EveryDay Labs vs. SchoolStatus Attend

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.

Similarities: Attendance Data Analytics Platform and Multi-Channel Communications

EveryDay Labs and SchoolStatus Attend both feature attendance data analytics and strategic family communications intended to help increase attendance and support families and students. This includes:

• Robust data analytics platform
• Ability to send text messages and emails directly from the platform or arrange for the partner to text or mail attendance communications on the district’s behalf, leveraging the latest student attendance data.
• Family communication templates including: chronic absenteeism communications, truancy notices, and positive messaging.

While there is a clear overlap in what each partner offers, the approaches, resources, and research base for each solution differ in several key ways. 

Key Differences: Evidence Base, Family Support, Tailored to District Needs, Professional Learning, Customer Support

Evidence Base

While communications from both providers set out to improve attendance, only those from EveryDay Labs are proven to reduce chronic absenteeism. 

Tested through numerous randomized controlled trials, chronic absenteeism nudges from EveryDay Labs are proven to reduce chronic absenteeism over and above any other district initiative, which is why their intervention is the only one to be given the “Strong Evidence” distinction under Johns Hopkins’ Evidence for ESSA. 

Truancy notices from EveryDay Labs also have the evidence-backed advantage, proven to be 40% more effective than standard truancy notices, which are often punitive and confusing. 

In a recent study of an EveryDay Labs partnership with DC Public Schools and DC Public Charter Schools, EveryDay Labs chronic absenteeism nudges not only reduced absenteeism by 6.3%, but were also 52 times more cost-effective in recovering absences than mentoring and 21 times more cost effective than tutoring. 

‍Family Support Features

While both solutions give educators the ability to send out family communications directly from the platform, EveryDay Labs adds several additional layers of family support to help districts strengthen family-school partnerships. This includes: 

24/7 Family Support Bot—Upon responding to a chronic absenteeism text nudge, families are instantly connected to our Family Support Bot. Designed to help families overcome barriers to attendance, it serves up district and community resources to help make getting to school easier, including transportation, wellness services, and food distribution. 

Multilingual Family Support Team– Whether referred by the Family Support Bot or the dedicated phone number on the mailed chronic absenteeism nudge, families can find additional support via the live, multilingual Family Support Team. Ready to answer questions about student attendance and direct families to the right resource, no other attendance solution provides tailored support with a human touch quite like our Family Support Team

Tailored to District Needs

Every district is different, and so are their families. That’s why EveryDay Labs offer flexibility in the types of communications and their featured content. A new feature of the EveryDay Labs platform includes a bank of user-generated content, where educators can customize the messages going out to families so that they are aligned with their attendance practices, resonate with their diverse audience, and help nurture stronger family-district partnerships.

Professional Learning

Both SchoolStatus Attend and EveryDay Labs intend to support all educators in improving attendance. However, EveryDay Labs goes the extra mile with ongoing professional learning throughout the school year to help educators build capacity for more efficient and effective attendance work. This includes monthly live webinars led by resident attendance experts, along with a pre-recorded series that coaches educators on best practices for a tiered approach to attendance improvement. Additionally, EveryDay Labs provides a forum for users to connect via a dedicated Community, where teams can connect, celebrate, share best practices, and seek out advice from other practitioners dedicated to attendance improvement. 

Customer Support

We often hear that our level of customer service is one of the big things that stands out for our partners. Attendance improvement work is difficult, which is why EveryDay Labs provides each of our partners with a dedicated Customer Success Manager, available for regular meetings and ongoing guidance throughout the year. Additionally, users can reach our dedicated support team via email or chat directly within the EveryDay Labs platform, with a response time of usually 12 hours or less. 

Interested in hearing more about how EveryDay Labs can support your attendance efforts? Reach out anytime! 

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