Communications
Resources that help educators message around attendance, to help inform parents and build relationships with families
Embedded Files
These resources are split into three categories: 1) best practices and strategies for communicating about attendance, 2) prepared handouts that can be given directly to students and families, and 3) tools and templates that educators can use or adapt in their communications.
Best Practices and Strategies
Best Practices and Strategies
Guides on how to best communicate with students and families about attendance
A three-page straightforward guide for conducting home visits, including protocols, timelines, suggestions and safety tips that can be used for planning or training purposes to prepare staff.
Audience: Administrators, Attendance Teams
Source: San Francisco Unified School District
R.E.A.L.: For Talking with Youth
A one-page handout educators can follow when explaining the importance of attendance by using the R.E.A.L. framework of Build Routines, Increase Engagement, Provide Access to resources, and Support Learning.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
R.E.A.L.: For Talking with Families with Older Youth
A one-page handout educators can follow when explaining the importance of attendance by using the R.E.A.L. framework of Build Routines, Increase Engagement, Provide Access to resources, and Support Learning.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
R.E.A.L.: For Talking with Families
with Young Children
A one-page handout educators can follow when explaining the importance of attendance by using the R.E.A.L. framework of Build Routines, Increase Engagement, Provide Access to resources, and Support Learning.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
Handouts
Handouts
Ready-made materials that can be given directly to students and families
A one-page handout that provides a quick overview of chronic absenteeism and tips for parents, including a printable calendar tracker. Staff can use this for conversations with parents around attendance.
Audience: Parents, Teachers, Staff
Source: Children's Health Fund
Attendance in the Early Grades
A one-page infographic on attendance in the early grades.
Audience: Administrators, Parents, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
A one-page flyer for parents on how elementary school attendance makes a difference.
Audience: Administrators, Parents, Teachers, Staff
Source: Escondido Union School District
Get ready for one of the biggest
adventures of your child’s life!
One page handout for parents regarding attendance and healthy habits to be shared during back to school.
Audience: Parents, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
Help Your Child Succeed in Preschool
and Kindergarten
A two-page handout for parents regarding attendance and healthy habits to be shared during summer before preschool and kindergarten.
Audience: Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
Help Your Child Succeed in School
A one-page flyer of key messages for families to build the habit and culture of good attendance.
Audience: Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
A series of handouts that schools can use to communicate with families to address fears about when to send a child to school after an illness or how they can handle a student who may have anxiety.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
A series of handouts to help families understand the connection between attendance and academic achievement.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
School is Better with You Here
A 30-second sample video for students and families about the importance of attendance.
Audience: Teachers, Staff
Source: Connecticut State Department of Education
A district landing page and resources for parents explaining how regular school attendance is closely linked to student achievement. Students who attend consistently tend to perform better academically, develop stronger study habits, and display fewer behavioral issues.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Fonda-Fultonville Central School District
A toolkit for school districts considering using text messages to improve attendance to understand their goals for using text messaging, the procedures and IT infrastructure needed to implement a texting strategy, strategies from the Parent Messaging Study, and how to set up a text messaging system.
Audience: Administrators, Attendance Teams
Source: Teachers Pay Teachers
Training materials, guides, and resources available in multiple languages to help school communities create safe environments for students by identifying and preventing abusive behaviors.
Audience: Administrators, Staff, Students and Families
Source: Contra Costa County Office of Education
Student Attendance Success Plans with
My Family’s Help Bank
A tool designed to help parents track their children’s attendance and work with teachers to set appropriate goals. Each Student Attendance Success Plan includes a calendar for the current school year, and a Help Bank to encourage families to think about their back up plans for getting to school even when challenges come up.
Audience: Administrators, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
Council on Children and Families
Chronic Absenteeism Toolkit
Activities, posters, and sample parent communications in various languages to support awareness and engagement around attendance and chronic absenteeism.
Audience: Administrators, School Nurses, Staff
Source: Council on Children and Families
Student Video: Memorial High School students
show us why attendance is important
A short video made by students showing why attendance is important.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Tulsa Public Schools
Tools and Templates
Tools and Templates
Materials that can be used or adapted to help communicate the importance of attendance
Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow
A sample PowerPoint presentation for school staff to show and present to parents to support attendance.
Audience: Administrators, Staff
Source: Galt Joint Union Elementary School District
A sample PowerPoint presentation from a school social worker to parents on the importance of attendance.
Audience: Teachers, Staff
Source: Escondido Union School District
Strategies to promote strong attendance habits in preschool and early elementary children and their families. The guide features daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly activities that help prevent or reduce chronic absenteeism. This resource also provides tools for making your own Punctual Pete costume, downloadable templates and certificates, parent and teacher surveys, scorecards and reminder cards.
Audience: Administrators, Teachers, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
A toolkit of blurbs and links to use on Social Media to support student attendance using the R.E.A.L. framework.
Audience: Administrators, Staff
Source: Attendance Works
A 30-minute activity that demonstrates the effects of absenteeism on students. The activity includes time to reflect and discuss, and can be adapted to different audiences. Teachers and paraeducators can conduct this exercise in the classroom or during events where parents are in attendance.
Audience: Teachers
Source: Attendance Works
Illustrating the Gap Interactive exercise
This exercise is designed to show how the gap in 3rd grade reading grows when students miss too many days of school. The activity illustrates this gap as children have or do not have access to high quality preschool programs, regular preschool and school attendance, and summer learning opportunities.
Audience: Administrators, Staff, Teachers
Source: Attendance Works
Page updated
Report abuse