More Research and Expert Opinion

As the year comes to a close and you begin planning for the next, why not incorporate some strategies from an educator just like you who is successfully working to improve attendance? Dr. Amanda Castro, Director of Student Affairs at the rapidly growing district of Pflugerville ISD, Texas, will be dropping in live on April 24 for just 30 minutes to share how the team is improving attendance districtwide through data systems that enable more efficient teamwork and strategic family outreach.

As the weather improves and the end of the year feels just within reach, attendance has been known to take a dip, a phenomenon known as the Spring Slide. Not to be taken lightly, spring absences are in fact more harmful because students miss more rigorous lessons that build on the instruction from the fall and winter months. After analyzing 23-24 attendance data from our partner districts, including both students who received our intervention and those who didn’t, we found insights that underscored the power of early intervention, and debunked some convictions around the Spring Slide being a high school only problem. Read on for the details!

Last month, our partner at Berkeley Unified School District, Director of Student Services Dr. Phillip Shelley, joined us live to share how he is keeping the energy and attendance high through the spring months with a district-wide March Madness competition. If you missed it, read on for the highlights!

Choosing the best place to begin with attendance improvement initiatives can feel overwhelming. But with access to the right data, you can quickly spot trends and patterns that point to specific challenges that numerous students and families in your district may all share. This information can be used to craft a targeted, data-driven campaign that directly addresses specific attendance challenges. Our partners have seen great success implementing these types of campaigns: read on for the details and perhaps some inspiration to carry out your own in your district!

If you're looking to transform attendance across your district, check out how our partners in Portsmouth Public Schools in Virginia reduced chronic absenteeism by nearly half through better data systems and optimized teamwork. Read on to hear from Dr. Angela Flowers, Director of Student Services at Portsmouth as she shares her team's journey and success.