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Before It Becomes Chronic: Research-Driven Tier 2 Strategies for Attendance Improvement

January 12, 2026

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So happy to be here with you!

Emily Orngard, M.Ed, Director of Education & Engagement at EveryDay Labs

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EveryDay Labs: Behavioral science is at our core

Focus on

Family Communication
Attendance
Data Science

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We support family engagement & attendance improvement with:

Chronic Absence Communications

- Proactive mail & text nudges

- Connects families to resources

Attendance MTSS Platform

-Reporting related to all of our family engagement

-Actionable data updated nightly

-Intervention coordination & case management

Professional Learning

-Live staff development

-Monthly webinars

-Attendance resources

Truancy Notices

- Restorative Family Engagement

- Simplified Process

- 40% More Effective

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EveryDay Labs Nudges address the three critical parent misconceptions about attendance.

Designed with intent and accessibility in mind:

4th grade reading level
Mailed in English & Spanish
Simple graph

Misconception #3:

Families believe that their students’ attendance is average or better than average.

Misconception #1: Families underestimate their students’ total absences by 50%

Misconception #2:

Families underestimate the link between attendance and academic progress.

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Today’s Agenda

Emerging research

Building Tier 2 Systems

Implementing Tier 2 Interventions

Success Stories

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Emerging Research

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Three Attendance Metrics

Average Daily Attendance
Truancy
Chronic Absenteeism

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Social and Academic Consequences of Chronic Absenteeism

In Elementary School:

Weaker development of social skills
Less likely to read well by 3^rd grade
More likely to be retained

In Middle School

Lower grades and test scores
A warning sign that students will eventually drop out

In High School

Lower grades and test scores
Lower graduation rates
Lower rates of college enrollment & completion

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Attendance Connection to Learning

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Every Additional Absence is Associated with Decreased Academic Performance

(including for those not yet chronically absent)

Every Absence =

~1 ppt decrease

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Every Single Missed Day Matters for Student Achievement

To improve academic outcomes, we must invest in attendance improvement for all students.

Attendance Investment → High Academic ROI (return on investment)

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1.5 Million Students Across 60+ Districts

SY 23-24

Tier	Absence Rate	Percentage of All Students
1 - Satisfactory	<5%	46%
1 - At Risk	5-9%	28%
2 - Moderate	10-19%	17%
3 - Severe	20-49%	8%
3 - Extreme	50% +	1%

Ended the Year Chronically Absent

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What Happens with Students in Tier 2?

Tier 2 students at end of October*

33% ended the year in Tier 1 (not chronic)
50% ended the year in Tier 2
17% ended the year in Tier 3

*missed 4-8 days

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What Happens with Students in At Risk (Tier 1)

Students in At Risk (Tier 1) at end of October*

73% ended the year in Tier 1
27% ended the year in Tier 2 or 3

*missed 2-4 days

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Tier 3

Tier 2

Tier 1: At Risk

Add to the chat: About how much time and resource does your school team put towards each group of students?

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Staff Time Focused on Attendance

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Essential Components

Resources = Time + People + Money

High Touch + Low Touch Strategies

To Enable Strategic Interventions

Coordinated Approach

Data Tools

Resource Allotment

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Coordinated Approach

Low Touch	High Touch
Effective communication of attendance norms and policies Regular, personalized attendance communications Targeted attendance campaigns Early warning phone calls Connection building interventions (check in / check out)	Home visits Family attendance conferences Connecting families to district resources Building and capitalizing on community partnerships Mentors Individualized incentive strategies

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System of Support

District and School Wide Preventative Strategies

Small Group or Clustered Interventions

Individual Supports

Cindy

tier 1: Attendance Promotion

You may have seen something like this floating around, but this image is really going to guide a lot of the discussions that we have over the next few sessions because it is so encompassing of what the system looks like in its entirety.

Draw eyes to the right side and walk you through a couple of things that I want you to tune into. , and acknowledge that Tier I includes both students that are satisfactory attenders & at risk for becoming chronically absent

We need to have a plan for students that are falling into each tier of absenteeism - so if you look on the right, you’ll see that each Tier encompasess a subset of students ….

And we need to ensure that our resources are being utilized as strategically as possible. We know that we can’t create highly individualized plans for each and every students because of the cost, so we need to have universal preventive interventions in place, to ensure that the students who need those specialized services the most, are able to access them.

next slide

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Month	Prior Year Chronic Absence*	Tier 3 20% +	Tier 2 10-19%	Tier 1 5-9%
August	X
Sept	X	X
Oct	X	X
Nov		X	X
Dec		X	X
Jan		X	X
Feb		X	X
March			X	X
April			X	X
May				X
June				X

Priority Students:

While the Attendance Team will be supporting attendance at every tier throughout the year, the priority or focus students who will receive the most interventions and support will rotate based on the time of year.

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Tier 2 Systems and Supports

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4th Grade Student in Tier 2

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1st Grade Student in Tier 2

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Treating Chronic Absenteeism

It’s Chronic

Must be treated in regular intervals
One intervention may not result in long-term change
Plan for regular non-punitive interventions for families/students

Barriers to Attendance

Chronically absent students and/or their families experience an average of 9 barriers to attendance

Interventions should be: Non-Punitive

Positive

Solution Based

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System of Support

Analyze Data

look at student’s attendance calendar, excused v. unexcused and monthly attendance rates

Look for patterns & trends in the data

Use barrier assessments to better understand challenges students are facing

Cluster Students based on pattern/trend and determine recommended interventions

Monitor with frequency

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Analyzing Data

For Tier II Students (10-20% absence rate) - we use data to design interventions that match student needs and as are efficient as possible.

• Quantitative Attendance Data - the raw numbers

• Qualitative Data - based on the student’s specific barriers to attendance

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Early v. High Tier II

Students missing 10-14% = Early Tier II

Start with the quantitative data, then decide the next step

Students missing 15-20% = High Tier II

Start with qualitative data, base intervention off that

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Identify Patterns and Trends

Patterns: Is this student missing a specific day of the week?

Are they extending vacations?

Are absences single days or multiple days?

Do you imagine that this is a pattern across the household?

How often did the student miss in the first month of school?

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Identify Patterns and Trends

Trends: How attendance data changes over the year. Trends to look for:

Increasing absenteeism

Next Step: Intervene with Barrier Assessment or Intervention

Improving attendance

Next Step: Positive Reinforcement!

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Interventions

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Tier 2 Interventions

Targeted Home Visits
Mentoring Programs
Planned Student Discussions
Early Warning Systems*
Tutoring Programs
Mental Health Support and School Refusal Strategies
Addressing Asthma
Target Youth Engagement

Nudge Letters for Vacation Extenders or groups of students based on an absence rate
Early Stage Intervention Phone Calls
Check In / Check Out
Relationship Mapping*
2X10 Strategy*
Lunch Bunch*

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Early Warning Systems

Check weekly in the EveryDay Attendance Platform for students that are missing 10% of school

look for patterns to respond to
look for changes or shifts that deserve a response

improvements? Positive Reinforcement!
getting worse? Teacher Phone call home!

Utilize Student Study teams to get ahead of attendance challenges by analyzing student academic and behavioral challenges

Schools and districts that have achieved the best improvements in attendance typically use two interconnected strategies to gauge students’ commitment to school. First, they track an array of attendance data to identify students in need of support, discern patterns, and determine the intensity of the response needed. This tracking requires a level of analysis beyond daily attendance taking.

Best practice is to check weekly or biweekly for students who are chronically absent—10 percent of the school year or about two days a month for any reason. Second, they use a team approach to addressing absenteeism, bringing together key players to assess data and develop a course of action, often as part of a student support network or an early warning system that also looks at course failure and disciplinary action

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Early Warning Systems

Attendance

Academics

Behavior

Triangulate the data to help determine high priority students

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Relationship Mapping

Make sure that every student has a trusted adult at the school.

Adult Centered: Adults identify students that may not have a positive relationship at school

Student Centered: Students elect to choose/identify a trusted adult that is their ‘person’

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2X10 Strategy

Spend two minutes per day (for 10 consecutive school days in a row) connecting with a student individually and offering extra social-emotional support

Who does this work for?

Students struggling with maintaining positive relationships, showing patterns of disruptive behavior, seeming in need of extra support

Focus on: connection. Ask open ended questions, keep it light and focused on students interests and activities

Be persistent and consistent!

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Lunch Bunch

Create space for peer-peer relationship building while also working to toward social emotional goals

Keep groups small, 4-6 peers
Meet weekly
One adult should act as mentor and lightly plan activities, discussion topics, short lessons rooted in social emotional topics to promote growth and community

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Success Stories

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A Story of Success in Washington, DC

Findings from EveryDay Labs’ SY24-25 Randomized Controlled Trial

Key Results

6.3%

reduction in chronic absenteeism

20,385

days recovered over �year-long implementation

$19

cost per absence prevented

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A Story of Success in Texas

Findings from EveryDay Labs’ SY24-25 Randomized Controlled Trial

Key Results

6.7%

reduction in chronic absenteeism

39.792

days recovered over �year-long implementation

$1.5M

Average Daily Attendance revenue generated

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A Student Story

Chronically absent early in the school year

On track to finish the year not chronically absent!

Received chronic absence mail nudges:

On 9/15 (early intervention) and 2/16
Biweekly text nudges starting 10/1

Asked chatbot for support resources

Assistant Principal added student to intervention group and scheduled attendance conference

AP added barrier (transportation) and note to student profile

Improved attendance in Nov and Dec and perfect attendance in March and April

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Big Takeaways

What Oregon Districts Learned About Attendance Improvement

Early, relationship-based Tier 2 interventions matter�
Attendance works best inside MTSS�
Communication should invite, and lead to trust & empathy, not punish or condemn

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Closing Reflection

Take 2 minutes to write down your top 3 takeaways from today.

Star the one that you can take an action on today!

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Interested in learning more about how EveryDay Labs can support your district?

Emily Orngard

Director of Education

319.331.5348

emilyo@everydaylabs.com