Washington, D.C., is leading the nation in post-pandemic academic growth. Between 2022 and 2025, the city’s public and charter schools ranked first in both math and reading gains, according to the latest Education Recovery Scorecard.
At the same time, D.C. educators and leaders continue to look for ways to strengthen student attendance and engagement. Nearly 40% of D.C. students were chronically absent during the most recent school year. As State Superintendent Antoinette Mitchell recently noted, one factor affecting attendance is whether students experience their school culture as welcoming.
So what makes students want to come to school?
This spring, I posed that question to the people most qualified to answer it: my students.
I teach second and third grade at Seaton Elementary School, a Title I school in Northwest Washington, and serve as a Sanford Harmony Advisor. After returning to school following the COVID-19 pandemic, I saw students coming back with needs that went beyond academics. They were navigating new social and emotional challenges and needed additional support building relationships and a sense of belonging. I began looking for ways to intentionally build connection and community among students, and Sanford Harmony became one of the tools I used to intentionally build connection and community among students.
At a panel attended by families and D.C. community members, including representatives from the D.C. State Board of Education, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, and the D.C. Council, six of my Seaton students took center stage as the experts.
Choosing only six students was difficult. There are many more at Seaton who love coming to school and would have been eager to share why.
Why Students Want to Come to School
The students’ answers were immediate and specific.
“One reason I like coming to school is because of how welcoming they are,” said Lori, a second grader. Juno, a third grader, said her teachers and friends are “really nice” to her. Khmari, also a third grader, likes that students “can learn new things and talk about them.” For second grader Sir Bennie, the answer was simpler: His teacher is funny.
Their responses were not about technology, testing, or elaborate incentives. They talked about classrooms that feel like family, teachers who know them, classmates who help one another, and a school where students are welcomed no matter what language they speak or what they look like.
Together, their answers pointed to something attendance data alone cannot capture: Students want to be in places where they feel known, connected, and excited to learn.
A classroom that feels like a community
The students described a classroom built around cooperation rather than competition. Through Harmony’s Buddy Up practice, they regularly work with different partners, learning how to ask for help, listen to one another, and recognize what each person contributes.
“If one person has an answer and you need help, they can help you,” explained Jai, a second grader. “And if you have an answer and they don’t, you can help them.”
“Our classroom is kind of like a family or a community, and everybody works together,” Juno said.
Caroline, a third grader, put it more simply: “It’s like how you don’t bully your family.”
For the students, that sense of responsibility extends to classmates who are new or may feel left out. Jai recalled being paired with a student who had recently moved from Colorado. Years later, they remain close friends. Lori remembered helping a new student who spoke Spanish and was still learning English.
“If a new kid is lonely and they don’t have any friends,” Lori said, “you could invite them to play with you.”
These may sound like small moments, but they shape whether a child experiences school as a place where they have a role, relationships, and a reason to return.
Belonging students can see
At Seaton, belonging is not limited to what happens inside a single classroom. Students see their cultures and identities reflected throughout the school.
The lobby has featured an exhibit celebrating Black hairstyles, as well as a “Where Are You From?” map showing the countries students and their families call home. During Multicultural Day, each class studies a country’s food, dances, and traditions before sharing what it learned with the broader school community.
“People from other places can teach the other kids what they do there,” Juno explained.
The students also pointed to Literacy Night, Math Night, and other schoolwide events that give students and families something to anticipate and experience together.
When asked what other schools could do to make students want to attend, the panelists offered practical advice: Make learning fun. Treat students like family. Help classmates support one another. Celebrate the cultures represented in the school.
Start by asking students
The panel was part of Sanford Harmony’s Belonging Champions initiative, which recognizes educators who use intentional practices to strengthen connection and engagement in their schools. Participating in the initiative gave me an opportunity to bring my students into a broader conversation about belonging and attendance—but throughout the panel, my role was mostly to listen.
When we want to understand how and why students show up to school, the best people to ask are the students themselves. If we are spending time thinking about why students are or are not coming to school, their voices should be part of the conversation.
D.C.’s attendance challenge is complex. Mental health, housing instability, transportation, safety, and other barriers cannot be solved by classroom culture alone. But the Seaton students made clear that belonging is an essential part of the equation—and that schools do not have to guess what it looks like.
We can start by asking the kids. They know.
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Dr. Alejandro Diasgranados is an award-winning educator, national speaker, and tireless advocate for educational equity. A proud native of Prince George’s County, Maryland, Alejandro was inspired by the educators who made a difference in his own life and began his career in education with a commitment to creating classrooms where every student feels seen, valued, and capable of achieving their full potential. Today, he teaches second and third grade at Seaton Elementary School in Washington, D.C. and serves on the Sanford Harmony Educator Advisory Group, where he continues his work of building joyful, inclusive classrooms rooted in love, purpose, and possibility.