About LIFT Up Attendance Messaging Program

What is the LIFT Up Attendance Messaging Program?

LIFT Up Attendance is a user-friendly messaging program that integrates with your district's student information system (SIS) messaging feature to provide personalized messages that inform caregivers about their student’s total number of absences each month. Caregivers are provided with information on how to contact the school if they need support to address barriers to improve their student’s attendance. LIFT Up Attendance aims to engage and empower families and caregivers as partners in their students’ education by providing transparent, real-time information about attendance patterns.

LIFT Up Attendance was developed by researchers and piloted in 8 rural districts in New York and Ohio during the 2020-21 academic year. Even amidst the uncertainty and disruption of the pandemic, the pilot study had a high degree of certainty that the personalized messages saved instructional days and reduced absences for rural students by over 2%.

We also know that schools have a lot going on. The messaging program is designed to be easy to use with minimal time required — just a few clicks per month! LIFT Up Attendance can be used in conjunction with other family engagement initiatives or as a standalone engagement strategy.

How does the messaging program work?

1) Add LIFT Up Attendance program to Student Information System (SIS)

We work with your district at the start of the school year to ensure the LIFT Up Attendance template is added to your district's SIS messaging system. Messages can be sent via text (SMS), email, or as pre-recored voice messages. Message content will customized to provide individual student updates and school-specific information to families and caregivers.

2) Staff initiate monthly notifications

Each month, your district or school's designated staff member will initiate the LIFT Up Attendance message notification for families with just a few clicks of a button. LIFT Up Attendance will automatically generate a summary of each student's total number of absences for a given month to include in the message.

3) Connect with families and caregivers

In addition to information about their students' monthly attendance, caregivers will receive information about how to get additional information or supports for their students as needed. The LIFT Up Attendance messaging program is designed to foster a connection between caregivers and schools, helping to increase overall engagement.

What's included in the messages?

LIFT Up Attendance messaging program was designed to address two common reasons for why students frequently miss school: (1) caregivers may be unaware of how much school their student is missing, and (2) caregivers may lack knowledge about the value of daily attendance. Messages provide caregivers with customized information about their student's attendance patterns.

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