Your May Game Plan: Wrapping Up the Year & Prepping for the Next

In this month’s virtual professional learning session, delivered just for our EveryDay Platform users, we covered strategies to wrap up the school year with strong attendance and simple ways to get our ducks in a row for the 26-27 school year. If you’ve got year-end attendance work on your mind, read on, because we’re sharing the highlights in this multimedia blog post!

Strategies for Strong Year-End Attendance

Proactive Support

Just like in April, a focus on the students approaching the 10% threshold for chronic absence is essential. Proactively preventing them from missing additional days will mean fewer students ending the year chronically absent. Locate the students missing 8-9% of school and consider outreach campaigns and intervention groups to stay organized and impactful.

‍Plan for the Final Two Weeks

The last two weeks of school are notoriously poorly attended. If we do nothing to get ahead of this, we’ll see a significant drop in ADA attendance. Now is the perfect time to firm up any fun plans you had in mind for those last two weeks of school, keeping learning and connections strong (or as strong as they can be!) until the very end. 

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Reflect on 25-26 Attendance Data

This year’s attendance data can reveal a ton about what’s working, what’s not, and what you can plan and act on for next year. Review the patterns that may have surfaced across different grade levels and demographic groups. You can even use our Quarterly Attendance Meeting Agenda as a guide as you analyze the data, consider inequities, and explore solutions. Where has attendance really shifted? Does anything in the way the data is collected need to be tightened?

As you review the data, you may notice seasonal attendance drops, perhaps a January flu or outrageous May pollen counts. Depending on where you are, you may want to consider ways you can support these dips next school year. Perhaps installing air purifiers or emphasizing healthy habits in family communications can help you get ahead of these common flu or allergy challenges next year.

Summer Engagement & Support 

Your year-end data reflections may have also surfaced the students with high absence counts. Build a list (start with students missing 20% or more of school) and share it with staff working over the summer. These students need a re-engagement plan to support a stronger return in the new school year, so ensuring these students are on summer staff radar and receiving outreach from multiple touch points is essential. 

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Summer is also a great time to clean up your contact information and remind families to make sure their information is up to date. On the EveryDay Platform, you can filter the student list to find out who has an unsendable address on file to quickly inform your outreach, and EveryDay Labs can send out campaigns on your behalf.

Think About Next Year… It’s Just Around the Corner

You may be hanging by a thread and focused on getting through this school year, or perhaps you’re already planning some fun ways to make 26-27 an unmissable year. Wherever you land, May is a great time to locate this year’s chronically absent students and ensure that Welcome Back campaigns are lined up to build those home-school partnerships early and emphasize the importance of daily attendance. 

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Looking for an attendance partner to really rev things up next school year? We’re ready to help: take a tour of our platform to get to know us a bit more, or set up time with an attendance expert.