Student Attendance and Engagement

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MCPS Attendance Outreach and Support Protocol

In addition to problem solving around students with emotional and behavioral concerns, Student Well-Being Teams will coordinate the regular review of attendance and engagement data and will meet on a regular basis. Strategies will move away from notifications and warnings towards outreach, problem solving, and support. Regular meetings (led or co-led by the pupil personnel worker) will consider each unique student and family situation. Recommended outreach and support will consider a variety of factors, including:

Unique circumstances of the student or family
Previously implemented outreach and support
Attendance trends

Outreach Efforts

Student Well-Being Teams will identify which staff members will be responsible for specific parent outreach. Parent outreach should include:

Multiple documented attempts to reach parent/guardian via phone, text, or email during different times of the day

Multiple attempts to reach parent/guardian through additional contact information of known siblings or emergency contacts

Attempts to arrange to meet the parent/guardian and student virtually
In circumstances when all outreach above is unsuccessful, staff members may reach out to known friends of the student

Problem Solving and Support

Initial outreach to parent/guardian, designed to:

Educate the student and parent/guardian on the importance of regular live, virtual lesson attendance and engagement, or the access of recorded lessons;
Informally problem solve to determine why the student is not participating in the live virtual lessons or their recordings; and
Provide resources or support to address the issue.

More formal problem solving, including parent and student, if appropriate, to:

Consider root causes of student’s lack of attendance and/or engagement;
Plan interventions to address the root causes; and
Plan to monitor impact of interventions and support.