9 Strategies to Improving Student Attendance

It's no secret that regular, consistent attendance leads to student learning and a more positive school culture. Using your data, apply these 10 strategies to drive improvement in attendance. 

Data analysis is at the core of recognizing patterns in attendance and being able to intervene as early as possible. 

What research tells us about attendance:

• ½ of students who miss two to four days of school in September go on to miss about a month of school over the course of the year.
• Poor attendance influences whether a student reads by the end of third grade.
• By 6^th grade, chronic absenteeism can be a leading indicator a student will drop out of high school.

What we can do:

1. Start by analyzing your attendance data. What patterns do you notice? Are there specific time periods during the day where absenteeism is higher? Specific days of the month? Months of the year? Does attendance vary among demographic groups? Other groups? Getting clear about your data and the story they tell allows you to craft aligned and targeted interventions.
2. Engage parents. Build quality relationships and establish bi-directional communication so that you understand parents’ situations and they appreciate the importance of regular attendance. Leverage technology to keep parents informed of absences and tardies in a timely way.
3. Foster a positive culture. Do students feel valued? A sense of belonging? How do you know? Do they see purpose in the learning?
4. Implement incentives. How do you celebrate and recognize attendance?
5. Intervene early. Monitor your data and know who has been absent. Consider making calls home when those who’ve been absent are IN school. Let families know how you appreciated seeing their student today and what you observed the student learning.
6. Provide support. Connect students and families who face challenges that may be impacting their attendance to counselors and resources.
7. Collaborate with the community. Create a network of support to address external factors that may be affecting attendance. For example, you might discuss scheduling of appointments and availability of services outside of the typical school day,
8. Communicate expectations. Include comments about attendance and its significance to academic achievement in your everyday language. Take advantage of times when you have an audience of parents to reiterate the value of attendance and your expectations for students to be in school.
9. Schedule time regularly to analyze data. Be intentional about continuously reviewing data, identifying trends, implementing interventions, and monitoring those interventions. Adjust strategies and approaches.

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