For Principals: Leading Attendance Through Engagement
Showing up for school matters! As a principal, you are uniquely positioned to make a difference. Attendance rises when you champion a comprehensive, tiered approach that aligns with your goals to promote student engagement and academic outcomes. You can draw on a wealth of proven practices that have a track record of raising attendance rates.
We know that attendance and engagement improve when schools, families, students and communities work together to overcome barriers both inside and outside schools. (When we use the term family, we mean the adults in a student’s life who have the responsibility for supporting and making educational decisions for him or her.)
Together with your school team, craft a yearlong plan with strategic, multi-tiered interventions that respond to root causes, strengthen positive conditions for learning and ensure that every student is supported to attend and thrive. This shift away from case management or punitive responses allows schools to support all students, not just those with the highest number of absences (see image).
Chronic absence (defined as missing 10% or more of school days for any reason) can be an early warning sign of academic trouble, whether a student is in kindergarten or high school — even as early as the first month of the school year. When left unaddressed, chronic absence can lead to lower reading proficiency by third grade, academic struggles in middle school and higher dropout rates in high school, according to research. Poor attendance affects social and emotional well-being as well as the development of executive functioning skills. When large numbers of students are chronically absent, the resulting churn disrupts learning for all students and limits teachers’ ability to provide effective instruction.
New research comparing prepandemic and postpandemic attendance data shows that relationships and a positive school climate matter more than ever. The good news is that schools can take action on their own by introducing practices to create a welcoming environment that supports student achievement and well-being.
Follow the five links below to find strategies, tools and messaging to improve attendance in your school. Keep in mind the importance of tailoring these approaches to take advantage of policies and practices in your district.