Last spring, we wrote about piloting new approaches to tackling chronic absenteeism. In this pilot, educators analyzed attendance data in the Portal to differentiate between various types of chronic absenteeism and match students to appropriate supports and interventions.

Schools then implemented regular 1:1 interventions for “butterfly” students – students who want to be at school, but consistently miss a day or two each week. Over the summer, we reflected on the pilot and shared outcomes, learnings, and next steps. 

Now, we are embarking on year 2. We’ve realized that it’s imperative to address anticipated attendance challenge areas before we can focus on the “butterfly” students. This fall, we’ve started by looking at students who are attending school less than 50% of the time. These students are designated as severely chronically absent, and need to be reengaged or moved off the register. Jon Green, Lead Continuous Improvement Coach at New Visions for Public Schools, explained, “A school with too many students who are severely chronically absent will not be able to sustain the attention, resources, and staffing for other interventions, like the 1:1 butterfly check-ins.” Addressing students who are severely chronically absent early in the school year has allowed schools to turn their attention towards an early effort to engage butterfly students in the winter. Eric Friedman, the Director of Attendance in the Office of Superintendent Dr. Noah Angeles, explained that this work “frees up space and bandwidth for schools to focus on the butterflies.”

Before schools can even start the 1:1 butterfly interventions, there is a clear sequence of steps they can take to improve attendance across the school.

1. Public awareness campaign

This first wave of intervention addresses attendance for the whole school. The campaign seeks to emphasize how attendance can impact other outcomes, like academic achievement, postsecondary opportunities, and scholarships. This campaign could include sending fliers home about the importance of attendance and reviewing student attendance PDFs from the Portal during parent teacher conferences.
 

2. Housekeeping routines

This step addresses routines that educators can implement everyday to improve record-keeping and student engagement. Greeting students at the door of the school and classroom and including a do-now at the beginning of the lesson both support stronger attendance.
 

3. Acute academic disengagement

There is often an increase of 9th graders who start to struggle academically. These students sometimes start missing school because they become academically disengaged. Strong academic interventions can counteract this, including helping students understand and organize their work, get a better grasp on the content, and build skills to manage the heavier course load.

Moving forward, Friedman’s attendance team is focusing on strengthening what he calls “the three Cs: consistency, communication, connection.” This work focuses on data – “data drives everything,” explains Friedman. This includes how we capture and report attendance, how we use data, and how data analysis can drive outcomes. The communication work revolves around the strong collaboration between the schools, the Superintendent’s Office, and New Visions, and involves clear communication between all stakeholders. And making connections: the impact of the 1:1 check-ins has been clear, and we are starting to see how important real connections are.

While chronic absenteeism remains a national issue, it’s reassuring and emboldening that we have started to untangle some diagnostic need types and match them with appropriate interventions, rather than blanket efforts.