Attendance interventions for chronically absent students
- This strategy can help address educational disparities, promote healthy childhood environments, and prevent violence. The U.S. Department of Treasury has indicated that strategies that help achieve these outcomes are eligible for the use of Fiscal Recovery Funds
- Investments in this strategy are SLFRF-eligible as long as they are made in qualified census tracts or are designed to assist populations or communities disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.
Program overview
Improving student attendance: Attendance interventions focus on addressing the individual, school, and community-based factors that contribute to chronic absenteeism among K-12 students. Most often implemented by schools or community-based organizations, this diverse set of strategies aims to improve student attendance.
Implementing school-wide interventions: Schools may implement a range of universal strategies to support better attendance for all students. These may include articulating clear expectations about attendance, celebrating students for improving attendance, and conducting personalized outreach to families when students are absent, among other approaches.
Providing individualized supports: For students at risk of missing 10 percent of the school year, which is the standard threshold for chronic absenteeism, schools may implement more targeted and personalized interventions. Typically, these strategies will be identified as part of an individualized student success plan that incorporates attendance as an area of focus. Common interventions include family visits from school counselors or social workers and mentoring and tutoring programs.
Increasing the intensity of supports: When students miss 20 percent or more of the school year, schools may provide more intensive supports, often in partnership with other community-based organizations. Typically, students with the highest levels of absenteeism require individualized case management to address out-of-school barriers to attendance (e.g., housing stability). Depending on state law, school districts may also coordinate with local courts to divert families to a support program before they face legal action for truancy.
- Strategies
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School attendance and persistence
- Cost per Participant
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Not available
Multiple studies with rigorous designs demonstrate that attendance interventions for chronic absenteeism are well-established strategies for improving student attendance.
- This assessment is based on evidence from a 2017 systematic review.
Engage students and parents: A caring and welcoming school culture is foundational to supporting high levels of student attendance. Schools should encourage and support teachers in regularly communicating with families about what their children are learning, as this can build families’ understanding of the learning their children will miss when absent. When students are absent, ensuring that educators reach out to families can demonstrate to both parents and students that the school cares about attendance.
Leverage positive reinforcement: Schools can use positive reinforcement to encourage students to improve and sustain high levels of attendance. As opposed to focusing on perfect attendance, including rewards and recognition for improved attendance can broaden the number of students these strategies impact. Common examples of positive reinforcement for attendance include verbal recognition, certificates and assemblies, and minor rewards (e.g., extra recess time).
Use data to monitor attendance: When feasible, school districts should dedicate staff time to monitoring attendance data to identify chronically absent students and ensure they receive support. These data can also be used to monitor trends over time and assess the effectiveness of a district’s attendance support system. Attendance Works, a nonprofit technical assistance provider focused on chronic absenteeism, provides free data tools for schools starting out on their journey using school attendance data.
Develop solutions that reflect needs: When a large number of students at a school are chronically absent, it may be the result of a shared set of systemic barriers. Convening students and their families (e.g., through a focus group) to identify the barriers they face can help schools identify priority areas for additional support services. For instance, if older students are missing school to provide child care for younger siblings, connecting families to local child care providers may be an impactful response.