ParentSquare Attendance Plus Wins Tech & Learning Best of Show at ISTELive 26

The attendance solution scaled nationwide in its first year, helping districts raise attendance, reduce chronic absenteeism, and reclaim funding

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., July 8, 2026—ParentSquare Attendance Plus, a powerful attendance solution that helps K-12 districts reduce chronic absenteeism through proactive, tier-based communication, has won Tech & Learning’s Best of Show at ISTELive 26 in the Secondary category, the second consecutive year Tech & Learning has honored the solution.

The Best of Show awards celebrate standout educational technology exhibited at ISTELive, held this year in Orlando. Judges praised Attendance Plus for tackling “chronic absenteeism within an established parent communication system,” noting that “its greatest strength is connecting data, intervention, and family engagement within a single platform educators already use.”

Built into the ParentSquare platform that millions of educators and families rely on every day for communications, Attendance Plus unites attendance insights, tiered interventions, and multilingual automated outreach so schools can act before absences become a pattern. Districts are seeing results: Nuview Union School District raised districtwide attendance from 92.7% to 94.9%, and Mountain View School District reduced chronic absenteeism by 2% and reclaimed funding in 2025-26.

“Attendance improves when family engagement is the solution,” said Alex Meis, MPA, Vice President of Attendance Strategy at ParentSquare. “Attendance Plus is helping districts nationwide reach families earlier and with more empathy. This recognition affirms what our customers tell us: attendance work belongs inside the platform families already know and use every day to stay informed and involved in their child’s education.”

View the full list of Best of Show at ISTELive 26 winners here.  

About ParentSquare

ParentSquare is the leading family engagement infrastructure helping K-12 districts nationwide reach every family with an award-winning, all-in-one communication platform. Reaching over 22 million students, ParentSquare helps districts consolidate disconnected tools and outdated communication systems with personalized messaging, websites, forms, payments, attendance solutions, and more—in one easy-to-use platform. With powerful features for achieving 100% contactability, two-way translation into 190+ languages, and purpose-built AI enhancements, ParentSquare empowers districts to invite every family to be involved in their student’s education, no matter their home language or the device they use.

Recognized for growth and innovation by Inc. 5000, GSV 150, and more, ParentSquare was founded in 2011 in Santa Barbara, California. Learn more at parentsquare.com.