The most effective messages don’t just inform families that their child missed school. They shift perspective, correct misperceptions, and prompt action. While it may seem like a quick fix to start sending out proactive messages, don’t underestimate the level of detail and strategy that makes these letters effective. Let’s dive into some of the behavioral principles that can turn your communications from meh to motivational.

Chronic absenteeism is one of the most persistent challenges school systems face today, impacting everything from student achievement to school funding. There are numerous options for educators seeking an attendance partner, with new ones regularly popping up to meet district needs. The family communication platform TalkingPoints recently launched their Attendance Improvement Plus add-on package to support educators. Both EveryDay Labs and TalkingPoints aim to improve attendance outcomes, but with different strengths, features, and approaches. Read on and explore what solutions have in common and their differences. 

The new year also gives schools something powerful to work with: a natural reset. Before you head out for the holiday break, consider how you can make the most of the powerful but brief “new year, new me” window and re-establish strong attendance momentum in the new year.

In a recent webinar hosted by EAB and Everyday Labs, we covered research and trends in chronic absenteeism, what’s changed since the pandemic, and how districts can use behavioral science to reduce absences — especially around the fall and winter “dip” days. If you missed the session, you’ll want to read on for research and immediate actions you can take to keep attendance on track this year.

Effective communication is likely a key part of your attendance improvement strategy, and perhaps you are looking for a partner to support this important work. With numerous options to choose from, it may feel overwhelming to determine which direction to take and which solution will work best for your district. EveryDay Labs and ParentSquare are two widely used platforms for school-home communications and complement each other well. Both reach families at scale to help keep conversations going and strengthen connections. Read on to see how they compare and how they may both fit into your efforts to decrease chronic absenteeism and support student success.

At EveryDay Labs, we know that attendance success isn’t just about reminding families when students are absent—it’s about building positive habits, celebrating progress, and preventing future absences. That’s why we’re excited to announce new functionality in our platform: the ability to send a much broader range of attendance communications via text.

Behavioral science offers us a powerful set of tools to make policies more understandable, memorable, and actionable. Here are five key strategies districts can use to make their attendance policies easier for families to understand and more effective.

The Tangipahoa Parish School System (TPSS) serves 19,200 students across 34 campuses in southeastern Louisiana. After the pandemic it became clear that low student attendance was getting in the way of academic achievement. In the 23-24 school year, over 37% of Tangipahoa students were chronically absent, missing 10% or more school days. Recognizing that addressing chronic absenteeism would be necessary in order to increase academic achievement, Superintendent Melissa Stilley prioritized improvement as one of three strategic “rocks”, and TPSS launched a partnership with EveryDay Labs in 2024. The partnership was part of a pilot funded by the Louisiana State Department of Education to improve student attendance in select districts across the state. Over the first full year of the partnership, TPSS achieved incredible success, reducing the number of chronically absent students by 19% (6.8 percentage points), and increased attendance by over 43,000 days.

Facing elevated chronic absenteeism rates post-pandemic, the team needed a more efficient way to deliver excellent communications and meaningful touchpoints to their school community, all while meeting the myriad other demands of the Front Office. Read on to discover how the Alpha team shifted from sending DIY nudges to bringing a trusted partner on board to increase staff capacity and improve attendance.

We partner with over 60 districts across the country to help them supercharge family engagement, build a strong culture of attendance, and transform student outcomes. Just like so many other educators, our district partners are busy juggling competing priorities and providing families and students the support they need for success. This year, we were thrilled to see some real progress across all of our partnerships. Read on for the highlights!

In a recent piece from NPR’s On Point, educators, caretakers, and attendance experts weigh in the absenteeism challenges they face. Our Chief Scientist & co-founder Dr. Todd Rogers pops in around the 32 minute mark to share more about the research behind our attendance nudges and truancy notices.

Strong family-school partnerships are critical to better attendance and student outcomes. But building these authentic relationships isn’t easy. In our continued work to better support educators and the families and students they serve, we regularly survey families across the country to learn more about their experiences. If you’re looking to freshen up your communications and help more families and students get to school every day, read on for some great insights!

Communicating effectively is not easy. Behavioral science, the study of when and why people engage in certain behaviors, taking into account the influence of factors such as habits and routines, motivation, and influences from others, can help. From simplifying your message to laying the groundwork for positive action, we’ve highlighted several strategies to try in your family communications.

While there are numerous promising solutions for addressing absenteeism, a data-driven approach to your MTSS and overall attendance strategy is a must. There’s no shortage of data in today’s world of information overload, which is why it’s important to be mindful of what types of data you’re collecting and analyzing. Is it immediately actionable? Will it help you provide strategic support, or will it just add to the noise? Read on as we explore five ways that a smart data-driven approach will help supercharge your attendance efforts.

You’re a dedicated educator willing to try anything to help improve attendance, academic outcomes, and overall student success. Many districts have been intentionally sending attendance communications and have been encouraged by reduced rates of absenteeism, but others are still skeptical about how they should be deployed, and whether they’re worth doing at all. Let’s dive into 7 common myths about attendance communications and get to the truth.

This week, management and organization scholars from across the globe convened for the 83rd Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management. Our co-founder & Chief Scientist Dr. Todd Rogers was in attendance in his capacity as Professor of Public Policy at Harvard. He shared the story of how EveryDay Labs and the EveryDay Labs Platform were born, how it was scaled across the country, and the impact of better attendance on future worker earnings.

Reducing chronic absenteeism is no easy feat, and requires a multifaceted approach. If you’re looking for new ways to help students across your district maximize their learning opportunities, we’ve highlighted five strategies that can help.

A summary of the Campaign for Early Grade Reading's webinar with Dr. Todd Rogers and Hedy Chang focused on how district administrators can leverage behavioral science insights to support families, particularly during COVID-19.