Start Strong on Attendance: How Family Engagement Can Help Students Show Up

Attendance challenges are rarely as simple as a student choosing not to come to school. Behind missed days can be transportation challenges, family responsibilities, health concerns, disengagement, anxiety, or other barriers that aren’t immediately visible to educators. So how can schools move beyond simply tracking absences and start understanding what’s behind them?

That’s the focus of our recent webinar, Start Strong on Attendance: Partnering with Families to Stay Connected. Attendance Works CEO Hedy Chang, ParentSquare VP of Attendance Strategy Alex Meis, and Mansfield ISD Director of Student Services Dr. Liz Russo came together to explore how schools can use family engagement, positive communication, and a deeper understanding of the “why” to support better attendance.

Watch the 60-minute on-demand webinar to hear how schools can start strong on attendance by building relationships with students and families.

Read on to learn about the strategies and real-world examples shared during the conversation.

Speakers

Hedy Chang

Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Attendance Works

Alex Meis

VP of Attendance Strategy
ParentSquare

Dr. Liz Russo

Director of Student Services
Mansfield ISD

Attendance starts with understanding the why

One of the biggest takeaways from the webinar was simple: Before schools can address an attendance problem, they need to understand what’s causing it. Hedy Chang explained that chronic absence can stem from four broad areas: barriers, aversion, disengagement, and misconceptions. A student might be dealing with transportation or health challenges. They might feel disconnected from school. They might be struggling academically or socially. Or a family may not realize how quickly individual absences add up.

Each of those circumstances require different responses. Instead of treating every absence the same way, schools can use attendance data to identify students who need additional support and then work with families to understand what’s happening.

Research shared by Hedy also highlighted the connection between family engagement and attendance outcomes. One study found that schools with high levels of family engagement had 6.2% less chronic absence. Hedy noted that these schools shared several characteristics, including seeing families as equal partners, having clear leadership around family engagement, using one-on-one academically focused communication, and building strong, consistent relationships with families.

Positive communication can start before there’s a problem

Attendance outreach doesn’t have to begin with a warning. Dr. Liz Russo shared how Mansfield ISD intentionally starts the school year with positive communication. Before attendance becomes an issue, the district encourages campuses to reach out with messages that let students and families know they’re valued. “We’re proud of you; we’re excited to have you back,” Dr. Russo said. 

That early relationship-building creates a different foundation for future attendance conversations. If students do miss school, two-way communication gives educators a way to ask questions, listen to families, and understand what may be getting in the way.

A real student story: Finding the barrier behind the absence

Dr. Russo shared one example that shows why understanding the “why” matters. A high school student was chronically absent. Rather than stopping at the attendance data, a teacher reached out and began asking questions, and the student explained that he needed to take care of his younger siblings and get them ready for school.

That conversation led the attendance team to look more closely at the family’s circumstances. They learned that the student’s mother was deaf and that the family needed additional support. The team connected the family with district resources and found a way for the student to attend night school, which allowed him to continue helping his family while also making progress toward graduation. He is now doing well and exploring career and technical opportunities.

For Mansfield, the story reinforced an important lesson: attendance work isn’t just about finding students who are absent. It’s about finding out what they need.

Attendance is a team effort

Mansfield’s experience also illustrates why attendance can’t be the responsibility of one person. Teachers, administrators, counselors, social workers, and other staff all have a role to play in identifying students who may need support and connecting families with the right resources.

ParentSquare Attendance Plus supports this team-based approach with tiered attendance strategies and two-way communication, helping districts connect proactive engagement with attendance notifications and compliance requirements. For Mansfield, these additional resources help attendance teams identify students who need support, assign responsibilities, and take action based on individual needs.

What happens when attendance becomes part of the relationship?

Mansfield also shared encouraging results from its attendance work. The district’s overall attendance percentage improved by 0.5 percentage points over the past year. At Legacy High School, the number of freshmen retained because they had not earned enough credits to advance dropped from 44 to 11 after the school implemented a freshman center that included attendance plans, family meetings, home visits, positive communication, and relationship-building.

Dr. Russo noted that attendance was directly connected to the improvement, while also emphasizing that the work was part of a broader set of efforts and that the district does not work in silos.

Start with one positive message

You don’t have to launch a massive attendance initiative to start building stronger relationships. As ParentSquare’s Alex Meis pointed out during the conversation, even a simple, positive text at the beginning of the school year can help set the tone for stronger engagement.

Dr. Russo encourages educators to reframe the question entirely. “We’re not going to say who is absent today. It’s who needs an adult today. What can we do to support you?” That change in mindset can help schools approach attendance as an opportunity to connect with students and families, rather than simply a problem to solve.

Get the full conversation in our on-demand webinar

Watch the 60-minute on-demand webinar today to hear Hedy Chang, Alex Meis, and Dr. Liz Russo discuss how schools can start strong on attendance, strengthen family engagement, and better understand the barriers that keep students from showing up. Hear more about: