Giving Compass' Take:

• David Hardy describes steps that schools can take to reduce chronic absenteeism among students. 

• How can philanthropists help school districts adopt these practices? Are these interventions sufficient for schools with large numbers of low-income and disadvantaged students? 

• Learn how nudges can reduce chronic absenteeism. 

  1. Communicate attendance expectations: Be sure to explain the importance of attendance and why being on time and in school matters.
  2. Form an attendance team: The team monitors attendance daily, tracks progress toward attendance goals, and communicates with parents and students about issues as they arise. Parents should be notified of an absence as early in the day as possible.
  3. Intervene early: To prevent small problems from becoming large problems, it is also helpful to create and set “triggers” to instantly alert the attendance team and school leaders to absences.
  4. Track the positivity ratio: Negative reinforcement, e.g. a verbal reprimand for a problem behavior, tends to stick longer with students, and it takes a lot of positive reinforcement to get a child back on track.
  5. Create a more positive school culture: When students feel happy and safe, physically and emotionally, they engage in school.
  6. Make it easy to track and act on real-time data: Having a mobile app or web platform, as opposed to a paper-based system or disjoined systems, can save teachers countless hours of time.
  7. Celebrate successes: Create rituals and ceremonies to celebrate individual, class, and school-wide successes to keep the momentum going.
  8. Provide additional support systems: Some students, of course, may need additional support. Designate one person or a team to greet children as they arrive at school to make it easy for them to ask someone for help if their day is starting off rough.

Read the full article about preventing chronic absenteeism by David Hardy at Education Dive.