EveryDay Labs vs. TalkingPoints Attendance Improvement Plus

Chronic absenteeism is one of the most persistent challenges school systems face today, impacting everything from student achievement to school funding. There are numerous options for educators seeking an attendance partner, with new ones regularly popping up to meet district needs. The family communication platform TalkingPoints recently launched their Attendance Improvement Plus add-on package to support educators. Both EveryDay Labs and TalkingPoints aim to improve attendance outcomes, but with different strengths, features, and approaches. Read on and explore what solutions have in common and their differences. 

Similarities: Multilingual Communications & Attendance Data Dashboards 

Both EveryDay Labs and TalkingPoints are trusted by educators nationwide to help with targeted and accessible family communication. This includes:

Sending & automating multilingual text messages: both solutions allow educators to send personalized, timely messages informing families of their student’s attendance status with ready to customize templates. These texts can either be sent as needed, or programmed to automatically go out when students meet specified attendance thresholds. To support the nation’s diverse school districts, both platforms offer automatic translation in numerous languages, covering the majority of languages spoken in the US. 

Attendance data dashboards: both solutions provide educators with attendance insights, pulled from the district’s SIS for real time attendance data and trends. The EveryDay Labs platform provides some additional capabilities that we’ll explore in the differences section, including automatic surfacing of attendance patterns and intervention tracking.    

‍Differences: Evidence base, mail capabilities, pattern surfacing, intervention tracking, low-lift family support, professional learning, and customer support

Evidence Base

EveryDay Labs was founded by two behavioral scientists who set out to reduce chronic absenteeism at scale with a mail and text intervention featuring evidence-based, behaviorally informed nudges and notices. 

Tested through numerous randomized controlled trials, chronic absenteeism nudges from EveryDay Labs are proven to reduce chronic absenteeism over and above any other district initiative, which is why the attendance intervention is the only one to be given the “Strong Evidence” distinction under Johns Hopkins’ Evidence for ESSA.  

Helping districts restoratively stay in state compliance of truancy laws, EveryDay Labs’ truancy notices also have the evidence-backed advantage. These clear and positive notices are proven to be 40% more effective than standard truancy notices, which are often punitive and confusing. 

TalkingPoints was originally built as a family communication platform, providing two-way messaging and strong translation capabilities. There is some research showing the Attendance Improvement Plus program’s efficacy, offering research-based attendance text message templates. However, their attendance communications are not informed by the same level of research and evidence as those sent through the EveryDay Labs program. Additionally, TalkingPoints does not provide truancy notice templates for districts looking to restoratively stay in compliance with state truancy mandates. 

Mail Capabilities

EveryDay Labs’ program offers a surprising but effective mode of communication: mail. That’s right: we send truancy notices, chronic absenteeism nudges, and targeted letters in the mail! While it may seem antiquated, mail in fact has the advantage of cutting through the noise of digital communications and serving as a “social artifact,” a tangible item you can hold in your hand and even place on the fridge as a reminder.  Receiving attendance communications in the mail helps encourage long-term change in family and student behaviors, while adding in text messages provides timely reminders that encourage short term positive actions. Districts have the option to either have EveryDay Labs print and mail these letters on their behalf, or select to self-print and mail in-house.

Low-Lift Family Support 

Both EveryDay Labs and TalkingPoints understand that families are a critical part of student success. TalkingPoints has a strong two-way communication platform, allowing families to either receive messages and support from their student’s educators directly in their phone or within a dedicated app. EveryDay Labs provides individualized family support without requiring any work for school and district staff. This includes: 

• 24/7 Family Support Bot: Upon responding to a chronic absenteeism text nudge, families are instantly connected to our Family Support Bot. Designed to help families overcome barriers to attendance, it serves up district and community resources to help make getting to school easier, including transportation, wellness services, and food distribution. 
• Multilingual Family Support Team: Whether referred by the Family Support Bot or the dedicated phone number on the mailed chronic absenteeism nudge, families can find additional support via the live, multilingual Family Support Team. Ready to answer questions about student attendance and direct families to the right resource, no other attendance solution provides tailored support with a human touch quite like our Family Support Team

Data that Works Harder: Automatic Pattern Surfacing and Intervention Tracking

Both TalkingPoints and EveryDay Labs offer educators attendance data analytics to help inform attendance outreach. However, the platforms differ in the depth and breadth of analytics available. While the TalkingPoints platform provides analytics to help make it easier for educators to find attendance patterns, the EveryDay Platform automatically surfaces attendance patterns so that users can quickly address students who are missing specific days of the week, showing signs of early chronic absenteeism, or were chronically absent the prior year. These flags help educators organize targeted outreach and campaigns quickly and effectively.

Additionally, the EveryDay Platform provides space for educators to track ongoing interventions, pulling together intervention groups based on a wide range of student demographics, trends, and patterns and adding transparent notes to help the entire team work more effectively. 

Professional Learning 

Both TalkingPoints and EveryDay Labs are dedicated to supporting educators in strong family partnerships and student success. EveryDay Labs also supports educators with ongoing professional learning throughout the school year to help educators build capacity for more efficient and effective attendance work. This includes monthly live webinars led by resident attendance experts, along with a pre-recorded series that coaches educators on best practices for a tiered approach to attendance improvement. When district partners aren’t attending professional learning, they have access to a dedicated user community to connect, celebrate, and seek out advice from other practitioners dedicated to attendance improvement. 

Customer Support

We often hear that our exemplary customer service is one of the big things that stands out for our partners. Attendance improvement work is difficult, which is why EveryDay Labs provides every district partner with a dedicated Customer Success Manager, available for regular meetings and ongoing guidance throughout the year. Additionally, users can reach our dedicated support team via email or chat directly within the EveryDay Labs platform, with a response time of usually 12 hours or less. 

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