The Impact of Engaging Families in Strategies for Improving Regular Attendance for Children of Poverty

Academic achievements and regular attendance are considered to be two important indicators of college and career readiness. Students who are economically disadvantaged and do not have regular attendance in school do not achieve at the same rate as their peers (Garcia & Weiss, 2018). Additionally, attendance in middle school is considered a reliable predictor of high school success. This project was designed to determine if regular communication and engagement strategies with parents of economically disadvantaged students is effective in promoting regular attendance and preventing truancy, or habitual truancy, for students in this at­ risk population. An additional inquiry was sought to determine if improved attendance then increased student performance on standardized tests. Tier 1 strategies were applied to all middle school students in a high poverty, rural school district. Tier 2 and Tier 3 strategies were implemented for some students and proved to be successful in remediating truancy issues and preventing habitual truancy from occurring. School records from before and during the intervention year were compared to determine any differences in attendance rates and achievement. While some of the data was interrupted due to a national pandemic, it was determined that a tiered system of support was effective in promoting regular attendance for all students and even more so for students who are economically disadvantaged. Three recommendations for future action are provided for educational leaders who wish to improve attendance statistics.