Does Attendance Really Count in Our School?

A Tool for Self Assessment - (Revised Spring, 2010)

(Note: Chronic absence = missing 10% or more of school for any reason including excused and unexcused
absences. It is different from and can be masked by truancy (unexcused absences) or average daily
attendance (the percent of students who show up to school each day).
Key Element Streng OK Could Urgent Don’t Implication(s) for Action
th for Be Gap Know
Now Better
1. Every day, in every class, teachers take roll
accurately in a caring manner.
2. Attendance data is entered daily into an
electronic data base that can generate
regular reports on average daily
attendance, chronic absence & truancy.
3. An attendance team meets regularly to
review data to identify problematic and
positive attendance patterns by grade,
population of students and classroom .
4. Our school tracks and reaches out to
chronically absent students and their
families to see how attendance could be
improved.
5. Students with excessive excused absences
are required to provide a doctor’s note.
6. Individual learning plans are developed
for high-risk students exhibiting poor
academic performance and/or poor
attendance.
7. Our school partners with community
agencies that can help reach out and offer
resources to help chronically absent
students and their families
8. An effective school wide system of
attendance incentives is in place.
9. Our school informs parents about the
importance of attendance, works with
parents to identify common barriers and
encourages parents to help each other get
their children to school.
10. Our strategies for supporting student
1
 attendance are reflected in our school
improvement plan.
TOTAL
Key Element
1. Every day, in every class,
teachers take roll accurately
in a caring manner.
2. Attendance data is entered
daily into an electronic data
base that can generate
regular reports on average
daily attendance, chronic
absence and truancy.
3. Our school has an
attendance team that
regularly meets and
reviews . attendance data to
identify problematic and
positive patterns by grade,
population of students and
classroom.
4. Our school reaches out to
chronically absent students
and their families to see how
attendance could be
improved.
Additional Information
What does this mean? Reflections: What’s working? What’s
challenging?
Teachers take time and care to take roll every
day (and for every class in middle and high
school.) Students quickly notice if teachers
express concern if they were absent.
Ideally, schools should be able to review
attendance data reports on at least a monthly
if not weekly basis so they can detect trends
early. All three measures—average daily
attendance, chronic absence and truancy—
offer important insights.
The attendance team should include key
stakeholders (principal, attendance clerk,
parent liaison, social worker or nurse) who can
bring important and diverse perspectives to
bear when interpreting attendance data. It
should meet at least twice a month. High
levels of chronic absence can be used to
recognize problems in need of intervention
while good attendance data can be used to
identify promising practices worth replication.
A list of chronically absent students should be
generated daily or, at least, weekly. Outreach
could be conducted by a teacher, an
attendance clerk, or even a trained parent
volunteer—as long as there is a clear
procedure. Outreach should begin by finding
out what the family says are the reasons for
the chronic absence (e.g. illness,
transportation, extended vacation, child
doesn’t like school or feels bullied etc.)
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 Key Element
5. Students with excessive
excused absences are
required to provide a
doctor’s note.
6. Individual learning plans are
developed with high risk
students exhibiting poor
academic performance
and/or poor attendance.
7. Our school partners with
community agencies who
can help reach out and offer
resources to help chronically
absent students and their
families.
8. An effective schoolwide
system of attendance
incentives .
9. Our school informs parents
about the importance of
What does this mean? Reflections: What’s working? What’s
challenging?
Developing solutions requires knowing the
issues that contribute to poor attendance
Such a policy helps clarify whether the
absences are truly due to illness and should
therefore be excused vs. truant.
When students exhibit high risks then parents,
teachers, staff from partnering community
agencies and students themselves should
work together to develop and agree upon an
individual learning plan. Attendance and
academic performance should be explicitly
explored and
addressed.
A variety of community resources are known
to support improved attendance (afterschool
programming, health services, pre-K
programs, help with accessing tax credits or
other income supports, etc.) Sometimes these
partners are in a better position to reach out
to families because, for example, afterschool
providers have a different relationship to
parents. An understanding of critical barriers
to attendance can inform which partnerships
are most needed.
Low-cost attendance incentives, whether they
are material (such as pencil or popcorn
parties) or emotional (acknowledgement in
class, at morning assembly or in the school
newsletter, extra recess time, opportunities to
dress casually if uniforms are required) are
known to work, especially if they are part of a
school wide approach to creating a culture of
going to school regularly. Keep in mind the
importance of rewarding improved
attendance, not just perfect attendance.
Staff plays a key role in educating parents
about the adverse consequence of chronic
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Key Element
attendance, works with
parents to identify common
barriers and encourages
parents to help each other
get their children to school.
10. Our plans to support
student attendance are
incorporated into our school
improvement plans.
What does this mean? Reflections: What’s working? What’s
challenging?
absence and offering tips for how to avoid
missing school. Information can be offered
through parent workshops, parent/teacher
conferences and written communications.
Attendance workshops can combine advice
from an expert with opportunities for sharing
strategies and problem-solving among
parents. Parents also can offer critical
information about barriers to attendance
commonly faced by students at the school.
Every year, typically in the Spring, schools are
required to develop a plan for improving
student achievement, accompanied by a
budget for how resources will be used to carry
out this plan. To be sustainable, strategies for
improving attendance and reducing chronic
absences should be reflected in this plan.