Bright Spot Brief: Parent and Family Partnerships to Support Regular Attendance

Across the country, states, districts, and schools are rethinking approaches to chronic absenteeism by strengthening relationships with parents and families, better understanding barriers to attendance, and creating supports that respond to what children and families need. These efforts demonstrate how attendance can become an opportunity for meaningful family partnership rather than simply a measure of whether children are present at school.   

This State of the Field Bright Spot Brief highlights promising approaches from Kansas City, Kansas; Rhode Island; and Connecticut that bring the Parent and Family Partnerships to Support Regular Attendance tenets to life. The examples illustrate different approaches to strengthening attendance through relationship-based practices, data-informed supports, family partnership, and coordinated state and local systems.     

Designed for state and local education leaders, educators, and school and program staff, the brief shares practical examples and lessons for creating proactive, supportive approaches to attendance that seek to understand what children and families need and what supports can help make attendance more consistent.