Network for School Improvement Insights
the bill & melinda gates foundation created the network for school improvement to support schools in using improvement science to transform outcomes for Black, Latinx, and low-income students. For the past two years, we've done this by focusing on attendance.
Seeding Success partnered with 15 schools to track 8th and 9th grade on-track outcomes, with a focus on improving attendance and decreasing chronic absenteeism and out of school suspension rates for students.
Through this partnership, school teams worked closely with Seeding Success Data & Research Analysts to determine key root causes, identify evidence-based interventions to address them, and test these interventions through rapid improvement cycles, with a long-term goal of helping more students remain on track toward college and career readiness.
After 106 tests of 11 unique strategies, here’s what we learned…
STRATEGIES
School teams implemented the following strategies to impact attendance and behavior during the 2018-19 and 2019-20 school years.
* indicates that the school saw improvements in student attendance/behavior when implementing that strategy
* indicates that the school saw improvements in student attendance/behavior when implementing that strategy
Of all attempted strategies, these four strategies are recommended…
1
Pair students with a mentor.
2
Send a letter to parents.
3
Meet with parents.
4
Identify root cause of absence for targeted support.
Key Learnings
Identify chronically absent students early
Form a diverse team then set a fixed schedule of biweekly/monthly meetings
Additional Insights
Incorporate student voice throughout the PDSA cycle
A strategy thought to be successful by administrators and teachers was actually discovered to be disliked by students.
Communicate early & in multiple ways
In some cases, students were unaware of attendance incentives when asked. Different means of communication can help ensure students are aware of an incentive but do so before attendance is “counted” so students have an opportunity to work towards it.
Start small when testing a new strategy
Teams sometimes became overwhelmed when trying to quickly improve attendance for a large group of students.
Outcomes
Across the 15 schools, 302 fewer 8th and 9th grade students were chronically absent at the end of Year 2 of the work (2019-20) compared to the previous year. There were also fewer African American and Latinx students who were chronically absent across these two years. However, when comparing the end of Year 2 to the baseline year (2017-18), we only saw a reduction in the number of Latinx students who were chronically absent*.
*Shelby County Schools implemented a new student information system in 2017-18 and adjusted attendance-taking protocols in response in 2018-19. These reporting changes may explain some fluctuation in absenteeism rates during these two school years.
Testimonials
“A lot of times you see a problem and skate around it on paper. But putting in the work and seeing the results of it is rewarding. The work is WORTHWHILE and PURPOSEFUL! No matter if it was school based or working with [our analyst] or at Zone meetings. Whenever we met, the information was needed and solutions were discussed.”
— Mrs. Shanda Gnintedem, Principal, Bolton High School
“It has been good having data, seeing it in comparison to other middle schools; and having someone unbiased to look at the data and trends, and show the team how to navigate the different data systems. [Our data analyst’s] availability and flexibility has been good. Although there was no perceived chronic absenteeism issue, we did find it helpful to focus on students that did have chronic absenteeism issues, which in turn helped the school to use and understand the SART process and consider other ways to support students experiencing attendance challenges. [Our data analyst] provided good feedback/insight.”
— Ms. Dena McNeal, PLC Coach, Bellevue Middle School
“Thank you for ALL of the support that Seeding Success provides [our school]. We especially enjoyed the opportunity to engage in the White Belt Training during the 1st semester.”
— Susan Satar, White Station High School Instructional Facilitator
Network Health Survey
The following shows the results of the Network Health Survey, a survey used to measure the effectiveness and impact of the learning spaces schools engaged in both collectively and across individual schools. The survey was distributed to all members of the school improvement teams by the Partners for Network Improvement in collaboration with the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
Value of NSI participation
Over 80% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the NSI was worth the time and was making a difference to the students they served.
Benefits of team meeting participation
Both middle school and high school staff thought that participation in improvement team meetings was highly useful.
Benefits of NSI participation
The top three greatest benefits of being a part of the NSI were:
Helping improve student outcomes
Helping the school and/or district improve
Getting access to new ideas from colleagues at other schools or from researchers associated with the network
Being a part of a scientific-professional learning community
Over 80% respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the work was grounded in research and that engaging in Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles would help improve chronic absenteeism.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion
At least 95% respondents agreed or strongly agreed that the NSI:
brought together a group of people with diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and expertise.
included diverse leaders.
included members with relevant diversity, equity, and inclusion expertise to inform improvement activities.
School staff most strongly agreed that:
the NSI collected and/or reviewed a rich array of qualitative and quantitative data relevant to the problem.
a broad array of individuals identified the strategies tested, some of whom reflected the diversity of the students they sought to support.
How this work will continue
All 15 schools have the sustainability packet with Continuous Improvement tool templates, documented strategies, and other resources specific to chronic absenteeism, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and community partner engagement.
All schools have access to LEAN White Belt and Results-Based Facilitation trainings by Seeding Success.
For schools that opt in, they will receive technical assistance and coaching from a Continuous Improvement Specialist from our team.
Special Thanks to our Key Partners
