One relatively simple and low-cost intervention for rural districts has the potential to reduce student absences by nearly 5%, according to new research.
That intervention: Sending periodic, personalized messages to parents about their children’s attendance—the good, the bad, and the ugly—to equip them with more real-time, actionable data so they can be aware and intervene before attendance problems develop, or as they do but before they come more serious.
In the study—which included 47 small, rural districts across 16 states that serve more than 41,000 students—researchers from Harvard University, Dartmouth College, and the nonprofit Partners for Rural Impact found that the automated messages reduced student absences, on average, by up to 5% and cost just $4 per student to implement. For a student who missed 20% of the school year, or 36 days in a typical 180-day school year—a 5% reduction in absences worked out to attending school two more days over the course of the academic year, a small but notable bump in attendance that was also higher for some students in the study.
The benefits were more pronounced for students in special education and those who were chronically absent the year prior. The intervention also proved to have a greater effect at the high school level than for elementary and middle school students.
“What we found is that, on average, it is worthwhile in terms of the cost—where the cost is mostly the time spent to set it up—relative to the effects on absenteeism,” said Elise Swanson, the associate director of research at Harvard’s Center for Education Policy Research. “On average, it is worthwhile for districts.”
The study is among the first to examine how providing personalized information to parents affects student absenteeism in rural districts. Much existing research focuses on big-city and suburban districts, whose students often experience different barriers to attending classes. Rural students often have a longer distance to travel to school and a harder time accessing transportation, for example.
The study also suggested that rural schools might have fewer class offerings that entice and engage students, and students could have a harder time accessing dual-enrollment courses at local colleges due to transportation and cost barriers, all tools that research has found can keep students engaged and less likely to miss school.
The study comes as districts of all sizes struggle to combat high chronic absenteeism—a problem that has cascading consequences for student achievement and school climate.
Chronic absences have a serious impact on students who miss classes, hurting their grades, connectedness to their peers and school community, and chances of completing high school. But when absences reach high levels, it’s not only the chronically absent students who are hurt: The churn makes it harder for teachers to set classroom norms and teach, and harder for students to learn—even those who do show up every day.
Swanson said her group’s new study shows that automating attendance updates with personalized information proves to be a low-lift, cost-effective piece of rural districts’ strategies to fight absenteeism.
Previous research has shown that while parents consider chronic absences to be a problem, they frequently underestimate how often their own children miss class—pointing to the potential value of consistently informing them how often their kids aren’t showing up.
Personalized information helps parents feel informed
The districts that participated in the study all use the student information system Infinite Campus, and researchers worked with the company to develop templates for the messages that districts sent to a randomly selected group of their students. Messages—which all districts sent to parents by email, and which some also sent through robocalls or texts—went out to parents every four to six weeks and included information about their children’s cumulative absences over the prior four to six weeks, the importance of attendance, and an invitation to connect with the school for more help, if needed.
Messages also provided differentiated guidance based on the number of absences, offering encouragement for continued high attendance for students with no absences and setting a realistic goal for reduced absenteeism for students with two or more absences. If a student had been absent five to seven days over the past four to six weeks, for example, the message might encourage parents to set a goal of no more than two absences in the next four to six weeks.
Districts could customize the templates with a signature from the appropriate school staff member, a reference to a school mascot or slogan, or additional information. The templates automatically pulled in students’ names, the name of their school or district, the number of absences in the preceding period, and the goal for absences in upcoming period.
The content of the messages likely worked because they provided an accurate, holistic picture of students’ absences; reinforced the importance of attendance and increased parents’ motivation to ensure their children were in school; and set a realistic and attainable goal that could prompt action (like adjusting bedtime and creating contingency transportation plans if a student misses the bus), according to the study. It also encouraged caretakers to connect with the school for help, which helps “strengthen trusting relationships between caregivers and the school,” the study said.
Experts have routinely said engaging parents and caretakers in meaningful ways and ensuring they have accurate information about their students’ performance and achievement is critical in combatting absenteeism and improving children’s academic performance.
Recent studies have also repeatedly shown parents often aren’t aware when their children are falling behind at school, and the severity of the challenges they face—with report cards alone not painting a complete picture of student achievement.
Swanson said that, anecdotally, her team heard from participating districts that some parents who received the messages did reach out for support and to ask additional questions about their kids’ individual situations.
“It did seem that invitation was taken up by some caregivers,” she said.
Districts should do smaller trials to avoid big problems
Despite using a system the participating districts already used and were familiar with to set up the absenteeism messages, there were some technical challenges in the early months of the study, Swanson said, largely related to who in each district had access to the message templates, and difficulties setting up the right filters so families received the right messages about their children.
If districts want to use this approach from the study, she said, they should think through each step of the process first: Who is in charge of setting filters? When should the messages go out to parents? Then, they should test the system with a smaller group of students before implementing the initiative school- or district-wide. That will make it easier to identify and address any problems on a smaller, more manageable scale before they become much more difficult to solve, she said.
“Then, when you’re able to make adjustments in real time,” she said, “you’ll be able to be more successful with the feedback of your own community.”
