2026 Annual �Visible Learning Conference

July 13-18, 2026

Getting them there

Keeping them there

It's emotional and pschological and we experience it

Academic Difficulties

Reasons for Chronic Absenteeism, 2024

Bullying

Health-related Issues

Socioeconomic Challenges

Mental

Health

Family Circumstances

Attendance (Missing School)

(2025) Visible Learning MetaX

R=3

-0.52

Creating the Conditions for School Attendance

Making Every Day Worth Attending

Removing Barriers to Student Attendance

Leading for Lasting Attendance Improvement

(Alanko et al., 2023; Ansari et al., 2025; Clifton‐Sprigg & James, 2025; Enderle et al., 2024; Gonzalez & Smith, 2023; Kearney et al., 2023; Liu, 2024; Peeters et al., 2025; Salgado et al., 2022; Schlesier et al., 2023)

• Relationships: Every student has at least one trusted adult who knows, supports, and encourages them.
• Belonging: Students feel accepted, included, and like an important part of the school community.
• School Climate: The school is physically, emotionally, and psychologically safe, with positive interactions and respectful expectations.
• Expectations: Students and families understand that attendance matters because learning, relationships, and participation matter.

Creating the Conditions for School Attendance

Dimensions of Belonging

Carter, 2023

Making Every Day Worth Attending

• Instruction: Learning is active, challenging, and designed to keep students thinking, collaborating, and participating.
• Relevance: Students understand how learning connects to their lives, future opportunities, and the broader world.
• Agentic Engagement: Students have opportunities for voice, choice, collaboration, decision-making, and ownership of their learning.
• Recognizing and Responding to Bullying: Students learn in environments where they feel physically, emotionally, and socially safe.
• Beyond the Classroom: Clubs, athletics, fine arts, leadership opportunities, and other extracurricular activities help students discover interests, develop talents, and build meaningful relationships.
• The Friday Effect: Every day, including Fridays, the days before breaks, and other traditionally low-attendance days, offers meaningful experiences that students do not want to miss.

Removing Barriers to Student Attendance

• Early Identification: Recognize attendance concerns before they become chronic patterns.
• Family/Guardians Partnerships: Build trusting relationships with families/guardians to develop shared solutions and support consistent attendance.
• Student Supports: Connect students with academic, social, emotional, health, and community resources that reduce barriers to attending school.
• Trauma-sensitive classroom design: Ensure that learning environments recognize that some students have experienced adverse childhood events that impede their attendance and perceptions of safety at school.
• Transportation and Access: Remove practical obstacles by improving access to transportation, meals, health services, and school routines.
• Academic Recovery: Help students catch up on essential learning in ways that build confidence rather than overwhelm them.
• Reconnecting After an Absence: Welcome students back, restore relationships, and make returning to school a positive experience.

Re-entry

Plans

Leading for Lasting Attendance Improvement

• Turning Attendance Data into Action: Use attendance information to identify patterns, evaluate interventions, and guide continuous improvement.
• Starting Strong: Welcome new students and families with intentional onboarding that builds connection from the very first day.
• Every Student Is Known: Establish attendance huddles, mentoring systems, and coordinated supports so every student has an adult who notices, cares, and responds.
• Supporting Transitions: Provide additional support during key transitions between grades, schools, and educational settings, when attendance often declines.
• Keeping Students in School: Reduce reliance on exclusionary discipline and implement restorative approaches that keep students connected to learning.
• Teacher Presence: Model the importance of showing up while ensuring instructional continuity whenever teacher absences occur.
• Celebrating Progress: Recognize growth, persistence, and improvement to reinforce positive attendance habits for students, staff, and families.

​

Attendance Huddle

A student who had no access to clean clothes, so the staff provided laundry funds.

A student who was being threatened on social media by students from other school who told her they planned to show up at her school. Leadership contacted the principal of the other school and the issue was addressed. The student returned to school.

A student who did not think he needed to come to school because he could just do the work at home and pass classes. The schedule for this student was changed and the student was enrolled in more challenging classes, including a dual enrollment community college class.

A student who had cancer but was embarrassed to tell anyone. The staff organized home school services and visited home each week as the student was being treated.

What Would Students Say?