Explore Resources for schools
- Addressing Race and Trauma in the Classroom: A Resource for Educators The National Child Traumatic Stress Network. Offers a brief overview of trauma and its effects on students in the classroom and provides some recommendations and resources for educators.
- Addressing Anti-Asian Resources A list of resources for addressing anti-Asian and anti-Asian COVID racism developed by the Portland Public Schools. It also includes a list of fiction and non-fiction books for students of all ages from picture books to young adult to adult.
- Disrupting Inequity: Having Brave Conversations about Bias. Change starts with education. UnboundEd offers a free toolkit for facilitated conversations about race, bias and prejudice, so we can all listen, lead and teach towards equity. The toolkit contains overview of a facilitated conversation, individual Powerpoint presentations and resources and activities that will help you move through each part of the conversation.
- Speak Up At School: How to Respond to Everyday Prejudice, Bias and Stereotypes Students who experience prejudice or bias are more likely to stop attending school. This is a guide from Teaching Tolerance for adults who want to develop the skills to speak up themselves and who want to help students find the courage to speak up too. It includes strategies and resources for students in pre-K through high school.
- The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth Edited by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson, this book is an anthology by thirty authors and illustrators to engage young people in frank conversations about race, identity, and self-esteem.
- Engage Families Early: Begin partnering with families early in the school year. A key step to building a positive relationship between families and schools is through the child’s teacher.
- Building Relationships in the Beginning of the Year was designed for educators by the Flamboyan Foundation. The tool provides insights and tools that can be used to build intentional, thoughtful relationships at the beginning of the year to better understand each student and what they need for success.
- Transition to Kindergarten: Families know their child best. This worksheet developed by the Ready Freddy Team at the University of Pittsburgh helps families introduce important information to their child's new teacher.
- Establish a Positive Relationship: In addition to the “robo calls” that are made the morning the student is absent, families appreciate a call from the teacher who can ask about their child and let them know their child was missed. These calls can occur after the child has missed 1 to 3 days and then again when the child has missed 4 to 6 days.
- Six Types of Parental Involvement: Based on research from Joyce Epstein and the National Network for Partnership Schools, this is a framework for 6 types of involvement.
- Take a Strengths-Based Approach: Don't assume that families don't care if a child is chronically absent, they may care deeply. Ask about what they do with their child that works. Share positive activities their child is involved in.
- Helping Families Ask Good Questions is a short article by Luz Santana in ASCD that highlights a simple process that enables families to identify what they want to know instead of the old approach of telling families what they should know.
- Family Support Meeting Sheet
provides steps to implement an effective family and team process so together the team and family can get the family's needs met and ensure the safety for all family members. It was developed by families as part of the Community Partners for Protecting Children, a program of The Opportunity Alliance.
- Remember Family Engagement is an On-Going Process, not a one time event: Creating on-going opportunities for conversation with families invites them to partner in creating solutions. For example, ask families what makes their child smile or laugh or their advice on how you can help their child.
- Framing the Conversation to Build A Relationship of Trust: This framework/guide adapted by Attendance Works offers an approach on how to lay the groundwork for reviewing absences during Parent-Teacher-Student Conferences. The connection between the teacher and the family is crucial to building good attendance habits, and these conferences are a natural opportunity to talk about student attendance and its implications for learning.
- Tips for Supporting and Engaging Families:
Here are some tips shared by the GEAR Parent Network. The list is based on four concepts: Support, Empathize, Empower and Knowledge.
- Welcome Back to School Attendance Letter:September is a great opportunity to welcome everyone, talk about the importance of school attendance and what you can accomplish by working together.
- Brochure To Promote School Attendance: This brochure can be shared with families in the beginning of the school year or during kindergarten orientation. The template focuses on the importance of school attendance and is designed so you can include your school contact information and logo. A simplified brochure is also available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
- Why Attendance Matters: A one page overview on why attendance matters and what families can do to help get their children ready for school. This can be shared in a newsletter or as a separate flyer.
- Why Attendance Matters for Teens: This one page overview is geared from families of teens. It can also be shared as a one page flyer or in a newsletter.
- Postcards/Letters: Attendance Matters and You Can Help! The postcard was adapted from a study that found absences decreased when families were sent a postcard three times a year stating the number of days their child was absent. The note asked families to partner with the school. For more information on the study: A Randomized Experiment Using Absenteeism Information to "Nudge" Attendance by Rogers, T. et al., National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance. *Thanks to supporters of Count ME In, these letters are now translated and available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Portuguese, Somali, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
- Letter: Attendance Matters and You Can Help! The letter includes the content from the postcard plus ideas on what families can do every day to help their child get ready for school . The letter was written by the MSAD 6 Principal from Buxton Center Elementary.
- Holiday Letter: A letter thanking families for helping their children arrive at school every day ready to learn and reminding families when vacations begin and end.
- Winter School Vacation and Attendance Letter: This letter can be sent home prior to vacations to remind families the importance of being in school when school is in session. It was adapted from Attendance Works.
- Principal's "Middle of the Year" Attendance Letter: Here is a letter which focuses on school attendance that was written by a Principal from MSAD 75 and sent in January. It can be adapted to any time of the year.
- Spring Letter. This letter is designed to promote attendance during spring AND encourage attendance before and after April vacation. The letter was adapted from Attendance works.
- Examples of Attendance Strategies and Interventions: These interventions have supported students who were absent between eight to twenty-five percent of school days (approximately 14 to 40 days a year). Students with this level of at-risk or chronic absenteeism are likely to respond to lower cost and less intensive interventions.
- Tiered Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism: This handout is intended to help a school or district address chronic absenteeism and think about alignment between strategies and level of student need.
- Student Attendance Plan: This attendance plan can be completed by students. It was developed by Sarah Harris, principal at Vance Village in New Britain, Conn for students who were chronically absent. Every week, she meets with students for a "lunch bunch" when the students develop and review their weekly attendance goals. Rewards can include 10 minutes of extra time doing something the student chooses such as time in the gym or art room.
- Elementary Student Success Plan and Secondary Student Success Plan:This student success plan was designed to help families track their student's attendance and secondary students track their own attendance. It provides a tool for families and students to partner with staff to develop goals and identify supports. The success plan was adapted with permission from Attendance Works.
- High School Attendance Plan: This high school plan was developed at Massabesic High School in Waterboro. It was designed to facilitate discussion with high school students and their families about the reasons the student is absent and the steps everyone can take to help support the student getting to school.
- Guide for Students who are Transient Created By Students. Students who move and change schools at least once during the school year, frequently have high rates of absenteeism. These checklists (click on the grade level to access the different lists) are designed by students for elementary, middle and high school students who are transitioning to a new school, anytime during the year. The checklists offer a guiding list of questions to help orient the new student to school so they feel welcome, connected, and continue to attend every day. Click on the grade level to access the checklist.
- New Student Checklist for Staff. This checklist helps school staff, families and case workers welcome new students to the school and connect them with the school community.
- Tips for Educators on McKinney Vento - How to Support Families who are Homeless. The 2 minute video from the Maine Department of Education is designed for educators to gain a quick overview on McKinney-Vento and how to support for families experiencing unstable housing.
- Promoting Attendance During Remote and Hybrid Learning: Here are five key metrics to monitor when tracking attendance during remote and hybrid learning. By monitoring these areas, schools can determine what further intervention is needed to support students.
- Tiered Strategies to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism: This handout provides examples of tiered response to address chronic absence during remote and hybrid learning.
Here are resources and strategies to help increase school attendance. Together we can reduce absenteeism by incorporating a national best practice model to:
- Engage students and families and provide personalized early outreach. Ask families for their advice on their child and/or what are two or three ways to create a positive experience for their child.
- Incorporate universal message promoting school attendance with staff, students and the community
- Monitor attendance data and practices to identify students who are at-risk or chronically missing school and determine what targeted interventions work best for each student
- Implement coordinated school and community-based strategies connecting local resources and schools so together we can address student attendance
- Track and monitor effectiveness
The materials are designed for you to use and modify based on the needs of your community. For an editable copy, please contact Jess Anderson