This is a Q&A with Saleem Qazi, CEO and founder of RaaWee K12 Solutions, a company specializing in web-based solutions for chronic absence and truancy prevention in public schools.
Attendance Works: Saleem, could you share how you first became aware of the issue of chronic absence?
Saleem: Absolutely. I met Hedy at a conference in California back in March of 2015; it’s hard to believe it was 10 years ago. At that time, I was involved in developing a truancy prevention system for United ISD in Laredo, Texas. I wasn’t familiar with chronic absence until I heard Hedy speak. Her insights were both enlightening and inspirational.
It motivated me to follow Attendance Works more closely and led to the launch of RaaWee K12 Solutions, focusing exclusively on attendance improvement solutions for public schools and districts across the United States.
Attendance Works: Can you elaborate on the technology you developed and how it evolved to address chronic absence?
Saleem: RaaWee is proud to have remained solely focused on attendance improvement solutions for more than a decade now. This focus has allowed us to develop a state-of-the-art tool set for educational leaders. Our technology streamlines the process for schools dealing with truancy and chronic absence. It helps identify students at risk of being chronically absent and facilitates family engagement. The system aggregates data from various sources, significantly reducing the workload for school staff. With our system, they can easily track student attendance and interventions in one place. In turn, this allows school staff more time for family relationship building.
Attendance Works: Have you seen any notable results from districts using your platform?
Saleem: Yes, one of our partner districts in Indiana improved their Average Daily Attendance (ADA) by 8% in just one year after implementing our system. This level of improvement is quite rare and speaks to the effectiveness of our approach. But, all of our district partners actively using the RaaWee system have made positive gains.
Attendance Works: RaaWee has supported the Attendance Awareness Campaign for several years now. What motivates your support for this campaign?
Saleem: I believe in giving back to the community. Attendance Works has played a crucial role in raising awareness about attendance issues, not just among students and families, but also among school leadership. Your efforts have created a significant impact and we want to contribute to that in as many ways as possible. Our past and upcoming years’ support are truly a pleasure.
Attendance Works: In this year’s AAC, we are lifting up solutions and interventions to improve student attendance and engagement, because we want to emphasize that awareness alone isn’t enough.
Saleem: Going beyond awareness is key for RaaWee as well. We look forward to being a part of the intervention management and technology solutions as you expand your campaigns to these next steps. One suggestion I have is to focus on commitment levels among leadership in schools to ensure plans are executed effectively.
Attendance Works: Saleem, could you clarify how your technology interacts with school information systems?
Saleem: Our system integrates with various student information systems (SIS). We establish a bridge with the district’s IT team to ensure real-time updates. This way, interventions proposed to the district plan are visible immediately, making it easier for staff to respond. In addition, it tracks the effectiveness of interventions by identifying when, in relation to an intervention, the absences end (or continue).
Attendance Works: Could you share some of the resources RaaWee offers?
Saleem: Yes, within our RaaWee K12 Attendance+ system, we provide customizable templates for letters and recognition postcards. Districts can incorporate resources from Attendance Works into our platform as well.
We are also excited to share our new version of our Definitive Guide for Attendance Improvement that aligns with your Attendance Works approach and companion hands-on strategy workshops for districts.
As additional support to our essential district partner attendance improvement champions, we also provide extensive best practices sharing events, videos, blogs and case studies. These resources are available to all active educators at no charge. We encourage educators to visit www.raaweek12.com/best-practices/ for more ideas and colleague networking.