How to leverage that gentle push and promote positive behavior change

The Tangipahoa Parish School System (TPSS) serves 19,200 students across 34 campuses in southeastern Louisiana. After the pandemic it became clear that low student attendance was getting in the way of academic achievement. In the 23-24 school year, over 37% of Tangipahoa students were chronically absent, missing 10% or more school days. Recognizing that addressing chronic absenteeism would be necessary in order to increase academic achievement, Superintendent Melissa Stilley prioritized improvement as one of three strategic “rocks”, and TPSS launched a partnership with EveryDay Labs in 2024. The partnership was part of a pilot funded by the Louisiana State Department of Education to improve student attendance in select districts across the state. Over the first full year of the partnership, TPSS achieved incredible success, reducing the number of chronically absent students by 19% (6.8 percentage points), and increased attendance by over 43,000 days.

You may be looking beyond the school walls for a partner in attendance work, a wise decision that will support your students, families, and busy teams with ever-growing to-do lists. The good news is there are quite a few options to choose from, but it may feel overwhelming to decide which direction to take and which solution will work best for your district. EveryDay Labs and SchoolStatus Attend (formerly known as A2A) are two popular attendance partners. As both are designed with the goal of improving student attendance, there are several similarities and differences between the two solutions. Read on to discover how each of these solutions can support your efforts in reducing chronic absenteeism and truancy.

Located in southwestern Florida on the Gulf coast, the School District of Lee County is the 8th largest district in the state, serving over 100,000 students across grades K-12. Despite having done significant, successful work to slash their chronic absenteeism rates nearly in half pre-pandemic, the district faced the same post-pandemic chronic absenteeism challenges as many other districts nationwide. Paul Milford, Administrator of Social Work Services, was tasked with leading the charge to turn absenteeism around. Read on to discover how positive communications and better access to data re-engaged families and got more students back on track for better attendance.

Located just outside of Austin, Texas, Pflugerville ISD serves over 25,000 K–12 students across 35 schools and 2 alternative campuses. Like many districts nationwide, they’ve faced rising levels of chronic absenteeism. Rising to the challenge, Director of Student Affairs Dr. Amanda Castro knew to get the results the district desired, they’d need to make some big shifts and take a new approach. 

Facing elevated chronic absenteeism rates post-pandemic, the team needed a more efficient way to deliver excellent communications and meaningful touchpoints to their school community, all while meeting the myriad other demands of the Front Office. Read on to discover how the Alpha team shifted from sending DIY nudges to bringing a trusted partner on board to increase staff capacity and improve attendance.

On a mission to accelerate learning and transform student outcomes, DC Public Schools and participating DC Public Charter Schools have focused on reducing elevated chronic absenteeism rates through numerous initiatives. A critical piece of this strategy has been partnering with EveryDay Labs to send chronic absenteeism mail & text nudges on the district’s behalf. The exciting results of a randomized controlled trial conducted in Fall/Winter 2024 are in: chronic absenteeism rates were reduced by 6.3% amongst the students who received chronic absenteeism nudges. These nudges were also the most cost-effective method of attendance improvement. Read on for the full report!

We partner with over 60 districts across the country to help them supercharge family engagement, build a strong culture of attendance, and transform student outcomes. Just like so many other educators, our district partners are busy juggling competing priorities and providing families and students the support they need for success. This year, we were thrilled to see some real progress across all of our partnerships. Read on for the highlights!

As districts across the country face tightening budgets and an ESSER funding cliff, the difficult conversations around which resources should stay and which must be cut are well underway. Maximizing the amount of days that students are in school and learning is a huge component of the critical learning recovery needed post-pandemic. And while it may be tempting to take on the enormous task of absence reduction in-house, it’s worth reflecting on the costs—financial, time, and risk—when building your own attendance intervention versus working with a partner to implement this on your behalf.

Chronic absenteeism is a tremendous challenge facing educators, families, and students across the country, and educators like you are already working overtime to try and bring more students back into class. After all, we know that good attendance is closely correlated to better academic outcomes, higher graduation rates, and stronger connections to peers and educators. However, not all families and students are convinced that attending school regularly actually makes a difference. It’s never too late to change the narrative and effectively build a culture of attendance in your school and district. In this post, we’ll explore five questions to consider as you help families understand the importance of attendance to their student’s success in school and beyond.

In a recent piece from NPR’s On Point, educators, caretakers, and attendance experts weigh in the absenteeism challenges they face. Our Chief Scientist & co-founder Dr. Todd Rogers pops in around the 32 minute mark to share more about the research behind our attendance nudges and truancy notices.

Chronic absenteeism continues to stymie learning recovery nationwide, posing lasting impacts on student achievement, graduation rates, and career success. Many districts have adopted Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS) to meet this challenge head on. In this blog post, we'll explore how to use MTSS effectively to provide all students with the strategic support they need to get their attendance back on track and reach their full potential.

You’re a dedicated educator willing to try anything to help improve attendance, academic outcomes, and overall student success. Many districts have been intentionally sending attendance communications and have been encouraged by reduced rates of absenteeism, but others are still skeptical about how they should be deployed, and whether they’re worth doing at all. Let’s dive into 7 common myths about attendance communications and get to the truth.

As we close out another school year for the history books, we reflect on the impact that the EveryDay Labs Platform has had on educators, students, and families nationwide in the 22-23 school year.

Reducing chronic absenteeism is no easy feat, and requires a multifaceted approach. If you’re looking for new ways to help students across your district maximize their learning opportunities, we’ve highlighted five strategies that can help.

Sending mailed attendance nudges home to families has been shown to reduce chronic absenteeism. However, not all interventions are created equal. In fact, if not done the right way, mailing your own attendance letters home to families may even do more harm than good. If you’re considering sending your own letters home, or are already engaging in this practice, ask yourself these three critical questions before moving forward.

As you create and implement your attendance improvement plan in the new school year, did you know that nudges, a strategy informed by the science of behavioral change, can help you build on the momentum of a fresh start to encourage more students to be present?