• DPS Guidance
  • School Attendance Team Guide and Best Practices, updated for 2024-25
  • Glossary of Attendance Terms
  • Guidance on Excused Absences
  • Attendance Team Roles, Responsibilities and Limitations
  • Promote and ensure consistent daily attendance practices: See Support: Data
  • Attendance Team Meeting Sample Agenda
  • Sample slide deck for presenting Attendance information
  • Tiered Checklist for Students with Low Attendance
• Daily Attendance Practices
  • Have a set time for attendance to be taken, and ensure that all teachers take and update attendance consistently
  • Document and clear out attendance voicemails
  • Update IC with absence codes as needed
  • If a student who was present earlier in the day and is now marked absent, inform school leadership team about the student
• Tiered Attendance System Approach
  • Attendance Playbook (from FutureEd and Attendance Works)
  • Tiered Approach Overview & Definitions (from Attendance Works)
• Effectiveness Rubrics
  • System/Team Effectiveness Self-Assessment
  • Attendance Practices Effectiveness Self-Assessment
• School Exemplars
  • Goldrick Elementary School Attendance Handbook
  • McMeen Elementary School Attendance Action Plan
  • Legacy Options High SchoolAttendance Policy

Tier 1 Activity Planning Tools

• Yearlong Attendance Activities Planning Tools (from Attendance Works)
• Yearlong Attendance Planner (DPS) 

Communication

One of the most powerful Tier 1 tools is communication to all students and families about the importance of attendance. It is important to ensure that each student and family knows how many days each student has missed of school and whether or not the student is considered chronically absent.

• Personalizable Data Communications to Families
  • Template
  • How to use messenger to communicate student attendance with ALL families  coming soon
• Communication about Attendance to Families who Choice in
  • Template coming soon
•  Flyers
  • How Sick is Too Sick? (from CDPHE)
• From Attendance Works:
  • September Attendance Awareness Month Campaign Resources (from Attendance Works)
  • Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow poster
  • Get Ready for Biggest Adventure (school is starting: preschool, Kindergarten, first grades; available in other languages)
  • Build the Habit of Good Attendance (preschool & kindergarten; available in other languages)
  • Build the Habit of Good Attendance Early (elementary school; available in other languages)
  • Keep Your Child On Track in Middle and High School (available in other languages)
• From DPS:
  • Why Attendance Matters in Denver Public Schools (English and Spanish)

*Amharic. *Arabic. *Chinese. *French. *Nepali. *Somali. *Vietnamese

• • DPS Showing Up Matters: English

*Amharic. *Arabic  *Chinese. *French. *Nepali. *Somali. *Spanish. *Vietnamese

• • DPS Attendance Matters Videos: English

*Amharic. *Arabic. *Chinese. *French. *Nepali. *Somali. *Spanish. *Vietnamese

School Awareness Ideas and Celebrations

• Awareness Ideas
  • Attendance Wall at Legacy Options High School
  • 
• Celebration Ideas
  • Incentives should be designed in a way that incentivize the students at each school. Incentives and celebrations will differ depending on age and developmental level. 
  • Monthly events for improved attendance and attendance higher than school target
    • Lunch with a Leader
    • Homework Pass
    • First in Lunch Line
    • Additional photos of celebrations coming soon
• Certificate Templates

• Communication to Families
  
  • How to set up school messenger daily to inform families of student absences  coming soon
  • Positive Postcard Templates (please make a copy to personalize)
  • Nudge Letter Guidance and Templates
  • Attendance Phone Calls
    • Scripts
    • How to talk with Families about Attendance considerations (from Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction)

• Family Meeting Sample Agenda
  • Exemplar
• Attendance Success Plans
  • Attendance Success Plan Sample (DPS)
  • Attendance Success Plan Samples (from Attendance Works)
• Tier 2 Interventions
  • 2x10 (page 2)
  • Conversation Notebook
• DPS & Community Resources to support Families
  • School Avoidance & Refusal Resources (School Avoidance Alliance)
  • Attendance Works Family Handout on Anxiety
  • DPS Resources
    
    • Transportation questions
    • Family And Community Engagement: FACE
    • Parent Teacher Home Visit program
    • Mental Health Supports
    • Medical/Nursing Supports
    • Homeless Education Network: HEN
    • Supports for youth in Foster/Kinship Care
    • DPS Resources: Additional Information

Tier 3 Interventions

• Formal Tier 3 letter to Families
• Sample Family Meeting Agenda
  • Exemplar
• Attendance Support Plan Samples  coming soon
• Attendance Success Plans
  • Attendance Success Plan Sample (DPS)
  • Attendance Success Plan Samples (from Attendance Works)
• Guidance on Withdrawal Conversations coming soon
• Accessing Resources for Case-planning Help (ARCH) referral information
  • Release of Information (ROI)

DPS and Community Resources

• Transportation questions
• Family And Community Engagement: FACE
• Parent Teacher Home Visit program
• Mental Health Supports
• Medical/Nursing Supports
• Homeless Education Network: HEN
• Supports for youth in Foster/Kinship Care
• DPS Resources: Additional Information

• Attendance Data Guide
• Attendance Reports on Principal Portal (considered most accurate data source for attendance and chronic absenteeism)
  • School Vitals
  • Attendance - Comprehensive Report
  • Progress Monitoring: Attendance - Total, Attendance - Chronic Absenteeism
  • How to download reports from Principal Portal
• Attendance Reports on Infinite Campus
  • IC ADA/ADM reports
• Sample Attendance Trackers
  • Classroom Tracker & Calculator
  • Additional samples coming soon

Legal:

• DPS School Board Policies related to Attendance
  
  • JHB: Student Attendance and Truancy
  • JHB-R: Regulation for Student Attendance
• "Drop-Out" Withdrawal Guidance for Code 06 (P-6) or 40 (7-12)
  • Withdrawal Checklist
• Truancy Filing Process and Forms
  • High Risk Truancy Filing Considerations

Infinite Campus:

• IC Coding Guidance
  • IC Data Dictionary (IC codes and definitions)
• Student Withdrawal Best Practices
• IC Support Documentation
  
  • IC Attendance Overview
  • IC Reports
• How to set up school messenger daily to inform families of student absences  coming soon

• Questions? 
  • Office Hours every Friday
  • 11:00 am - 12:00 pm, Scott Romero (use the hyperlink to join a Google Meet during this time)
  • 2:30 - 4:00 pm, Dr. Cori Canty (use the hyperlink to sign up for a time; in the moment sign-ups are available)
  • For more information or support, contact Dr. Cori Canty.
• Infinite Campus Attendance Trainings
• Attendance On-Demand Modules: Coming Soon!
• Attendance Learning Cohort information to sign up coming soon
• Unique Situations Guidance  coming soon

The Denver Public Schools Comprehensive Attendance Strategy focuses on six 'Key Ingredients', or pillars, to positively impact student attendance.

based on information from AttendanceWorks.org

• The Impact of Absenteeism on Academic Achievement (July 2023)
• Attendance Root Cause Analysis Report (2022-23)
• Attendance Root Cause Analysis Report (December 2023)

 

• Dr. Cori Canty, Primary Lead, x33801
• Scott Romero, x33568
• Elise Logemann, x33874
• Subcommittee Leads
  • School Support Subcommittee: Cori Canty
  • Actionable Data: Josh Allen
  • Adequate & Equitable Resources: Elise Logemann
  • Positive Engagement:
    • Communications: Bill Good and Selena Nakamura
  • Strategic Partnerships: Aviva Katz
  • Shared Accountability:
    • Systems Solutions: Marc Long
    • District Tier 3 Team: Scott Romero 
• District Attendance Team Members