Developing Your School’s Attendance Team and Strategies: Making the Case for Family, Homeless & Migrant Liaisons & Culturally Responsive Interventions

By: Shelneka A. Marsalone July 27, 2026

Schools across the country are working diligently to reduce chronic absenteeism. They are forming attendance teams, analyzing data, monitoring trends, and developing intervention plans. These efforts are essential, but many schools may be overlooking one of their greatest assets. If attendance is influenced by the conditions surrounding students and families, then attendance teams should include the professionals who understand those conditions best. Too often, attendance teams consist primarily of administrators, counselors, teachers, and attendance clerks. While each plays an important role, schools should also intentionally include Family Liaisons, McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaisons, and Migrant Education Liaisons as core members of their attendance teams.

These professionals don't simply support attendance, they help schools understand the why behind attendance. One of the core principles of Attendance Science is that attendance is influenced by multiple systems working together. A student's attendance often reflects what is happening within the family, the school, and the community. When a student begins missing school, the issue may not be motivation or defiance. It may be the result of housing instability, transportation challenges, changing work schedules, language barriers, health concerns, caregiving responsibilities, or family transitions.

Attendance data tells us “who” is absent. Relationships help us understand “why.” That is why attendance teams should include professionals whose daily work centers on building relationships with families.

Family Liaisons Build Trust Before Attendance Becomes a Problem

Family engagement should not begin when a student becomes chronically absent. Family Liaisons spend their time developing trust with parents and caregivers. They understand family strengths, communication preferences, neighborhood resources, and community partnerships. They often know when a family is struggling long before attendance data reveals a pattern.

Including Family Liaisons on attendance teams helps schools move from reactive interventions to proactive support. Instead of asking, "How do we get this student back to school?" schools can begin asking, "What does this family need to make attendance possible?"

Homeless Liaisons Help Schools Recognize Hidden Barriers

Students experiencing homelessness often work incredibly hard to attend school despite circumstances that would challenge any family. As outlined in Homelessness: Understanding, Assessing & Supporting Students, housing instability is rarely an isolated issue (Marsalone, 2026).  Frequent moves, doubled-up living arrangements, transportation disruptions, lack of basic necessities, and uncertainty about tomorrow all influence educational participation. These challenges may not be immediately visible to school staff.

McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaisons understand the legal protections available to students and families, but they also understand something equally important: stability. They help remove barriers before attendance becomes another casualty of housing instability. Their perspective ensures that attendance discussions include solutions rather than assumptions. National guidance similarly emphasizes comprehensive, cross-functional approaches to improving attendance for students experiencing homelessness (National Center for Homeless Education, 2026).

Migrant Liaisons Bring Essential Cultural and Mobility Expertise

Families participating in migrant education programs often navigate seasonal employment, frequent moves, interrupted schooling, and language differences while working to provide for their children. Attendance patterns may reflect mobility rather than disengagement.

Migrant Liaisons understand these unique experiences and can help schools coordinate services, maintain educational continuity, and strengthen communication with families who may otherwise feel disconnected from the school community. Their insight transforms attendance conversations from compliance to collaboration.

Culturally Responsive Attendance Strategies Matter

Attendance interventions are only effective if families trust the people delivering them.

Schools should ask themselves:

• Are we communicating in families' preferred languages?

• Do our attendance letters sound supportive or punitive?

• Are meeting times and family night events realistic for working families?

• Do our staff understand cultural differences that may influence family-school interactions?

• Are trusted community leaders and organizations helping us engage families?

Culture influences how families experience school, seek help, and respond to outreach. Effective attendance strategies recognize and honor those differences. Being culturally aware is not simply about translating documents. It is about creating environments where every family feels respected, understood, and welcomed.

Attendance improvement is not solely about monitoring who is absent. It is about understanding what makes attendance possible. If schools truly want to reduce chronic absenteeism, they must build attendance teams that reflect the realities families face every day. By including Family Liaisons, Homeless Liaisons, and Migrant Liaisons, and by embedding culturally aware strategies into every attendance effort, schools can strengthen trust, remove barriers, and create conditions where students are more likely to be present, engaged, and successful.

Attendance is everyone's responsibility. It only makes sense that the attendance team reflects everyone who has a role in making educational participation possible.

What are some ways your schools are being culturally responsive to support attendance and engagement? Here is a model to help support your effrorts:

Marsalone, S. A. (2026). Homelessness: An educator's guide to understanding, assessing, & supporting students. National Professional Resources, Inc. 

National Center for Homeless Education. (2026). In school every day: Addressing chronic absenteeism among children and youth experiencing homelessness. U.S. Department of Education. 

At We Got Goals, LLC, we believe attendance is not simply about getting students into classrooms, it is about creating the conditions that allow every student to thrive. Through consulting, professional learning, and technical assistance, we help schools and organizations move beyond compliance and toward relationship-centered, evidence-informed practices that strengthen educational participation.