Description

Gabriela Pulido and Donna Minix discussed Katy ISD‘s truancy prevention efforts. Serving 88,465 students, the district saw attendance peak at 99.74% in 2019-2020 but declined slightly post-pandemic. To combat this, the dropout and chronic absenteeism prevention teams use RaaWee Attendance+, now expanding district-wide, to track attendance, sign AIPs electronically, and monitor communications effectively.

A Data-Driven Approach to Attendance

Katy ISD, serving over 88,000 students across 70 campuses, has implemented targeted interventions to minimize truancy. While attendance peaked at 99.74% in 2019-2020, a slight decline followed the pandemic. The Dropout Prevention Department, led by Gabriela Pulido, collaborates with facilitators, social workers, and police officers to keep students engaged.

Structured Truancy Interventions

The district closely monitors attendance trends, implements Attendance Improvement Plans (AIPs), and follows a structured truancy flow chart, utilizing warning letters and court referrals when necessary. Partnerships with programs like Triad provide additional truancy prevention support.

Expanding the Use of RaaWee Attendance+

After a successful pilot in six schools, RaaWee Attendance+ is now being scaled district-wide. The platform offers real-time attendance reports, electronic AIP signatures, and email tracking, enhancing communication and intervention efforts.

Holistic Attendance Support for Students

Beyond attendance tracking, Katy ISD integrates character education, mental health services, and crisis intervention to support student well-being. These initiatives reinforce the district’s commitment to keeping students in school and engaged.

Collaboration for Continuous Attendance Improvement

With a low dropout rate, 167 students in 2019-2020 and 273 last year, Katy ISD remains focused on refining strategies and fostering a culture of attendance. By expanding digital tools and strengthening community partnerships, the district continues to make strides in reducing truancy.

Powerful Attendance Improvement

Allison Woods, Assistant Superintendent of Warren Township, shared the district’s attendance efforts. With 11,500 students, including 16% with disabilities and 17% multilingual learners, proactive tracking and engagement reduced chronic absenteeism by 15%. Partnering with RaaWee Attendance+ improved attendance by 8%+ in a year, supported by tiered interventions and family outreach.

The Importance of Student Attendance for Academic Success

Schools increasingly recognize student attendance as vital for academic success. This case study explores MSD Warren’s initiative to improve attendance rates by addressing barriers and fostering accountability. Through strategic communication and targeted interventions, MSD Warren Township has achieved significant improvements.

Background: Challenges in Attendance Rates

Initially, MSD Warren faced attendance rates around 85.11% during the 2021-2022 school year. As a result, different strategies produced uneven results. To address this, the district launched a plan to improve communication, accountability, and student engagement.

Key Strategies for Improving Student Attendance

Cultural Shift in Attendance Perception: The initiative started with changing how attendance was viewed. It stressed the importance of being present for both success and well-being through discussions with families and students.
Systematic Attendance Plan: Additionally, a clear plan outlined communication methods, competitions, and recognition for good attendance, promoting responsibility.
Proactive Communication: Family engagement liaisons also called families of chronically absent students to build support early on.
Tiered Intervention Model: The district implemented a model that addressed attendance issues at three levels, ensuring responses matched the severity of the problem.

Results: Significant Improvements in Attendance Rates

By the end of the 2022-2023 school year, attendance rates improved to about 94%. This change reflects effective strategies and a united effort from the school community.

Conclusion: Lessons Learned for Enhancing Student Attendance

In conclusion, MSD Warren’s approach serves as a helpful example for other schools. By addressing barriers and encouraging accountability, the district raised attendance rates and improved student outcomes. This shows the value of teamwork and proactive actions in making meaningful changes.

About the Presenter

Allison Woods, Asst Superintendent for Exceptional Learners and Whole Child at MSD Warren Township

Allison Woods is an accomplished educator and administrator at MSD Warren Township, dedicated to fostering a positive learning environment and enhancing student achievement. With a strong educational background, she implements innovative teaching strategies and supports teachers in their development. Her commitment to student success is evident through her collaboration with families, staff, and community partners, creating a supportive atmosphere that empowers students.

Allison has been involved in initiatives aimed at improving educational outcomes and promoting equity within the district. Her leadership and dedication have made a significant impact on the MSD Warren Township community, inspiring both students and educators.

Improving Overall Student Attendance

Angela Daniels from Garland Independent School District (ISD) in Garland, TX, recently shared valuable strategies her team employed for student attendance improvement and dropout recovery, showcasing remarkable success in increasing high school attendance from 90.59% in 2023 to 93.2% in 2024. With a student population of 51,000 spread across 70 campuses, Garland ISD faces significant challenges in terms of truancy, which affects approximately 14% of students, and chronic absenteeism, impacting around 9%. Given that 72% of students are economically disadvantaged and 50% classified as at-risk, addressing attendance issues is paramount for the success and well-being of students in the district.

To support their attendance intervention efforts, Garland ISD utilizes the RaaWee Attendance+ system, which provides essential tools and reporting capabilities. This system aids the district in tracking attendance interventions, showcasing proof points, and analyzing trends related to student instructional minutes and funding recovery efforts. By leveraging data effectively, the district can pinpoint areas needing improvement and measure the impact of their strategies.

Addressing Dropout Recovery

Focusing specifically on high school students, particularly ninth graders, the district implemented root cause analysis and flexible scheduling to identify key problem areas affecting attendance. Attendance specialists were designated at each campus, and data was meticulously analyzed by grade level, race, gender, and teacher impact. Recognizing that transition years, such as moving from eighth to ninth grade, often present challenges, the district prioritized these students through home visits and summer outreach initiatives.

One notable initiative is the RISE program, which allows students to customize their schedules to accommodate personal and family challenges. This program encourages collaboration with counseling, special programs, and other stakeholders to establish fair and equitable criteria for participation. Impressively, 85% of participants in the RISE program continued their education or graduated, highlighting the program’s effectiveness.

Angela emphasized the importance of data analysis, collaboration, and celebrating small wins throughout the process. She also stressed the necessity of structured plans, ongoing checkpoints, and stakeholder involvement that extends beyond just the attendance team. By creating equitable solutions and fostering engagement and positive attendance, Garland ISD is dedicated to supporting students in staying present, connected, and thriving in their educational journeys. Their comprehensive approach serves as a model for other districts striving to improve student attendance and overall success.

About the Presenter

Angela Daniels, M.Ed., Student Engagement Administrator, Student Services, Garland ISD, TX

Angela is a former Intervention Coordinator and teacher with 20 years of experience developing unique opportunities to help all students succeed. She has led initiatives that have reduced dropout rates and enhanced student engagement. She holds certifications in Education Leadership and Dropout Prevention.

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.

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

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

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.

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 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

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