How Data Helps Prevent Chronic Absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism is one of the toughest challenges districts face. Solving it starts with the right data. Leaders need visibility into which schools struggle most, which students need immediate support, and whether current interventions are actually working.

The problem? Attendance data is often scattered, hard to access, or too high-level to drive real action. That’s why districts nationwide are turning to SchoolStatus Attend.

By integrating with SIS providers, SchoolStatus Attend transforms raw data into actionable insights, allowing districts to take targeted actions.

Read below to see how your district can use data surfaced in SchoolStatus Attend to strategically improve attendance.

Analyze Data School by School

District-wide attendance data may not show problems at individual schools or specific grades. 

The Attendance Rate report in SchoolStatus Attend allows you to quickly break down absences by school to pinpoint where support is needed most. For even deeper analysis, you can see which grades in those schools have the highest number of absent students.

Armed with the right data, you have options for how to intervene. You might:

• Implement MTSS Tier 1 supports like classroom jobs, morning meetings, or positive reinforcement programs at schools experiencing the highest rates of absenteeism
• Meet with teachers at schools struggling with absences to craft a family engagement plan
• Work with the grade level team experiencing the highest number of absences to determine if there are persistent challenges holding students back from attending school

With limited resources and even less time, district leaders need to know which schools require more intensive support, and SchoolStatus Attend makes those insights visible at a glance.

See which Students are Likely to Be Chronically Absent

Once a student is officially classified as chronically absent, bringing them back becomes an uphill battle. The solution to this sad fact is to prevent students from becoming chronically absent.

Our new feature, Early Warning Insights, helps in this effort by analyzing student data from the first 60 days of school to determine which students are likely to end the year chronically absent. Students who meet the criteria are visible on district dashboards and on individual student reports.

⭐️ Want to see it in action? Request a personalized demo of SchoolStatus Attend. ⭐️

When both district leaders and school-level staff know which students are most likely to be chronically absent, they can intervene early. Options include holding family conferences to uncover barriers, checking in with students to make them feel seen, or coordinating resources to address specific needs.

Tier 2 MTSS interventions are all about removing barriers for students who are likely to become chronically absent. But, how can you remove those barriers if you don’t know who those students are? Early Warning Insights takes care of identifying students, so you can focus on delivering the right interventions.

Identify Concerning Trends

Before problems set in, there are often signs. For example, a school with traditionally excellent attendance may see data slide infinitesimally for years before it becomes a real problem.

The Year-Over-Year report shows how attendance is improving or declining from the previous year’s data. District leaders, like you, can use this data to celebrate improvements in attendance and encourage schools to keep going. Conversely, you can quickly identify which schools are trending in the wrong direction to take action before a culture of absenteeism sets in.

Like issues with individual students, early action at the school level is most effective.

Determine What’s Working and What Needs Improvement

Districts across the country are using multiple strategies to prevent chronic absenteeism. However, it’s often unclear what’s moving the needle and what’s a waste of time and resources.

That’s not the case for districts leveraging SchoolStatus Attend. Instead, they have access to comprehensive data that makes it easy to determine what efforts to double down on and which to abandon. For example, districts can analyze:

• Conference effectiveness to see how engaging families is impacting attendance
• Intervention impact to understand how the automated interventions sent through SchoolStatus Attend are improving attendance
• Digital engagement to get quick insights into how families are interacting with digital efforts to curb absenteeism
  

Together, these reports help districts get a clear view of everything they’re doing to combat chronic absenteeism and how it’s going.

Use Data to Inspire Action

Fixing tough, complex challenges like chronic absenteeism requires being armed with the right data. Without it, you’re bound to take ineffective action aimed at the wrong groups. Luckily, SchoolStatus Attend can help you get the right attendance data.We’d love to show you all of the data available in SchoolStatus Attend in a personalized demo. Let us know how we can help!