Is Chronic Absenteeism our Greatest Threat?

Driving at the root cause to increase attendance and achievement.

The pandemic has taken its toll in countless ways. Perhaps the most consequential is increased chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing at least 10% of schools days. A recent McKinsey s tudy from July 2021 reported chronic absenteeism increased 12% in the last year for 8th to 12th grade students. Among those, 42% are not attending ANY school at all.

The reasons range from COVID precautions, disconnected relationships, punitive responses, economic hardship, transportation, and many more. However, without clearly understanding the barriers a student is facing, how does one begin to address the problem? Providing families with an easy way to share the causes behind these absences is the first step to increasing attendance. Capturing this data must be grounded in equity as chronic absenteeism unfairly impacts students of color, FRPL, and those with IEPs (disabilities).

Attendance Works issued a helpful guide of strategies to reduce absences.

Flyer Connect saw this as an opportunity to combine the above strategies with an equitable engagement approach for families to report absences:

Without the fear of having to speak English
Without having to remember a complicated username or password
Directly from their phone or any device in their language

Most importantly, the Absence Form gives schools the opportunity to respond with Multi-Tiered supports to alleviate the families' challenges.

Here's how it works; as a family member, I view and complete the Absence Form on my phone or the school website in my language. In addition to basic information, the family is prompted to specify a reason (holiday, doctor's appointment, transportation, other) which unveils more specific causes for the absence (transportation, food, a student working (money), illness, etc.).

Based on the results of the form, appropriate resources may be automatically alerted to contact the family via Flyer Connect's two-way translation platform to provide support and resources to alleviate their issues.

Imagine moving from an automated robocall to a Family Liaison or Social Worker ready with resources! Solving the root cause of chronic absenteeism can not only improved attendance but also allow the families and students to focus on their academics thereby increasing student achievement.

If this or other Flyer Connect tools can support your attendance and achievement goals contact us today.

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