This blog post comes from the Domestic Policy Council at The White House.

We are excited to share with you an invitation to join the Student Attendance and Engagement Solutions Network (Attendance Solutions Network) which we hope you will share with your members. The Attendance Solutions Network, part of the National Partnership for Student Success (NPSS), a partnership among the U.S. Department of Education, AmeriCorps, and the Johns Hopkins University Everyone Graduates Center, has been created to support districts like yours in your efforts to reduce chronic absence, increase student engagement, and build upon prevention strategies for the 2024-25 academic year and beyond.

Below are additional details about the opportunity. To express your interest, please complete this brief form by 12:00pm EST July 23, 2024 to take the first step! The kickoff webinar will be the afternoon of July 23rd (more information will be provided once the form is received).

If you would like additional information as you consider joining, a virtual informational briefing will be held July 16 at 3:00 EST, for which you or a member of your team may attend and learn more about the network. Register for the briefing here.

What is the Attendance Solutions Network?

Through the Attendance Solutions Network, districts will receive access to a range of resources and support through a series of virtual engagement events to address chronic absence and improve student engagement in their communities

What Kinds of Support Will Districts that Participate Receive from the Network?

Districts will receive access to the following resources to address chronic absence and improve student engagement in their communities:

1. A solutions-focused webinar series that provides in-depth information on what the research says about addressing student chronic absence, paired with practical examples of how districts have implemented these strategies to reduce student chronic absence and improve student engagement. Content for the webinar series builds upon resources and best practices from the field, including strategies for prevention, problem-solving, mitigation, building and engaging attendance teams, and collecting and using actionable data. Among these strategies will be guidance for how to bring more evidence-based and relationship-focused supports into schools including mentors, student success coaches, and wraparound/integrated student support coordinators, and how to sustain these roles. Each webinar would provide at least one example in action through which attendees could hear from a peer about how they planned and implemented each strategy presented.

2. Technical assistance and matching services from the NPSS Support Hub at the Johns Hopkins Everyone Graduates Center and the Student Engagement and Attendance Center (SEAC) at the U.S. Department of Education. This technical assistance includes support designing, implementing, or improving mentoring, coaching, and, wraparound support programs, recruiting more people into these roles, and identifying potential community partners and establishing strong partnerships to support children and youth. Assistance also includes resources to align AmeriCorps programs to support growth of evidence-based, people-powered supports in districts.

3. Opportunities to learn from experts and collaborate with peers, including but not limited to, about early warning systems or student success systems. This support would involve the provision of access to a network of district leaders to researchers to help integrate existing student support resources in their district to better address the holistic needs of students and improve attendance, and create effective student attendance/success teams.

4. Opportunities and strategies for building connections with local, state and federal agencies (e.g., health, housing, transportation, recreation, labor, juvenile justice, chamber of commerce, service/volunteerism, libraries, etc.), community based organizations, institutions of higher education, and others to support student attendance and engagement strategies, including through tutoring, mentoring, student success coaching, postsecondary transition coaching, and integrating student supports into schools. There will also be opportunities to elevate insights from districts to state, federal, and national leaders through sharing challenges, barriers, and solutions through the Attendance Solutions Network.