As schools nationwide grapple with the reverberating impacts of the pandemic, a powerful truth has emerged: Strong family engagement is one of the most potent tools for boosting student attendance and achievement.
The data is striking. Schools with robust family engagement before COVID-19 had chronic absenteeism rates 6 percentage points lower than comparable schools struggling to connect with families. That’s the difference between sky-high absences and most students consistently showing up, ready to learn.
The impact doesn’t stop at attendance. These engaged schools saw significantly higher 2021-2022 math and reading scores, gains on par with replacing over half of the previous year’s remote learning with in-person instruction. Simply adding more in-person days alone didn’t correlate to better attendance or test participation.
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This illuminates an under-appreciated reality: When treating families as genuine partners, the payoffs transcend attendance. Students show up more engaged and absorb more.
The family engagement advantage revealed itself across all school types—those serving both affluent and low-income communities, elementary and high schools, urban and rural settings. An upfront investment in trusting relationships pays dividends.
Involving families in student attendance
What does building effective family engagement look like? Evidence points to eight core strategies:
- Prioritize accurate attendance tracking and regularly review data to identify at-risk students early.
- Foster an attendance-focused culture by embedding it into all communications, policies and celebrations.
- Provide proactive, engaging messaging spelling out attendance priorities in families’ home languages.
- Quickly initiate personalized interventions like calls, texts and meetings at the first sign of absences.
- For severe cases, coordinate intensive case management and wraparound services.
- Establish clear attendance teams, roles and accountabilities for executing strategies.
- Implement positive reinforcement systems such as rewards, recognition and attendance competitions.
- Continually track metrics, analyze trends and adapt approaches based on results.
A national survey illuminated a crucial gap in how schools communicate the importance of attendance to families. While schools are putting in efforts, nearly half (45%) of families reported only receiving messaging about attendance after their child had already missed school. This finding represents a pivotal missed opportunity for earlier intervention.
The data reveals families want more proactive and personalized guidance: 53% want to know how missing school specifically impacts their child’s academic performance and half seek information on the effects of tardiness. Furthermore, only 40% currently receive regular communications on concrete steps they can take to support better attendance.
By understanding these preferences for timely, actionable attendance messaging, schools can more effectively implement several of the evidence-based best practices. Prioritizing proactive communications in home languages that spell out the importance of attendance (best practice #3) addresses a key need.
Initiating personalized interventions like calls, texts and meetings at the first sign of absences (best practice #4) allows for the tailored guidance families desire but aren’t receiving. And implementing positive reinforcement systems (best practice #7) meets the over 70% of families wanting those motivational updates.
The reasons for the impact are clear. Partnered families develop greater motivation and accountability. They’re informed about the academic impacts of absences. And teachers can more readily understand and address root causes.
Single-semester turnaround
A newly released report supports the power of a comprehensive approach to managing student data. In just one year, participating districts reduced chronic absenteeism by a remarkable 22%, far outpacing national improvement rates. Elementary schools saw the highest reductions, with decreases of up to 27.8%.
One district, Prince William County Public Schools, faced chronic absenteeism rates nearing 40% among Hispanic and low-income students before implementing a proactive, data-driven attendance management system. Within a single semester, chronic absence rates stabilized district-wide. After the first full year, their overall chronic absenteeism dropped 18%.
No simple solution can single-handedly “solve” chronic absenteeism’s complexities. But prioritizing equitable family engagement opportunities is a proven, high-leverage strategy–one benefiting not just attendance, but achievement and school climate.
When schools face intense demands and limited resources, investing in family partnerships provides an undeniable return. By examining the data and bright spots, leaders can focus efforts on evidence-based practices moving the needle. For unlocking every student’s potential, family engagement stands out as one of the smartest investments we can make.
