Parents鈥攁 vital link between students and schools鈥攁re key to any efforts to address the chronic absenteeism plaguing many schools across the country.
But some educators report that parents鈥� attitudes toward good attendance have shifted, with many now seeing it as less important than they once did. While it鈥檚 critical to cultivate a school culture where students feel like they belong to keep them coming back, experts say it鈥檚 not enough. 69传媒 must do more than engage students鈥攖hey must engage parents as well.
How do educators and school administrators go about doing this? Three experts in student engagement and absenteeism shared their recommendations during a recent Education Week webinar on the topic.
Here is their advice:
Do not wait until a student is missing a lot of school to engage parents
Parents鈥� opportunities to get more involved in their children鈥檚 classrooms have declined over the years, but that trend is not due to a deliberate choice on the part of schools, said Hedy Chang, the founder and executive director of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that advocates for better school attendance policies and practices. Rather, Chang said, it is a consequence of security measures schools must take to protect students against safety and security risks.
For example, parents might drop their children off at school in a car line and never really interact with their child鈥檚 teacher or see what鈥檚 happening in the classroom. It鈥檚 hard to understand the value of something that you never get the opportunity to see in action, Chang said.
Showing parents what鈥檚 taking place in the classroom is especially important for parents and guardians of early elementary students who are building attendance habits.
鈥淲hen families get what their kids are learning, then they see why their kids need to show up every single day,鈥� Chang said. 鈥淲e have to get much more creative about building relationships, using videos, using everything we can so that families understand this is what your kids are learning. Because if you ask a 5-year-old, 鈥榳hat did you do today?鈥� They probably will say 鈥榥othing.鈥欌��
It鈥檚 important not to wait until a student is missing a lot of school to engage their parents, Chang said. Engaging families and students to encourage good attendance is something that should be done with everyone from day one, she said.
Another strategy is using home visits to help families of chronically absent students get re-engaged in school, especially over the long summer break, Chang said. These visits should be used to check in and make sure families are aware of school resources still available to them over the break, answer any questions parents may have, and make sure parents and their children feel prepared for the new school year.
Do not rush to judge parents if their children are absent a lot
When a student isn鈥檛 showing up to school, educators and administrators shouldn鈥檛 rush to judge the parents, said Jeanie Stark, the student success coordinator for Manzano High School in Albuquerque, N.M. Instead of assuming a parent doesn鈥檛 care or is disengaged, ask parents how the school can help. Their answers may reveal challenges to the students鈥� attendance that the school was unaware of.
鈥淲e offer them resources,鈥� Stark said. 鈥淚t can be anything from rental assistance, to food assistance to, heck, 鈥業 need a doctor鈥檚 appointment.鈥� We have a student right now that we鈥檙e getting glasses [for].鈥�
That helps bring parents into the fold, she said, because feeling welcomed and supported in school is just as important for parents as it is for students. Parents should also be involved alongside educators in creating attendance improvement plans for students, said Stark, which her school calls 鈥渟tudent success plans.鈥�
There鈥檚 no common template to address chronic absenteeism, Stark said. Oftentimes, the barriers to kids attending school are unique to the family or school community.
Communicate in the languages parents speak and use videos
In her district near Dallas, students speak more than 90 different languages at home, said Sharon Bradley, director of family and social services for the Plano Independent School District in Texas and a 2024 Education Week Leader To Learn From. Any effort to communicate with parents about improving students鈥� attendance will fall flat if they can鈥檛 read the communications.
Initial outreach to families should never be negative or punitive, she said. Establishing a positive rapport with parents makes it more likely that they will pick up the phone or be receptive to information or advice.
69传媒 should also not assume that language is the only barrier, Bradley said. She remembers realizing that many parents served by her district were just learning to read themselves in their native languages, rendering all the communications she was sending home to them pointless. So, Bradley has had to find creative ways to reach them.
One strategy she uses: printing QR codes on school newsletters and other communications that link to videos in multiple languages. That information emphasizes the importance of good attendance and strategies for how families can promote it. The videos have been popular, Bradley said.
鈥淪everal families said, 鈥業 work two jobs, but I can listen in my car,鈥欌�� she said.
Bradley keeps her videos very short. 鈥淎nd we鈥檝e noticed a huge difference in the level of collaboration from our families鈥� since using the videos, she said.
