Resources for student services professionals

With competing priorities and the desire to make it all happen, fast, crafting a strategic plan demands big picture thinking, with most including goals around achievement and graduation, overlooking attendance improvement. And yet so much of success stems from showing up. It’s why our district partners Stan Wojton, Principal on Special Assignment at Niagara Falls City School District, NY and Paul Milford, Coordinator, Social Work Services at School District of Lee County, FL recently shared how attendance can be woven into a strategic plan or leveraged to directly support existing goals to ensure maximum impact. Read on for the conversation’s key takeaways and some bonus strategies for making attendance a meaningful, sustainable priority and driver of 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.

As the school year begins, district leaders face a critical question: how do we make showing up feel essential, expected, and supported from day one?

Located in the heart of Arizona, Tempe Elementary Schools has been serving its community for over 150 years. The district supports a diverse population of more than 10,000 students across preschool through 8th grade. In recent years, like many districts nationwide, Tempe faced challenges with rising chronic absenteeism. Leading the district’s efforts to address this issue is Cindy Denton, Chief Technology, Innovation and Imagination Officer. A passionate and hands-on leader, Cindy has played a key role in driving positive change and strengthening attendance supports across the district.

Like many schools across the country, Ho'okele experienced a sharp increase in chronic absenteeism following the pandemic. Recognizing that attendance is the foundation for student learning and success, school leaders—especially school counselor Elizabeth Okamoto—mobilized quickly to turn things around.

When more than a third of students were chronically absent in 2022–23, Clark County School District (CCSD) took bold action. Through the “Every Day Matters” initiative, the district created a coordinated, community-wide approach to attendance—and the results are showing.

You may be looking beyond the school walls for a partner in attendance work, a wise decision that will support your students, families, and busy teams with ever-growing to-do lists. The good news is there are quite a few options to choose from, but it may feel overwhelming to decide which direction to take and which solution will work best for your district. EveryDay Labs and RaaWeeK12 are two popular attendance partners. As both are designed with the goal of improving student attendance, there are several similarities and differences between the two solutions. Read on to discover how each of these solutions can support your efforts in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy.

Located in Southern California about 30 miles east of Los Angeles, Glendora Unified School District serves over 6,500 students. Like many other districts in California and across the nation, Glendora faced elevated levels of chronic absenteeism in the post-Covid years. Over the past few years, Jocie Wilson, Director of Student & Family Support Services, has been leading the charge to improve attendance district-wide, with steady, sustainable success. 

You may be looking beyond the school walls for a partner in attendance work, a wise decision that will support your students, families, and busy teams with ever-growing to-do lists. The good news is there are quite a few options to choose from, but it may feel overwhelming to decide which direction to take and which solution will work best for your district. EveryDay Labs and PowerSchool Attendance Intervention (formerly known as Kinvolved) are two popular attendance partners. As both are designed with the goal of improving student attendance, there are several similarities and differences between the two solutions. Read on to discover how each of these solutions can support your efforts in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy.

You may be looking beyond the school walls for a partner in attendance work, a wise decision that will support your students, families, and busy teams with ever-growing to-do lists. The good news is there are quite a few options to choose from, but it may feel overwhelming to decide which direction to take and which solution will work best for your district. EveryDay Labs and SchoolStatus Attend (formerly known as A2A) are two popular attendance partners. As both are designed with the goal of improving student attendance, there are several similarities and differences between the two solutions. Read on to discover how each of these solutions can support your efforts in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy.

Choosing the best place to begin with attendance improvement initiatives can feel overwhelming. But with access to the right data, you can quickly spot trends and patterns that point to specific challenges that numerous students and families in your district may all share. This information can be used to craft a targeted, data-driven campaign that directly addresses specific attendance challenges. Our partners have seen great success implementing these types of campaigns: read on for the details and perhaps some inspiration to carry out your own in your district!

Poor attendance is a major hurdle to student success nationwide. But without every team member committed to improving attendance, getting more students back in class can be especially challenging. How can you engage an already thinly stretched team in attendance improvement? In this post, we’ll explore four ways to inspire educators across your entire district to feel invested in attendance improvement. From more accessible ways to leverage data to strategic partnerships, getting everyone on board with better attendance just got a little bit easier.

So much of learning recovery hinges on better student attendance. But among competing priorities, is addressing absenteeism rising to the top of your list? Taking a closer look at both your average daily attendance and chronic absenteeism rates is essential. Without a holistic view of the numbers, it’s hard to grasp a full understanding of the challenge, and building a strong strategy to properly address it is just downright impossible. In this post, we’ll explore four strategies for improving student outcomes through a lens of attendance & data insights.