Attendance-Improvement Archives

Importance and Immediacy of Truancy Prevention

Dr. Kim Wallace, EdD, discusses the immediate need for implementing and sustaining a quality attendance improvement program for your school or district.

Program Implementation

There exists a prevalent misconception among educators that once the school year has commenced, there is insufficient time to adopt or implement a new program. In reality, while staff may need to dedicate additional time and effort at the outset to effectively integrate a new platform into their operations, the time savings realized on the back end can be truly remarkable.

Research conducted by Hall and Khan (2004) emphasizes that the crucial decision is not simply whether to adopt a new system, but rather when to make that choice. The dilemma revolves around the timing of adoption—whether to move forward now or postpone the decision, which can lead to missed opportunities for improvement. Ultimately, it boils down to the urgency of helping students today versus delaying assistance for a later time. The costs associated with waiting can far outweigh the perceived benefits of starting a new attendance system on the first day of school.

Chronic Absenteeism Efforts

If we genuinely uphold the philosophy that “every day matters,” we must act on this principle by promptly updating and enhancing to an automated attendance monitoring system. Delaying this essential upgrade is counterproductive. The reality is that you cannot assess what you are unaware of, and acquiring knowledge is the most potent tool we possess in the field of education.

The holistic approach to the whole child by the RaaWee K12 Attendance+ system offers a comprehensive understanding of the various factors influencing a student’s attendance history, their current attendance status, and the potential trajectory for their future. Taking action now can make a significant difference, and it’s essential to recognize that it’s never too late to begin improving attendance. The key lies in the immediacy of our actions.

Citation

Hall, Bronwyn & Khan, Beethika. (2004). Adoption of New Technology. Working Paper 9730.

National Bureau of Economic Research. Accessed on 9/12/21 from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/23742215_Adoption_of_New_Technology.

About the Presenter

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

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.

Strengthening Student Attendance

Promoting strong student attendance has always been an essential focus for public education, but it has never been more critical than today. The challenges posed by the pandemic have significantly disrupted traditional educational experiences, leading to varied forms of learning that left many students disengaged. As we work to welcome students back into the classroom, we must be creative, forward-thinking, and proactive in our approaches. It is vital to invite, encourage, and reassure our students that returning to school is in their best interest, both academically and socially.

Proactive & Reactive Intervention

To effectively address attendance issues, schools should implement a combination of proactive and reactive Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) strategies. Proactive interventions involve anticipating potential barriers to attendance and addressing them before they escalate. This might include regular check-ins with students, monitoring attendance patterns, and identifying students who may be at risk of falling behind. By being proactive, schools can intervene early, providing support and resources to help students navigate challenges before they lead to chronic absenteeism.

Conversely, reactive interventions are equally important for addressing attendance issues that have already arisen. This may involve reaching out to families to understand the reasons behind absences and developing tailored plans to support students’ return to school. Engaging with students who have missed significant time allows educators to adopt a more personalized approach, ensuring that each student’s unique circumstances are recognized and properly addressed.

There is no right or wrong when it comes to proactive versus reactive MTSS-related implementations. The only mistake educators can make is not doing either. That’s why RaaWee K12 Solutions is committed to helping districts of all sizes “double down” by taking a tenacious and resolute approach to empowering staff, students, and families through their MTSS programming. By providing twice the amount of assistance, we can build stronger relationships and create a supportive educational environment. The invaluable rewards of this commitment will extend far beyond improved attendance; they will shape the future success of our students, paving the way for their academic achievements and personal growth.

About the Presenter

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

Student Attendance Improvement Focus after Pandemic

As the effects of more than a year of pandemic living begin to wane, schools and districts are rapidly pivoting to prepare for the return of students and staff to full-day instruction, athletics, and extracurricular activities. While there is an undeniable sense of excitement about reopening schools, it is crucial to recognize that many students and families will require additional support to re-establish their daily routines, particularly concerning in-person attendance.

This research report offers a forward-looking perspective on the challenges educators across the nation anticipate as schools resume operations. It also presents innovative ideas and strategies aimed at helping students readjust to positive attendance patterns and effective work habits.

RaaWee K12 Solutions is collaborating with education professionals to develop real-time responses that will enhance student attendance, provide necessary interventions, and combat rising rates of truancy and chronic absenteeism.

Examining the Reality & Defining Re-Engagement Strategies

The following report provides a comprehensive examination of the issues at hand, along with actionable solutions to build on the successes achieved during this year of growth and adaptation. You may be familiar with the traditional belief that it takes approximately three weeks, or about 21 days, for individuals to form new habits or break old ones. However, more recent research from University College London (2010) indicates that the average time required to change a behavior is actually 66 days, with individual variations ranging from 18 to an astonishing 254 days.

Given that many American families have engaged in virtual or hybrid learning models for over a year, the re-entry process to in-person, on-time, full-day instruction presents significant challenges. Both adults and young people have largely abandoned their previous habits of waking up to an alarm clock, managing morning routines, grabbing breakfast on the go, navigating rush hour traffic, and arriving at school before the bell rings. What once happened almost automatically now requires intentional effort to re-establish.

As the nation gradually reopens and we collectively resume some pre-pandemic activities, it is essential to acknowledge that not everything will revert to its former state. Therefore, we must anticipate and plan for attendance scenarios that may have existed in the past but have evolved in distinct ways. RaaWee K12 Solutions is at the forefront of this transition, ready to assist schools, districts, families, and students in reintegrating smoothly into their educational settings.

About the Presenter

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

MTSS Re-Engagement Tools

As the first academic quarter of this unique school year approaches its conclusion, educators and their partners have gained invaluable insights. RaaWee K12 Solutions, having swiftly adapted to this dynamic learning environment, stands at the forefront of designing real-time responses to the needs of educators and families. Our innovation team proactively gathered feedback from practitioners about their experiences with distance, hybrid, and in-person learning across schools and districts statewide. It became increasingly clear: support was essential for promoting attendance improvement and addressing chronic absenteeism.

It was abundantly clear: people needed help!

Site administrators, registrars, attendance clerks, school secretaries, district office student support services, teachers, and parents/guardians alike all desired an advanced and comprehensive system to monitor student attendance and well-being. As a result, RaaWee got right to work on updating our tools, online platform, and communications to reflect the evolving nature of tracking and supporting strong student attendance throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Since August alone, we streamlined and calibrated our attendance reporting definitions, created a set of 20 motivational flyers on relevant attendance topics, and devised a crosswalk between our services and California Senate Bill 98 to help districts report accurately to the State Department of Education.

SB98 outlines three tiers of support for positive attendance—each in which RaaWee can assist our partner districts:

– Tier 1: Creating an open, welcoming environment that engages students and parents

– Tier 2: Early interventions for students exhibiting attendance problems Tier

– Tier 3: Interventions for chronic truants involved in the School Attendance Review Board (SARB) process

Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

In the educational landscape, everyone has a vital role to play. Our mission is to simplify life for caregivers by easing documentation tasks and follow-up responsibilities, allowing educators and parents to focus on their core responsibilities: teaching and nurturing their children. RaaWee’s comprehensive digital platform and tool set is singularly focused on attendance improvement and encompasses prevention, intervention, and postvention strategies and tools that address a wide range of indicators and root causes contributing to chronic absenteeism.

Realistically, even the most motivated students may struggle during this transition to distance learning, and those who faced challenges in traditional settings may require even greater support. We are committed to ensuring that all children remain actively engaged in their learning, regardless of their circumstances. RaaWee is a company that listens, cares, and strives to eliminate barriers that prevent young people from reaching their full potential. We understand that many of life’s successes begin with simply showing up, and that is our passion and mission now and into the future. By focusing on attendance improvement and re-engagement, we believe our society will benefit tremendously.

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.

An Asynchronous Challenge:

The beginning of school this year has been a challenge, to say the least. We had approximately 14,690 students in WFISD last year, but only have about 13,500 this year. We are still trying to find a significant number of our previous students. Our school district offered two choices at the beginning of the year, Face to Face {synchronous) instruction or Remote (asynchronous) instruction. We have several thousand students who chose the remote option and it is a huge challenge to keep them engaged, accounted for, and logged on properly in order to get accurate attendance.

Using RaaWee K12 Solutions in the Spring when we first shut down was a huge help for us this school year. I worked through the first shutdown and did close to 500 home visits and made approximately 2,500 phone calls to locate students. I put all of that information into RaaWee as I did it. At the beginning of this school year, those records were essential in locating students and families that had been displaced during the first shutdown. I would not have found half of the students I was looking for if I did not have that information.

About WFISD

Wichita Falls is a city of approximately 100,000 people. In WFISD we have 3 high schools, 3 junior highs, 19 elementary schools, a Career Education Center, and an alternative school. In the 2019-2020 school year, we had approximately 14,600 students enrolled in WFISD. This year we are down about 1,000 students.

Blending Synchronous & Asynchronous Attendance Models

For the 20-21 school year, we have an asynchronous model for elementary grades PK-5, a synchronous option for our secondary schools, 6-12, and an asynchronous option for our severe and profound students, 6-12. To take attendance for our remote students, we created 2 new present buttons that show on the teacher’s rosters. One is an RSyn present button for secondary students who chose the remote synchronous option and entered the attendance code of 1-RS. The second one is an RSAYn present button for secondary students who are in our severe and profound program and puts in a 2-RA attendance code.

In order to know who was remote and who was face to face, we created an activity to put our remote students in so that when anyone looked at the student’s file in Skyward they would know they were remote by the R. As seen to the right.

Once this code is entered, it puts an attendance code in the student’s record and looks like the picture below.

These codes have created issues for us as many of the teachers have not been consistent in using them properly. The 1-RS is a code for a remote synchronous secondary student. But as you can see by the picture, we have teachers who use the wrong present button, and it puts in a 2-RA code, which is the code for our severe and profound students. However, overall, the system is working for the most part.

Asynchronous Attendance Method for Elementary

The Asynchronous method for our elementary schools has been quite a challenge as remote students are allowed to turn in work until 11:59 p.m. of the school day. That makes it so that the teachers have to go back into the Google Classroom the next morning and check and see if the student has done any work to give accurate attendance credit. This is where RaaWee has been a lifesaver for us as our attendance clerks put all communications with parents into RaaWee, and we can go back and double-check the teacher’s documentation to ensure accurate attendance accounting. For truancy purposes, we are not holding truancy court as our county has deemed it non-essential. So we are still using RaaWee to track and complete our truancy interventions to be in compliance with state law which has said truancy procedures are still required this year despite the pandemic.

About the Author

Verna Honeycutt, Attendance Coordinator, Wichita Falls ISD, TX

Verna Honeycutt was with WFISD for 22 years, dedicating the first 15 years of their career as a middle school History teacher at Kirby Jr. High. In January of 2015, she transitioned to the administration building and assumed the role of Attendance Coordinator for WFISD, a position she held for six years. During this time, Verna witnessed significant changes in truancy laws, which have directly influenced the operations of the Attendance office. In January of 2016, Ms. Honeycutt rewrote the truancy policy for Wichita County and assisted several neighboring districts in refining truancy programs within their school systems.

The Power of Relationships & Incentives

School districts nationwide have developed creative programs to incentivize student attendance, yielding positive results. Motivational initiatives show that structured rewards for all contributors can significantly enhance achievement at low costs. Engaging all stakeholders in the attendance improvement process consistently leads to success.

Galena Park Independent School District (ISD) in Houston, TX, exemplifies this with their effective programming. They ensure that frontline personnel and leaders are fully involved by fostering meaningful relationships, healthy competition, and strong recognition across sites. Myra Castaneda, Instructional Services Director at Galena Park ISD, highlighted the district’s programs and successes at the Every Day Matters Summit on February 20, 2020.

As education leaders adapt to COVID-19 updates for the 2020-2021 school year, it’s crucial to translate previous best practices to these new environments. The featured best practices will remain relevant with minimal adjustments. For more information on RaaWee K12 TDPS COVID-19 resource updates, visit https://vimeo.com/420374212.

About Galena Park ISD

Galena Park ISD was established in 1930 with G. P. Smith serving as Superintendent. There are two high schools, five middle schools, fifteen elementary schools, and alternative programs staffed by approximately 2,000 teachers, administrators, classified and auxiliary personnel making us one of the largest employers in east Harris County. The District includes 39 square miles outside of Loop 610 East and has a student enrollment of over 22,000.

Galena Park ISD continues to deliver effective instruction to its diverse and growing student population in grades Pre-K through 12 and takes great pride in academics. A variety of outstanding instructional programs are designed to meet the ever-changing needs of the students they serve.

“In Galena Park ISD, we prioritize attendance along with student success. It is our goal to have students attending each and every day to prepare students to become productive citizens and lifelong learners. Through leading, learning, and serving as district employees it is our duty to ensure that we are doing all we can do to get our children to school,” emphasizes Ms. Castaneda.

The GPISD Team and RaaWee

It truly takes a team effort living by the philosophy, “It takes a village,” when it comes to student attendance. Ms. Castaneda punctuates, “The one thing I know for sure is that you can’t have one training and expect everyone to be on board with using a truancy prevention system such as RaaWee with fidelity. It takes trust, several training opportunities, constant reminders, prioritizing attendance, and acknowledgment.”

People respond well to those they trust and have developed relationships with. By establishing a climate of caring and compassion, all counselors, administrators, and truancy clerks know that everything is done for the success of their children. With every meeting, they get to know the people who lead the charge at the campuses. In doing this, acknowledging the great job each is already doing.

Incentives for Intervention Providers

By using the User Intervention Report from the district’s RaaWee K12 system, the top users are identified and recognized at every meeting. This shows our frontline staff that the great efforts they are putting in are noticed and appreciated at all levels.

From the beginning of the school year, GPISD set a training calendar for administrators, truancy/attendance clerks, and counselors. RaaWee K12 is a standing agenda item at every meeting. By being consistent in talking about the program, the entire team can work through any issues, questions, or concerns that any may have with the program. Now that the district has been using the program with fidelity for three years, it is the expectation for all administrators, truancy/attendance clerks, and counselors to work collaboratively.

Truancy / attendance clerks send warning notices, help enter notes in the system, and file on students who have 13 or more unexcused absences. Administrators work hand in hand with all parties to ensure that we are following through with every student who has absences. Not only does this show parents that everyone is keeping track, it genuinely shows the district’s care and concern. GPISD knows that when students are in school, they are safe and fed, as well as educated.

The district initiative of Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow is the basis of principal plans for improving attendance. At the beginning of the school year, each principal outlines a plan to meet their attendance goals. If those goals are met, the district provides incentive money to use for students. The executive board works with the business office to determine the source of the funds to ensure compliance with the incentives.

The Public Education Information Management System (PEIMS) encompasses all data requested and received by TEA about public education, including student demographic and academic performance, personnel, financial, and organizational information.

PEIMS director for the district sends out a color-coded campus ADA chart. This chart is a powerful tool that principals and district administrators see every week. Everyone strives to be in the green or yellow areas. The green is equal to or greater than 97%, the red is below 96.5% and yellow is between 96.51 – 96.99%.

This chart keeps everyone on their toes and is the ongoing tool used to determine who has met their goals. The district recognizes the campuses that have met or improved on the district’s goal of 96.5%.

For information on the data, reports, and programs featured in the Galena Park ISD best practices email Myra Castaneda at mrcastaneda@galenaparkisd.com or contact RaaWee K12 at janie.wilson@raaweek12.com.

About the Author

Myra Castaneda
Program Director for Educational Support, Galena Park ISD

Myra Castaneda is the Program Director for Educational Support at Galena Park Independent School District (ISD) in Texas. She is dedicated to enhancing educational opportunities for all students and promoting academic success within the district.

In her role, Myra oversees programs that provide essential resources and support to students, educators, and families. She collaborates with teachers, administrators, and community partners to develop innovative strategies that address student needs, fostering a positive learning environment and promoting engagement.

With a strong background in education, Myra is committed to empowering learners and ensuring they have the necessary tools to thrive academically and personally, making a significant impact at Galena Park ISD.

The Problem

Educators often find themselves strategizing how to get parents to become more engaged with their student’s school attendance and classroom activities.

And re-engaging students and families after COVID has further emphasized this concern.

When reminders, notification and warning letters to homes, ongoing phone call attempts, and now, emails and texts, fail to bring truant students back to school, what’s left? Attendance officers often find themselves traveling into neighborhoods/homes where they feel unwelcome and/or unsafe. Generating positive, mutually beneficial relationships in such a stressful situation is difficult (See Goff, 2016).

Advantages of Home Visits

Home visits by social workers or attendance/truancy officers are vital means to establish positive contact and communication with hard to reach parents and families. These visits are NOT considered alternatives for parent-teacher conferences in schools, instead, the visits create an environment where the families feel more comfortable.

The home visits show a sincere desire to facilitate and work with concerned families, as well as, promote proactive communications through which the school system may provide reliable support to the families and their students. Johnson (2014) termed home visits between schools and families as a means by which to negate “deeply entrenched institutionalized inequities” in the American educational system. He noted that since the lives of educators are often disconnected from the lives of their students, district home visits promote the type of relationships and social support that enhances the academic goals of students. As well, he was of the view that by restructuring traditional family-educator communications and “blurring the boundaries between classrooms and living rooms,” home visits can positively impact the academic success of the students and reveal valuable educational resources in students’ homes (Johnson, 2014, p. 359).

On February 20, 2020, Wil Barbee, Lead Attendance Officer, and Angel Seca, Attendance Officer of Abilene Independent School District (ISD) in Abilene, TX shared Best Practices in Conducting Safe Home Visits at the Every Day Matters Summit.

About Abilene ISD

Abilene ISD Attendance Officers share the belief that home visits are a critical intervention in their toolkit for the most resistant truants and hard-to-reach guardians.

They are also very realistic in the difficult situations that their officers often walk into. Their best practices for conducting the essential home visits are designed to be productive, efficient and ensure the safety of their eight team members.

Abilene ISD consists of 33 schools serving 16,600 students. AISD consists of 44% Hispanic, 37% Anglo, 13% African American, 4% two or more races, and 2% Asian/Pacific Islander. Nearly 70% of students are economically disadvantaged. The Annual Attendance Goal is 97%.

For both efficient and safe home visits, this experienced and dedicated team breaks the intervention into three stages: 1) PreVisit, 2) On Location, and 3) Departure.

The PreVisit recommendations include making sure you: have planned time and location, are dressed appropriately, have everything you need and nothing valuable that is unnecessary, and a reliable and readied vehicle.

Dress appropriately in a professional business manner with special attention to appropriate closed-toe, lower-heeled shoes, and clothes that do not hamper movement and departure.

Plan your trip using a reliable mapping program for arrival and departure in daylight hours, and ensure you have knowledge of the area/neighborhood concerns. Assure the vehicle you are taking is in good working order and has adequate fuel.

RaaWee Attendance+ includes a Mobile App with a powerful feature that assists with this route mapping.

When ready to leave for the Home Visit, let someone know where you are going or take someone with you. Double-check that you have your ID and all the documents you need ready and easily accessible.

Avoid taking valuables with you or leaving them visible in your parked car. If necessary, hide or lock them in the trunk prior to arriving at home visit site. Keep cell phone or RaaWee Attendance+ iApp with you – ready for recording, pictures or emergency calls as allowed by law.

Once On Location, switch to a high state of Situational Awareness (as highlighted in this short clip from The Bourne Identity) and remain aware until off-site. The OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) is a four-step approach to decision-making that focuses on filtering available information, putting it in context and quickly making the most appropriate decision while also understanding that changes can be made as more data becomes available.

The application of this OODA Loop methodology is strongly recommended for all Home Visits.

Use the following practical application. Upon arrival prior to parking, drive by the home. If it looks unsafe, do not proceed with the home visit. Document the situation. When proceeding with the home visit, park selectively. Do not block anyone’s parking or driveway. Park in an area that will be easy to exit.

When approaching the home, check for other dangers such as pets, high fences or other obstacles, as well as people in or around the home.

Always avoid going inside the home. Conduct your business in a professional but timely manner from the porch or entry.

Remain aware until AFTER Departure. Exit and leave the house as soon as possible. Document your visit once in a safe and highly visible area away from the home. Do not write notes or get on the phone in your parked car.

And finally, let someone know you are back on campus or have completed the home visit, especially if you are not driving directly back to campus.

Conclusion

Teachers, parents, and policymakers share the responsibility to ensure that K-12 students achieve academic excellence at the highest possible level at the Abilene ISD. In all of this, developing strong parent-teacher partnerships is vital and may require a structured home visit. Home visits can play a vital role in the promotion of excellent academic results and behavior of the students. When needed, be prepared, be aware, be quick, and stay safe!

References

Goff, P. A. (2016, September 1). Addressing Classroom Bias to Improve Learning. In Schott Foundation Webinar Series.

Johnson, E. J. (2014). From the Classroom to the Living Room: Eroding Academic Inequities through Home Visits. Journal of School Leadership, 24, 357–385.

Involving Campus & Community

On a broad scale, it is well accepted that community engagement is critical for school progress and reform and Strategies for Community Engagement in School Turnaround (School Network Reform, 2014) provides us best practices. Attendance Works shows how important it is to Engage Community Stakeholders in Promoting Attendance and provides inspiring examples specific to Attendance Awareness.

We add United Independent School District (UISD) to those districts worth replicating. UISD shares its successful programs with education leaders at the RaaWee K12 Every Day Matters Summit, November 15, 2019. View this entire best practices session at Involving Campuses & Community for Student Incentives that Work at United ISD – Every Day Matters Summit 11.15.2019.

About UISD

United Independent School District in Laredo, TX – serving the cities of Laredo, El Cenizo and Rio Bravo, and various discrete regions in Webb County – has built a comprehensive program set that draws benefits and success from both by highly engaging the community in the pizza, donuts, and ice cream parties or other “treat-like incentives,” as well as other larger prize opportunities for long-term attendance goals.

This allows local business leaders to play an active role in the success of their future employees and customers and students to build relationships and confidence outside the classroom.

Developing Attendance Awareness

In support of the fundamental premise that the success of their students is highly dependent on each student’s daily school attendance, UISD has built a powerful model for engaging their community in scalable programs that provide fun incentives for classrooms at all campuses and meaningful grade-appropriate recognition, starting in the early grades and continuing through a power prize opportunity for those students who have met the attendance requirements up to graduation day. The overall program set does a wonderful job of tying short-term rewards and recognition (building good attendance habits early) to long-term opportunities. Their Every Day Counts, Never Be Absent, and Kia in the Klassroom programs are examples of this.

With Every Day Counts, UISD elementary and middle school students, strive to attain perfect attendance by classroom in each of the district’s six week grading periods, making them eligible to win fun prizes at their respective campuses. Awareness for these is built with posters, many made by the students, and rewarded with treats sponsored by local businesses. Check out these examples.

Individual classrooms and students attaining perfect attendance – no excused or unexcused absences up to that point in all classes – at UISD elementary or middle school receive Recognition Certificates and are eligible for the grand prize drawings at their campus. These include:

1st Six Weeks: 4 bikes per campus (Elem/Middle)
2nd & 6th Six Weeks: ChromeBook (Elem/Middle)
3rd & 5th Six Weeks: X-box (Elem/Middle)
4th Six Weeks: 4 bikes per Campus (Elem), Beats Solo Wireless Headphones (Middle)

High school students at UISD qualify for additional perfect attendance incentives, under the Never Be Absent program. Students who have maintained perfect attendance have a chance to be their high school’s winner of an all-expense-paid weekend getaway for a family of four to JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort & Spa with season passes to Fiesta Texas and movie passes to Santikos Palladium IMAX.

Special Year-End Attendance Program

The prestigious year-end Sames Kia in the Klassroom program provides one lucky high school student who wins a drawing with a brand new Kia Soul car. Students earn drawing chances by maintaining perfect attendance in each 9-week period. Students can earn up to 4 vouchers/chances at the end of the school year drawing. The Sames Kia in the Klassroom car give-a-way program is made real by the long-time sponsorship of the local Sames Kia Dealership. And to add amazing additional value, Laredo Federal Credit Union pays taxes & license fees and A&K Driving School includes their driving course to complete this comprehensive package for this lucky student with perfect attendance.

Funding The Programs

The key question “How are these programs funded?” arises immediately. For UISD, the answer is by engaging the community, a community that eagerly participates because they understand the importance. Asking for participation and donation – small and large – is a regular activity for UISD. Check out this example of a typical request, they have recently used. This Donation Request Letter represents key elements recommended in two great resources for writing your own – How to Write an Efficient Donation Request Letter – A Research Guide or How-To Write a Donation Request Letter.

For more information on these programs and all that United Independent School District does to reach and maintain their Attendance Goals for each student district-wide, check out our Every Day Matter Summit presentation by Jesse Perusquia Jr., Attendance Specialist for UISD.

About the Presenter

Jesse Perusquia Jr., Attendance Specialist, United ISD, TX

Jesse Perusquia Jr. is an Attendance Specialist at United Independent School District (UISD), where he is dedicated to promoting student attendance and engagement. With a focus on fostering positive relationships between students, families, and the school community, Jesse works diligently to implement strategies that improve attendance rates and support student success.

In his role, Jesse collaborates with educators and administrators to identify challenges affecting attendance and develop effective interventions. His commitment to creating a supportive educational environment helps ensure that all students have the opportunity to thrive.

For inquiries, Jesse can be reached at 956-473-6281 or via email at jperusquia@uisd.net.

Attendance Awareness Communications

How to Use Social Media to Improve District Communications (Finalsite.com, 2018) tells us that “Social media has quickly earned itself at the top of the list for necessary communication tools … to improve their school-to-home communications.” The attendance improvement best practices and strategies they share for each social network are valuable for those districts just getting started and existing district users alike. These recommendations include which types of social media are better at reaching which audiences.

About Beaumont USD

Beaumont Unified School District (BUSD) does a great job in their use of social media, and their activities reflect real-time examples of these recommendations. Beaumont USD is situated in the San Gorgonio Pass, in Riverside County, California within a growing city of nearly 45,000 residents. BUSD operates seven elementary, two middle, and two high schools and serves 10,829 K-12 students and their families.

Beaumont USD shared its district strategies, including the successful social media outreach at the RaaWee K12 Every Day Matters Summit, on November 15, 2019. View the entire event at Applying the “Mind in Boat” Teamwork & Focus to Attendance Improvement at Beaumont USD – Every Day Matters Summit 11.15.2019.

Beaumont USD uses Social Media for Successful Outreach

BUSD has applied a comprehensive communication social media strategy to improve the attendance at their schools. Through these tools, they share the great things happening at Beaumont USD on a daily basis. And it serves as cornerstone media in their attendance awareness campaigns.

The social media tools narrate student success stories, employee recognitions and achievements, parent resources, school programs, services, and various opportunities, school board policies, and conventions; these are subjects of great interest that it shares with its community.

District and Community News are communicated through a variety means that include the BUSD website and social media accounts.

The District social media accounts include both district-wide Facebook – BeaumontUSD – and Twitter – @Beaumont_SD – accounts. They also make use of Parent Square and Peach Jar which are their School-Home communication platforms.

Although BUSD does not use Instagram, Snapchat or other accounts, these are also great opportunities to reach specific groups within the community. Check out best practice detail as previously referenced in How to Use Social Media to Improve District Communications (Finalsite.com, 2018) for additional ideas on audience-specific outreach.

They found that both Facebook and Twitter serve them well, but in different ways. They have more parents on their Facebook account and they find that the parents share the flyers and other information amongst one another. Twitter is great because the staff and school sites share their progress, awards, trophies, etc. Everyone appreciates visible recognition.

Consistent Meaningful Attendance Content is Key

The District creates an annual calendar with the contributions of parents, teachers, classified workers and administrators who serve on a calendar committee and use organized community meetings to solicit and incorporate user feedback.

The posted content comes from flyers and other print materials that are provided to the BUSD Communications Officer for posting in both English and Spanish. Don’t forget the importance of addressing community diversity when reaching out using these newer media.

And a final best practice from the Beaumont USD team is the consistency in their social media use. They are committed to and consistent in keeping these accounts are up-to-date and the place to look for information. This keeps everyone involved and communications successful.

For more information on Beaumont Unified School District and all they are doing to reach and maintain their Attendance Goals for each student district-wide, check out our Every Day Matter Summit presentation by Christina Martinez at BUSD.

The Longstanding Problem of Chronic Absenteeism

Since the start of compulsory education in the US, absenteeism has been a problem, one that educators recognize as among the most persistent and critical challenges schools experience in the country (Gottfried & Hutt, 2019). However, it was not until 2016 that the US Department of Education published a report that created awareness of chronic absenteeism as a critical issue (U.S. Department of Education, 2016).

All over the US, over 8 million students are chronically absent from schools and hence are academically at-risk. Chronic absence implies missing 10 percent or more of school days by students due to excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, and transformed themselves into third-graders who are unable to master reading; the sixth-graders failing in subjects and the ninth-graders dropping out from high schools. Research has shown that chronic absenteeism can impact academic performance in later grades and is a key early warning sign that the students are more likely to drop out of high school (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012).

Detailing California’s Approach

The RaaWee K12 EVERY DAY MATTERS SUMMIT, February 20, 2020, welcomed David Kopperud, Education Program Consultant at the CA Department of Education for a discussion of California’s Approach to Reducing Chronic Absenteeism & Dropout Rates. At this event, he shared the California strategies with 100 education leaders from more than 50 public school districts nationwide. View the entire conversation at California’s Approach to Reducing Chronic Absenteeism & Dropout Rates – Every Day Matters Summit – 2.20.2020.

According to David Kopperud on chronic absenteeism, “You have kids with health problems and mental health problems; you have young children who are missing school for no fault of their own.” He further stated: Schools with high poverty levels tend to have higher rates of chronic absenteeism, and “one of the best ways we can address poverty is by figuring out what can we do to help these students get to school despite lack of transportation, health issues, trauma, and anxiety.”

The data released by education officials in California in 2017 showed that 10% of students in the state were chronically absent. As a result of the findings, California dramatically shifted its approach to school-absence away from punishing absenteeism, or unexcused absences, towards the identification of the rationales for all absences and offering support. This approach has been defined in a three-tier strategy for Prevention, Early Intervention, and Intensive Intervention.

The data also shows that 25% of foster children were chronically absent in the same year, in addition20% of students were of Native Americans and African-American origin. Mr. Kopperud emphasized their obvious need to monitor and address chronic absenteeism by Sub-Group, using more targeted services and resources.

Three Tiers (MTSS) to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in California

Prevention – Tier 1 focuses on ongoing Recognition/Reinforcement, broad Awareness, diligent Monitoring, and positive welcoming School Climate. It is intended to improve overall attendance and prevent chronic absence.
Early Intervention – Tier 2, designed to address the needs of students missing 10% or more of school days, begin notifications, meetings, and services to students and guardians.
Missing 20% or more of school days triggers Intensive Intervention – Tier 3. These interventions target repeat offenders with the expertise, services, and resources of all SARB collaborative stakeholders and their respective agencies.

Check out more information on California’s approach to:

California SARB (School Attendance Review Board)

The School Attendance Review Board (SARB) is key to the California approach to reducing chronic absenteeism. Mandated by legislation, SARBs are comprised of stakeholders representing the various district and community services and resources for the chronically absent student and their family. School Attendance Review Board Handbook provides additional detail.

In California, SARBs are district-level teams that are composed of school and community members who meet regularly to diagnose and resolve persistent school attendance or behavior problems. The Model SARB Program identifies outstanding results-based school attendance improvement programs that provide comprehensive services to high-risk youth with school attendance or school behavior problems.

The State SARB makes recommendations to the State Superintendent for reducing chronic absenteeism rates and dropout rates in the state’s public schools. As part of its mandate, the State SARB makes annual recommendations regarding the needs of high-risk youth. The most recent recommendations include the following four improvements:

Develop Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) strategies for Groups with higher Chronic Absenteeism rates – again emphasizing the unique needs and resources by Sub-Group.
Mandate small districts to obtain certification for their supervisors of attendance. This has not been previously required of smaller districts with personnel often “wearing many hats” within their district but has proven necessary for broader success.
Mandate kindergarten attendance starting at enrollment.
Advocate for the inclusion of grades 9-12 on the California School Dashboard, which is currently focused on elementary and middle grades.

The California Model SARB Recognition Program identifies and recognizes innovative results-based school attendance improvement programs at different levels. The programs serve as models for other SARBs across the state of California. The goal of California SARB is to reduce chronic absenteeism rate by 1% annually. Get full detail on the California Model SARB Recognition Program.

About the Presenter

As the education programs consultant for Child Welfare and Attendance at California Department of Education (CDE), David Kopperud is the chairperson of the State School Attendance Review Board (State SARB) and the director of the CDE’s Model SARB Recognition Program.

A former English teacher, he first became interested in child welfare and attendance after noticing a large number of students who were not attending his classes. After working as coordinator of Child Welfare and Attendance in the Hemet Unified School District, he served as Child Welfare and Attendance Administrator and Director of Personnel and Pupil Services at Washington Unified School District before coming to work at the CDE.

David Kopperud, Education Programs Consultant
California Dept of Education
916.323.1028
cwa@cde.ca.gov

References

Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2012). Chronic Absenteeism: Summarizing What We Know From Nationally Available Data. Baltimore; Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools), 9. http://new.every1graduates.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FINALChronicAbsenteeismReport_May16.pdf

Gottfried, M.A., & Hutt, E.L. (Eds.) (2019). Introduction to Absent from School: Understanding and Addressing Student Absenteeism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. https://www.hepg.org/hep-home/books/absent-from-school

U.S. Department of Education (2016). Chronic Absenteeism in the Nation’s Schools: A Hidden Educational Crisis. Washington, DC. https://www2.ed.gov/datastory/chronicabsenteeism.html

Importance and Immediacy of Truancy Prevention

Program Implementation

Chronic Absenteeism Efforts

Citation

About the Presenter

Strengthening Student Attendance

Proactive & Reactive Intervention

About the Presenter

Student Attendance Improvement Focus after Pandemic

Examining the Reality & Defining Re-Engagement Strategies

About the Presenter

MTSS Re-Engagement Tools

It was abundantly clear: people needed help!

SB98 outlines three tiers of support for positive attendance—each in which RaaWee can assist our partner districts:

Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

About the Author

An Asynchronous Challenge:

About WFISD

Blending Synchronous & Asynchronous Attendance Models

Asynchronous Attendance Method for Elementary

About the Author

The Power of Relationships & Incentives

About Galena Park ISD

The GPISD Team and RaaWee

Incentives for Intervention Providers

About the Author

The Problem

Advantages of Home Visits

About Abilene ISD

Conclusion

References

Involving Campus & Community

About UISD

Developing Attendance Awareness

Special Year-End Attendance Program

Funding The Programs

About the Presenter

Attendance Awareness Communications

About Beaumont USD

Beaumont USD uses Social Media for Successful Outreach

Consistent Meaningful Attendance Content is Key

The Longstanding Problem of Chronic Absenteeism

Detailing California’s Approach

Three Tiers (MTSS) to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in California

California SARB (School Attendance Review Board)

About the Presenter

References

OUR MISSION

SOLUTIONS

DISTRICT PARTNERS

BEST PRACTICES

VIRTUAL EVENTS

RESOURCES

OUR MISSION

SOLUTIONS

DISTRICT PARTNERS

BEST PRACTICES

VIRTUAL EVENTS

RESOURCES