Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absence
Multi-Tiered System of Support
Research shows that effective solutions to chronic absence use a positive, relationship-based approach with students, families, and the school community.
According to Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, “Effective approaches to chronic absence cultivate student and family engagement, so that families and students are not problems to be solved but are active in designing the solutions.” Evidence indicates that punishing students and families does not work to solve the problem.
Developing a Relationship-Based Effort
Success in reducing chronic absence requires building trust, listening to families, and engaging them in authentic ways that will support academic success and re-establish a norm of attendance every day.
“Relational trust is the glue that holds everything together,“ according to Dr. Karen Mapp, senior researcher at Harvard Graduate School of Education. “If you skip over the step of building authentic and trusting relationships with your families and the community,” said Mapp, “then all of those wonderful initiatives that you attempt to put into place don’t have a strong foundation on which to sit.”
Building trust centers on active listening, engaging in two-way communication, and giving students and families the space and opportunity to share barriers to attendance and to collaborate on ideas for possible solutions.
Improving chronic absence requires creating positive behavior changes that will help students and families work through the issues that are causing them to miss school. Big success happens when schools shift from an approach that blames students and parents to an approach that seeks to become partners together. Family engagement, positive partnership, and communication are key to successfully reducing chronic absence.
Changing the Power Dynamic: Shifting to a Partnership Approach
Do you think your school takes a problem-focused or a partnership-focused approach to working with families? How do you know? What are other mindsets around attendance that you believe must shift to be successful at your school or district?
A Framework for Improving Attendance
In addition to strengthening relationships with students and families through a partnership approach, experts say that implementing a multi-tiered system of support is the most effective framework for improving attendance. In this approach, schools tailor responses and develop different prevention and intervention strategies based on the level and severity of chronic absence.
Multi-tiered System of Support for Attendance
Source: Attendance Works
Assessing School Climate
To begin with, this approach recognizes the importance of looking at the foundation of the school climate itself when starting to address chronic absence. This means taking an honest look at what is currently in place and how well a school has established a positive and engaging climate for learning. When there is a positive climate for learning, students are likely to attend school.
| Signs of Negative School Climate/Conditions for Learning | Signs of Positive School Climate/Conditions for Learning |
| Lack of ability to build community and relationships with students and families. | Relationship building is intentional; school staff build positive relationships with students and families. Trust has been created. |
| Students and families feel disconnected from school. Students may experience negative peer relationships or weak relationships between students and staff. Students do not feel meaningfully connected to their teachers or any caring adult at school. | A sense of belonging is pervasive. Students and families feel personally connected to school, their peers, and their teachers. There is active student and family engagement. There may be advisory boards and meetings to build community. |
| Students may not feel physically, emotionally, or mentally safe at school. School is not a healthy and welcoming place to be or learn. | Students feel physically, mentally, and emotionally safe. School is a welcoming place to be and learn. |
| There is little intention or capacity to support student and teacher well-being. | Student and teacher well-being is actively supported; trauma-informed practice is evident and there is adult capacity to handle and support student well-being. |
| Students and/or teachers do not have a sense of agency, efficacy, or community in their school environments. | Students and teachers feel a sense of agency, community, and that they are listened to and respected. |
| Students are disengaged in learning; content is irrelevant, off-task behavior is regular. There is little evidence of meaningful or high expectations for students. | Students are engaged in learning; curriculum and content is relevant, challenging, interactive, and student-centered. Learning supports are available for students who need them. |
| High teacher and school leader turnover. Little sense of shared mission and purpose. | Normal to below-normal teacher and school leader turnover. Staff is collaborative and feel a sense of efficacy and shared purpose. |
Foundational Supports
Research shows ensuring students, families, and teachers have positive relationships at school is central to having students and families value coming to school. If students have strong and caring connections to at least one adult and to their peers, they are more likely to come to school.
When chronic absence is a problem, it can be an indication that two or more conditions of positive learning are missing for students.
There are many ways to build positive relationships and conditions for learning with students and families. These strategies range from classroom learning and management strategies to whole-school strategies for student and family engagement and student support opportunities.
For example, these strategies might include:
- Ensuring teachers establish relationship-building as a priority before day one of the school year.
- Looking at daily classroom routines and how they can be crafted to create a sense of belonging and to support well-being.
- Examining the tone and content of school and teacher communications to ensure they are positive, respectful, and easy to understand for families.
- Bringing in community partners to create positive learning opportunities and to provide services and resources for students and families at a school campus.
Tier 1: Prevention Supports for All Students and Families
In addition to looking at the foundation of school climate, schools can institute universal prevention practices and strategies that are geared to impact all students and families around establishing and incentivizing a norm of daily attendance.
Examples of Tier 1 universal attendance supports:
- Impact of attendance is communicated to students and parents with clear, concise, and consistent messaging about attendance expectations.
- Routines, rituals, and celebrations related to attendance and engagement are established, such as positive greetings at the door, etc.
- Personalized, positive communication is made to families when students are absent, such as customized letters, emails, phone calls, and text messages.
- Improved attendance is recognized with a reward system.
- Connections to caring adults in the school are established and monitored.
Considerations Around Incentives
Incentives are often used by school systems as part of their approach to reduce chronic absence. Experts share that incentives for attendance are most effective when they focus on recognition and rewards for good and improved attendance. Research shows that using perfect attendance as a goal for reward can negatively impact students who are at-risk for chronic absence. Too much focus on perfect attendance for relatively long periods of time doesn’t help to improve attendance because students lose the incentive to participate after they miss a day. Attendance Works has developed key guidelines for developing incentives to help schools create recognition and rewards for improving attendance that will work.
Tier 2: Strategies for Early Intervention
Tier 2 strategies can be implemented to support students missing 10%-19% of school. These strategies should focus on intervention as early as possible. When a student misses 10% of school in the prior year or in the current year (two days a month), it should signal the need for early outreach and a Tier 2 intervention. These strategies work to address specific barriers to attendance that students are experiencing.
Understanding specific school data and contributing factors to missing school is key to choosing appropriate Tier 2 strategies. Successful Tier 2 strategies also include adding positive support for students, such as mentoring, to help them want to come to school.
Examples of Tier 2 targeted supports for students missing 10%-19%:
- Common community and school barriers are identified and addressed, such as transportation issues, safe route to school, etc.
- Individualized student success plans include attention to attendance.
- Home visits from teachers, counselors, or administrators to engage families.
- Mentors/caring adults are matched with students on campus.
- Daily check-ins with students with a regular school contact to establish close relationships, explore barriers, and provide positive connection and reinforcement.
- Expanded learning opportunities and supports are provided, such as tutoring.
Tier 3: Intensive Intervention Strategies
Tier 3 intensive interventions are needed when students miss 20% or more of school. Intensive outreach is activated when it has been determined that:
- Student missed 20% or more of school in prior school year (severely chronically absent).
- Student has missed 20% or more of school during current year.
- Student already qualifies for McKinney-Vento services, is in foster care, or is involved in juvenile justice.
- Student’s attendance has not improved with Tier 2 supports.
Tier 3 strategies involve individual student plans and coordination with a student’s family. These strategies often involve partnering with other agencies and working at the case management level to help get students to school.
Examples of Tier 3 supports:
- A teacher/mentor, counselor or other school staff member provides sustained, one-on-one attention and problem solving with the student.
- School personnel do one or more home visits to further investigate and problem solve with the family.
- Referrals are made to mental health, child welfare, or other support services as needed, using strategically-chosen interventions and community partners.
- Intensive case management is implemented with coordination of public agency and legal response as needed.
- Habitually truant students are referred to the appropriate intervention or protocol.
Early Intervention & Personal Communication
Schools and districts that have effectively reduced chronic absence often point to early intervention as a key to their success. This approach involves reaching out to parents as soon as students have missed school. Successful districts and schools have developed strategies that target and address absences immediately and with care in the first 20 days of instruction in a school year. Based on a 2023 survey, 72% of parents say they want to hear about the importance of attending school, but just 42% reported hearing from any school staff member at all about the topic in the past six months.
Several studies have shown the effectiveness of targeted, personal early communication when students are absent. Phone calls or text messages to parents expressing concern and offering assistance on the day of absence is an effective way to build relationships and reduce absenteeism. In one study, teachers sent targeted messages to parents of kindergarten students on the day they missed school, expressing concern and offering assistance. Based on parents’ responses, teachers linked families to resources, such as transportation, temporary housing, or clean clothes. These messages reduced chronic absenteeism rates by 11 percentage points.