling or social services. These visits are vital for truancy prevention and should always involve two team members to address root causes and offer resources.

Utilizing Tools for Attendance Improvement

Mayde Creek High School effectively uses tools like RaaWee dashboards and internal attendance reports to track and share attendance information. Friendly competitions among grade levels and daily attendance updates motivate students to attend class consistently.

Importance of Teamwork

Working together is key to improving attendance. Dropout Prevention Facilitators, Academic Counselors, Social Workers, and other staff serve as the first point of contact for families. Regular collaboration among these roles enables the development of effective action plans for attendance improvement, ensuring that everyone makes a difference.

About the Author

Gabriela Pulido
Dropout Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Coordinator, Katy ISD
gabrielapulido@katyisd.org

Abstract

Data is only as effective as the use it is put to. Often, data collected in K-12 schools is siphoned from data lakes and warehouses to meet state and federal compliance requirements, rather than being collected with the intent to act upon it. As a result, schools have accumulated large datasets, but they still struggle to report on impactful progress for early student intervention.

With local control, schools have the opportunity to decide the story they wish to tell with their data. While meeting compliance requirements, there can be a duality in data collection, where the data is not always collected to be acted upon.

To address this challenge, the session used a workshop format to guide participants through answering 10 questions, the most crucial being, “What story do you want your data to tell?” Researchers often use these types of questions to determine data collection protocols and define hypotheses.

Ultimately, data must offer a TIP (Train, Interpret, Problem-solve) to its users. Data must help solve problems. If we cannot Train it, Interpret it, or use it to solve Problems, it is essentially useless.

Introduction

Yuk! Math! Like math, data is a love-hate relationship, until basic tenets help you to …Train , Interpret, and Problem-solve (TIP). There is ambivalence with data. Though we ravel in what it can do and what it can say, we hesitate to engage for fear of misunderstanding, error, or embarrassment from getting it wrong. Instead, we hire it out, pass it along, and leave collection and monitoring to someone else for someone else. The fact is when data is collected to meet an external purpose, retrofitting it to aid in intervention may be misleading at best. Recycling anything suggest the ‘thing’ is being used for something different than what it was intended. The same is true with data. Simply repurposing won’t get you the right answers to influence the change or progress you need to make. Therefore, we must know what is expected, what story we want to tell, and what impact or outcomes we want to see.

Engagement is required. And the below Worksheet will assist you in engaging your entire team in the process and the IDEAL model. Click here or below to download the Worksheet.

Basic Research

The IDEAL model (Identify, Define, Explore, Action, Look back) is a popular and simplistic approach used to engage with basic research tenets. The idea is that data collected must have a purpose and work to solve a problem. To ensure it does exactly that, it is essential to establish criteria for inclusion or exclusion and explore how best to collect and analyze the information for action. Once done, it is important to reflect on your progress to determine if more data is needed to tell a complete story or if variables must be removed. Remember, looking back is a must. Storytelling with data is only as accurate as the current data you have at that time. When new data is collected or presented, go back and revisit the process.

IDEAL - Research

☐ Identify – Find and Name Problem

☐ Define – Set Criteria (inclusion and exclusion)

☐ Explore – Collect and conduct analysis

☐ Action – Do something with it. How will you address the problem?

☐ Look Back – Monitor the change; verify if there are new variables

The IDEAL steps are a part of the scientific method. The method historically requires you observe something in a systematic way, then ask a question, form an opinion about it, make a prediction, conduct an experiment, and modify your prediction based on results.

Defining Your Attendance Improvement Story Components through 10 Quesions

Like artificial intelligence and machine learning, the goal is to define, train, interpret, expose, and use existing data to tell a story. Supervised learning and unsupervised learning are required. This means the criteria established will dictate what must be collected (supervised) but as you attempt to solve the problem, trends, and patterns will emerge (unsupervised) which together will tell your story. Below are 10 questions to address varied components of the Attendance Improvement story you want to tell and a rationale context for each question.

10 Questions in Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?

☐ What or who else is needed?

☐ Which documents inform my data?

☐ Which data brings dollars?

Data Question Context

Why do I need data? OR What will I do with data?

Determining the why and what of data are essential components of storytelling. They establish a baseline to assess change; set the performance goals which enable measurement of success; aids in organizing the information to be collected and combine to tell a convincing story through examination of trends and patterns.

What story must data tell?

Assessing good or bad depends on the story we tell. The same is true for determining urgency or a call to action. Data is often used as a call to action. As a result, it must be strategic and relevant, include examples for audience to visualize the why, be intentional with visuals to distill data, and be communicate with the action needed. In sum, data visualization with compelling narratives help to comprehend data and act.

Who must know about the outcomes of data?

If data must move the audience to action, knowing the audience is as essential as reporting the result to stakeholders. Therefore the outcomes must be communicated to those from whom the data was taken, those who must take action, those who will benefit from the action, as well as those who will monitor the change. Data is only as good as what it communicates and who it impacts.

Where must the data come from or be stored?

The location from which the data comes dictates its accuracy and effectiveness. Though we may retrieve data from student information systems, local state departments, from students and teachers, or even from community, the best place to get and store data is from a system where all variables impacted or will be impacted or may change can be added and assessed. Everything you would want to know must be collected in variable form. This will change overtime therefore the system must be able to accommodate the change.

When do I need data and how often?

Data needs change all the time. Despite data collection occurring in regular cycles such as every month, every semester, or as the states requires; it should be collected as often as available but best assessed semi-annually or annually. This is important because data must be collected around interventions or organized changes. The outcome is the ability to spot patterns and trends so when compared we are aware of where and when to intervene. In addition to create change, we are aware of where old variables must be complemented or swapped out for new ones.

How do I know the data answers my questions?

Data can be used to answer any question. The key is, can it answer your question. As such, playing a role in data collection or siphoning data from one place to use elsewhere requires early attention. Not everyone must be on board with what you collect but you must create a hypothesis with the questions you hope to answer. This is the only way you can be sure the data will answer the questions you have. Identifying a hypothesis is a way of listing your problems and identifying the solutions you anticipate.

What actions do I plan to take with data?

After collecting and assessing data, action is necessary for it to have meaning. Revisiting the hypothesis can give direction but data users must take action by informing stakeholders, defining benchmarks, assessing if goals are being met, and planning for change. Most importantly, data evaluators must identify the areas where they would want to introduce intervention or new variables for the best impact from data action. The actions can be targeted and specific to what change you want to see, within the timeframe you have identified within your system.

How do I monitor change from data?

Monitoring change, resulting from data, is simple when we run trend analysis at regular cycles. Monitoring at the start and end of each cycle ensures accuracy and timely variable change. A cycle is defined as a period for collecting information determined by the data collector. Its best to establish your own monitoring plan with all stakeholders who collects, stores, and assesses data. The goal is to use what you collect to set benchmarks, confirm hypotheses, and run trend analysis.

What interventions can facilitate change?

So, you want to use the data to facilitate change? Any intervention can facilitate change; albeit negative or positive but its best to have variable-specific interventions. Intervention success is not dependent on the number of persons impacted or the cost but, on the change anticipated by the hypothesis. In fact, intervention success is dependent on the problem to solve. If there is a match between the problem and the solution, interventions are often effective to facilitate the desired change.

How do I report on and sustain the change?

To complete the cycle, we must share the findings with all stakeholders especially those who identified the problem. Determining what to share is as important as where to share. Sharing on social media, in written or online reports, and annual general meetings are good places to start.

Summary

Data matters! However, without guidance the story it tells can change based on who and what is asked. To use data effectively, it’s important to be clear on what data you need, the story you want to tell, outcomes you want, actions you plan to take, possible interventions, monitoring and reporting plan, and how to sustain change. No matter what, Train your data, find ways to Interpret, and make sure it always solves the problem you need it to solve or identify change. This process is called TIP – Train, Interpret, Problem-solve. In the end, use the EARS process as often as you can to assess success—Elicit, Amplify, Reinforce, and Start over with each change you want to see.

Resources

Perception of School Social Bonding – Instrument and Scoring
The International Network for Student Attendance (INSA) offers other questionnaires effective for absenteeism and attendance. Click on the + sign on the far right to get access to translation versions.
Raawee K12 Solutions with whom we partner: https://raaweek12.com.

About the Author

Attendance Team Collaboration

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.

Team Building for Success

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:

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 Presenter

Kim Wallace, Professional Educational Consultant & Author at Process Makes Perfect

Proactive Strategies

Take a break from the hamster wheel. Plan your year! Assess why you do what you do and the results you are getting. Intentionally defining and planning to prevent absenteeism requires methods and tools, partnerships and data interpretation, and social connections. The result of these factors lends itself to the content necessary to identify needed messaging strategies and influence change for measurable positive attendance improvement outcomes.

from EDMS Expert Series: 09/22/2022

Discussions in Preventing Absenteeism

Discussions of the importance of schooling and student attendance dates far back to 1635, in Boston. It was similar to the Free Grammar School of England. The Boston Latin School for boys was introduced to prepare students for college, although some like Benjamin Franklin dropped out (See here). Since then and now, there have been questions about how to prevent children from leaving or missing school. The study of school absenteeism, now being advanced worldwide by the International Network for School Attendance (INSA) and supported by various national organizations, is documenting scholarly research on forms, types, categories, and methods to examine school attendance and absenteeism. In fact, their earliest citation dates back to the 1980s with the first accessible article by Berney, Kolvin, Bhate, Garside, Jeans, Kay, & Scarth (1981) on school phobia in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

The point is, we have been studying, examining, and trying to figure out how to prevent student absenteeism for centuries. With mountains of data, processes, ways, and means to approach at least one answer we have come to know that methods, tools, and messaging are the hallmark of any effective solution. Such solutions should be consistent and cyclical.

Accomplishing consistency in methods, tools, and messaging speculates, to prevent we must know.

Preventing is knowing!

We must know what we are preventing and what symptoms have been shown to indicate an interest in being absent or signals of willingness to be present. These can include psychosocial matters, home, academic, curriculum demands, functioning, time-based discipline, lesson absence, classroom climate, and more. Therefore, we should be asking “what matters?”

Absenteeism = All Experience

Knowing absenteeism equals the total sum of a students’ in-school and out-of-school experiences, then what matters is what happens in and out of school.

In and out of school means what matters for students regarding:

Attending – Presence and absence from school and curriculum
Participating – Engagement in or not in positive and negative school experiences
Bonding – Feeling attached, committed, involved, and believing in the value of school
Tracking – Who, what, and why track attendance and insights gleaned to improve
Sharing – Using information for benefit of students and shared for improvement for all

Knowing what matters in and out school offers us the opportunity to learn also that control matters. There are three forms of Direct control (rewards and punishment), Indirect control (pro-social relationships), and Internal control (personal compass). Finding and implementing tools and interventions to respond to these three (3) forms of control are sure ways to prevent school absenteeism.

Getting to outcomes however, requires us to have methods, tools and messaging.

Methods should assist in measurement of data and use of data lakes to report on all controls. It should …

Identify indicators: Ways to compare last year to this coming year; RaaWee data tools can help
Find Benchmarks: External partners to whom we can compare progress and set targets

Tools should ensure indirect control and should…

Give a temperature check on impact for students, staff, climate, and families. For all.
Whether it is MTSS, RTI, PBIS, RaaWee, your own solution or emerging solutions, measurable impact is the goal.

Messaging should meet students’ internal control needs and share what matters…

Convey the importance of schooling and celebrating presence.
Inform of current state and growth yet to come
Value partnership and relationships and role of all

When preventing is knowing, control matters. What matters is tracking methods, tools, and messaging in data lakes where consistent reports of impact from all controls can be gleaned and shared. The lives of our students and their families are in our hands. They must know why schooling, in various formats, matters and that we care.

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About the Author

Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty, founder, lead consultant, and Chief Education Officer for Pivot Attendance Solutions, has inspired many administrators, educators, students, and school social workers as a past chair of the school’s concentration Masters Curriculum, tenured professor, and Director of the Bachelors for Social Work Program. Having worked closely with the Indiana Department of Education to assist school counselors in acquiring a school counselor license and coordinating curriculum mapping and application, she knows the intricacies of working with school-community partnerships. She has been a forerunner in responding to school absenteeism, truancy, and social bonding. She has over 30 years in youth development, 20 years in dropout and truancy, and more specifically, she brings over 12 years studying, researching, presenting, and writing about absenteeism locally, nationally, and internationally. In the US she is a leader in absenteeism and understanding school attendance problems and translating such into practice models for implementation. She is forging partnerships in colleges to establish the area as a formal field of study.

Guide to Attendance Improvement

School and district leaders are called upon to handle many diverse duties throughout their days, months, and year. It’s easy to feel like, “we don’t have time to plan” amidst the immediate concerns clamoring for our attention. But failing to plan results in minor missteps at best, and major problems at worst. That’s why putting time in on the front end will help prepare leaders to face unexpected challenges and avert serious complications later on. Attendance planning is no exception. It must be embedded within and aligned to other comprehensive plans in the district to be successful. The Definitive Guide to Student Attendance Improvement has taken a lot of the guesswork out of the planning process for you. It contains three quick-to-read sections with several reproducible activities that are easily customizable to your own setting. All you have to do is pull together your team and get started!

Challenges of Chronic Absenteeism

Student attendance, on the surface, may appear to be clear-cut and straightforward in that it’s undeniable that tardies and absences have a significant impact on a child’s academic outcomes. If students are not present in class on time and ready to learn, then falling behind is a real likelihood. But that’s not all. Frequent absenteeism or chronically missing school has further-reaching effects on a young person’s well-being, and the causes need to be diagnosed individually to get at the root of the problem, and for educators and families to appropriately intervene.

While it is important to closely track attendance and re-engage students whose absences are escalating, it is equally important to understand the reasons before applying remedies. Quite often, student and families are unaware of the varied resources a school may offer to make it easier for them to attend school regularly. Schools and districts have to be highly proactive and hands-on in uncovering the origins of poor attendance behaviors. This will help the district team to quickly allocate the appropriate resources for the student to help them overcome the challenges they are encountering.

Building Absenteeism Intervention Plans

Mechanisms should be in place to ensure that students are quickly connected with available resources. After that, processes for tracking the outcome and following up after the resources have been applied must also be incorporated. It is essential that intervention plans are in place for preventing truancy, reducing excessive excused absences, preventing chronic absenteeism, discouraging excessive tardies, and tracking course or period attendance. These plans drive how and when an intervention will be triggered for students and how the campuses will document them. Consistency in intervention provisioning and centralization of data ensure quick assistance and allocation of resources to every student who may be struggling with attending school regularly.

Student attendance is the collective responsibility of all district stakeholders. The best curriculum in the world isn’t effective if students are often missing from school. Therefore, new practices and processes must be adopted so that student attendance is of equal importance to the best teaching and learning environments. The key to a successful plan is when leaders take ownership in changing their schools’ culture. In the following sections, we will demonstrate multi-faceted ways that districts can structure their own Attendance Action Plans most suitable to their localized needs. Using this guide will equip attendance support teams with the elements they need for developing an actionable plan for implementation.

About the Author

Born and raised in an educator household, Dr. Kim Wallace started her own career in public education 30 years ago as a high school English and history teacher before becoming a site principal and district office administrator. Her most recent K-12 role was as superintendent of one of the 20 largest school districts in California. Kim joined the UC Berkeley School of Education Leadership Programs division as the Associate Director of the 21^st Century California School Leadership Academy (21CSLA) State Center in 2020.

She also runs her own consulting company Process Makes Perfect, specializing in real world solutions for practitioners in the field. Kim consults, writes, and presents internationally on systems change and emerging trends in educational leadership. An award-winning, innovative educator, Kim leverages her abilities in educational administration, program management, and relationship development to optimize institutional effectiveness and deliver remarkable results.

Dr. Wallace’s book Leading the Launch: A Ten-Stage Process for Successful School District Initiatives was published by Solution Tree Press in 2021, followed by Leading Through an Equity Lens in 2023. Her upcoming book, Gamechanging Leadership in Action: An Educator’s Companion is in production with Routledge/Taylor & Francis (Fall 2025). Kim attended the University of California Santa Barbara for her undergraduate degree in history. She then earned her Master’s in Education (M.Ed.) at the University of California Los Angeles and culminated her educational goals with a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D.) from the University of California Davis.

The Challenge

Yesterday and today are different. For many, the difference is like night and day. This is the case for those who experience mental health challenges versus those who do not. It is not the same as having a bad day. It’s hard to describe.

Student Attendance and Mental Health

The gap between yesterday and today can feel strikingly different for individuals grappling with mental health challenges compared to those who do not. This distinction extends beyond merely experiencing an occasional bad day; it encompasses a deeper internal struggle that significantly influences how we feel, think, and behave. For children, these mental health issues frequently manifest as changes in their daily routines and academic performance, leading to increased absenteeism. Alarmingly, statistics reveal that 50% of all mental disorders begin to develop before a child reaches the age of 15, making early intervention crucial for effective student attendance improvement.

Chronic Absenteeism and School Resources

Schools serve as vital institutions where students learn essential skills, ranging from reading and writing to problem-solving and social interaction. They also provide crucial support services for children while their parents work. However, many students lost access to these essential resources during periods of disruption, which included not just education but also food services, health care from school nurses, opportunities for social development, and activities that foster teamwork and discipline. Additionally, students missed out on learning important life skills related to self-care, hygiene, time management, and the cultivation of their identities. The transition to online learning allowed for the continuation of academic instruction, yet it largely failed to address the remaining 80% of the holistic support that schools traditionally offer. This lack of comprehensive care compounded issues of chronic absenteeism, leaving both students and parents feeling constrained and overwhelmed. As a result, there was a notable increase in mental health issues, particularly among those students who continued to miss school.

Attendance Improvement Strategies

To effectively support students who are grappling with mental health challenges and chronic absenteeism, schools can adopt a variety of targeted strategies designed to address these pressing issues. Implementing initiatives focused on attendance improvement can help cultivate a supportive environment that encourages regular attendance and promotes overall well-being among students. By identifying and addressing the root causes of absenteeism, schools can create tailored interventions that not only enhance student attendance but also contribute positively to their mental health and academic success.

Context

The numbers are still rolling in but UNICEF reports that over 332 million children were linked to the COVID-19 lockdown policies. Many students were absent or affected ‌ mentally or physically, from the shutdown, closure, or online delivery of schools during the pandemic.

The impact was of catastrophic proportions with an underlying problem–mental health. For students and teachers, the states of mind, body, place, ability, and connection were disrupted during the pandemic.

Levels of context and feelings around many generalized everyday terms like:

Student Attendance and Holistic Support

To effectively respond to all states of what was disrupted, schools must expand their focus beyond just academics. It is essential to reintegrate play, fun, music, poetry, and role modeling into the school experience, utilizing community partners and actively engaging parents. Convening task forces can provide the necessary support, but the American Council on Education suggests that attention should also be directed toward enhancing overall campus culture and climate. This approach aims to promote, improve, and foster positive mental health and well-being while increasing awareness and access to services. Changes to policies and protocols for supporting mental health are crucial in this effort. The overarching goal remains the same: to help students express their thoughts, normalize questions and concerns, build relationships, and maintain connections. UNICEF Director Forte emphasizes the urgency, stating, “Many children are left feeling afraid, lonely, anxious, and concerned for their future. We must emerge from this pandemic with a better approach to child and adolescent mental health, and that starts by giving the issue the attention it deserves.”

Attendance Improvement through Understanding Mental Health

Mental health encompasses a range of mixed disorders, conditions, and symptoms, often associated with impaired socioemotional development or linked historically or diagnostically. Empirical outcomes for students experiencing absenteeism include behavioral changes and school attendance problems, which can manifest as school avoidance, withdrawal, refusal, truancy, or even dropout. These behaviors can arise from various stimuli, such as avoidance, escape, attention-seeking, or the pursuit of rewards outside of the school environment. The factors surrounding mental illness can be both risk and protective, but they are often cumulative and represent a bundled risk.

The Impact of the Pandemic on Absenteeism

During the pandemic, the effects of bundled risk became glaringly evident in both time and space. In terms of time, we witnessed changes characterized by scarcity, poor time management, limited self-care, and a breakdown in collaborative care—often referred to as outsourcing. Outsourcing care is a hallmark of modern society, where we rely on partners to address various needs: schools educate, restaurants provide meals, healthcare professionals offer medical services, sports and events furnish entertainment, and churches and daycares offer community and care for our loved ones. However, the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns drastically altered this outsourcing dynamic. These changes blurred boundaries, leading to increased crises and emotional outbursts, further complicating the landscape of student attendance and mental health.

Actions for Schools

Most common intervention is Cognitive behavior therapy to respond to anxiety, depression, self-efficacy, emotional distress, social-emotional, academic development. However, Psychosocial Intervention, Narrative Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Parental Counseling, and Family Therapy are also options. Yet providing resources and education on spotting and responding to somatic complaints (stomachache, feeling unwell or resistive behavior (temper tantrums, violent behavior) are also universal resources that can be offered.

Citation

Gentle-Genitty, C. (January 27, 2022). Mental health factors for students who miss school. Every Day Matters Summit, TX. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7912/pgm6-qq04

About the Author

Success at Val Verde Unified School District

The Val Verde Unified School District (VVUSD) in Riverside County, California, is dedicated to serving a diverse population of approximately 20,000 K-12 students across Perris, Moreno Valley, and Riverside. Our commitment to addressing chronic absenteeism is reflected in our effective Student Attendance Review Board (SARB) program, which is supported by a team of five Teachers On Special Assignment (TOSA).

Attendance Improvement through SART and SARB Meetings

VVUSD emphasizes a preventative approach to maximize student achievement by utilizing Student Attendance Review Team (SART) and SARB meetings. These meetings are scheduled based on students’ absences throughout the school year. Specifically, SART meetings occur when a student reaches 5 absences in the first semester and 9 absences in the second semester. Our TOSAs conduct these meetings on a one-on-one basis with parents. At the elementary level, meetings take place at the student services office, while secondary meetings are held on-site and include the student.

During these meetings, we work to identify barriers to attendance early on and provide families with the necessary resources tailored to their unique situations. This personalized approach often leads to significant improvements in both student attendance and academic achievement.

Home Visits and Collaborative SARB Meetings

For students who continue to struggle with attendance, our team organizes SARB meetings that involve a collaborative panel to offer additional support to families. These meetings are convened in our student services conference room once a student reaches 8 absences in the first semester and 13 absences in the second semester. The panel typically includes all TOSAs, our CWA Director, a district nurse, a mental health representative, an attendance technician, our District attorney, and a member from the family justice center.

With the support of our District attorney, we can provide families with even more resources to enhance student attendance before any referrals to mediation are necessary. Despite our strong efforts, we face ongoing challenges, particularly with a lack of participation from some parents. In these cases, we intensify our outreach efforts.

Our team conducts home visits for families we struggle to contact, ensuring we speak to them directly at their door. This personal approach is crucial in making sure no student slips through the cracks.

Over the past 11 years, our SARB program has concentrated on combating chronic absenteeism, and we are proud to have been recognized as a Model SARB recipient four times. Through our dedicated efforts, we have achieved a district-wide attendance rate of 96.7%, all accomplished without a district-wide transportation system.

We continue to work as a team to reflect on our practices each year and adjust as needed to ensure student success! We are happy to work alongside other districts to both teach and learn new methods to improve attendance.

The Val Verde Unified School District team is happy to share their best practices and success strategies with your district. View their presentation at https://vimeo.com/661781242 and feel free to reach out to Maddy at the below information for more detail.

Check out their press release at https://www.yahoo.com/now/val-verde-unified-school-district-173000107.html.

Whole Child Approach to Attendance Improvement

Taking a whole child approach to improving attendance is the wave of the future—and the only way to truly change is from the inside out. RaaWee’s comprehensive truancy prevention system meets students (and their families) where they are and helps educators utilize field-tested tools to get young people back on the pathway to academic success in a variety of learning models.

Commitment to Student and Family Welfare

So let’s re-up our commitment to student and family welfare by avoiding three key pitfalls of a non-integrated attendance intervention plan. While each of the pitfalls has its own trappings, all three can be avoided by adopting a high-quality, substantial, and centralized attendance improvement system. Stand-alone versions simply don’t make the cut in a world as mutable as ours.

Imperatives for Selecting an Integrated Attendance System

When vetting your options, consider these imperatives of selecting a truly integrated platform to yield the most impactful outcomes:

Clear and varied communication tools
Valid, diverse, and dynamic data
The program’s ability to quickly adapt to emerging societal conditions

RaaWee hits all of these marks and more. Look before you leap into this school year to protect your most valuable resource of all: our students. They deserve an attendance system that makes sense in order for them to make a difference.

Tackling Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy

By addressing chronic absenteeism and truancy through an integrated approach, we can ensure that every student has the opportunity to thrive.

About the Presenter

Kim Wallace, Professional Educational Consultant & Author at Process Makes Perfect