Wait, we didn’t budget for that?

Last year I became a first-time mom. I knew about diapers, onesies, bottles and blankets, but I honestly had no idea about a lot of the other stuff (looking at you Diaper Genie and Halo sleep sack) that I didn’t budget for—but truly needed.

This same logic holds true for most districts related to attendance. I have yet to hear a district declare, “Erica, thanks for meeting with us. We budgeted for an attendance data management and intervention system and so we thought we’d better call SI&A straight away.”

Learning loss recovery plan success hinges on student participation.

The fact is that districts generally find out the “hard way” through failure (costlier remediation vs. preventative programs) or lack of adequate progress toward their goals, that they need to budget an attendance management system.

Yet learning loss recovery plan success hinges on student participation.

As students return to campus, monitoring attendance and learning time for both in-person and distance learning should be top priority. Nothing supports the direct correlation between GPA, test scores and grad rates like a positive, strong student attendance habit. Scalable strategies, universal tiered interventions and a systematic approach are every district’s best bet to reversing the COVID-slide and improving student outcomes.

So, while you likely didn’t budget for an attendance data management and intervention system, now is the time to implement one.

I’m happy to share more about the best attendance/achievement plan out there: Email me at AskErica@sia-us.com for full details.