School leaders can put a variety of measures in place to ensure that students feel safe, supported, and capable of learning.

CreatE a Welcoming, Safe, and Supportive Environment

Communication was sent in multiple languages, using a variety of methods ClassDojo, Facebook, newsletters, infographics, phone calls, and in-person conferences. Our goal was to build relationships with families, promoting awareness of the importance of attending school and supporting their needs along the way.

We started with our home-grown school-based teams, which we refer to as “Be There.” The teams attended a series of professional learning sessions that equipped them to take action toward improving student attendance and to revise their perspective about why students might be missing school.

Increase Communication with Families

As elementary school leaders in New Jersey, we know firsthand that student attendance directly impacts academic progress, social and emotional outcomes, and long-term success.

Our district became concerned with the decrease in student attendance before, during, and after the pandemic, and focused our collective attention on specific evidence-based actions to make a difference.

Provide Early Outreach and Tiered Interventions

An important part of this journey was to ensure that we clearly understood state regulations for student attendance and reflected them in our district policy, which ultimately translated to daily protocols within our schools.

Our major priority was to identify students early before they became chronically absent. To help make that happen, we regularly analyzed data and implemented a tiered approach to identify students.