Developing Your School’s Attendance Team and Strategies: Making the Case for Special Education Teachers and Paraprofessionals
- Shelneka Marsalone
- Dec 13, 2025
- 3 min read
By: Shelneka A. Marsalone
December 13, 2025
Including a special education teacher or paraprofessional on the school’s attendance team is vital for providing equitable, inclusive, and effective support to ALL students. Students with disabilities are at increased risk of chronic absenteeism, often due to medical needs, transportation issues, social-emotional challenges, or inadequate accommodations. According to the U.S. Department of Education, students with disabilities experience chronic absenteeism at a rate of 36 percent, compared to 26 percent among students without disabilities (U.S. Department of Education, 2025) . Without specialized insights, attendance interventions may fail to address the specific supports necessary to help these students attend and participate regularly.
A special education teacher offers expertise in interpreting students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs), accommodations, and behavioral interventions. Their involvement helps ensure that attendance strategies are consistent with students’ educational plans and comply with legal requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Additionally, they can assist in identifying instances where absenteeism may be linked to unmet educational, behavioral, or accessibility needs rather than truancy. Similarly, paraprofessionals offer important firsthand insights into students' daily experiences, relationships, and classroom challenges. As trusted adults who frequently work closely with students, paraprofessionals can provide valuable context regarding patterns of disengagement and facilitate communication among families, students, and teachers.
A contributing factor to chronic absenteeism, addressed in a previous blog post, is discipline. Students with disabilities frequently experience disciplinary actions, such as suspensions, at higher rates than their peers. According to the 2020-21 Civil Rights Data Collection (U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, 2023), students with disabilities represent approximately 17 percent of the total K-12 public school enrollment. However, they comprised:
• 24% of students who received at least one in-school suspension,
• 29% of students who received at least one out-of-school suspension,
• 21% of students who were expelled.
Having a special education professional on schools’ attendance teams can also shed light on how discipline practices among this population may be contributing to the absenteeism rate of the school as a whole. This is also why they should be consulted when districts and schools construct their discipline matrix. They can ensure both attendance and discipline teams are aware of IEP and 504 plans and can help them develop interventions appropriately.
Including a special education professional on the attendance team allows schools to ensure interventions are personalized and in compliance with local and federal legal requirements. Compliance for schools is not the only benefit. These professionals can enhance the accuracy of data interpretation concerning disability-related absences which can help the team understand how to properly develop supports and interventions. They can foster inclusive problem-solving and increase family engagement. Their participation shifts the focus of attendance improvement from compliance to engagement, ensuring that all students, particularly those with disabilities, have equitable access to a consistent and meaningful education.
We welcome feedback from special education professionals and advocates! Are you a member of a school or district attendance team? If so, share any valuable insights you've contributed? If not, what information or support would you like your administration to understand and incorporate that may help reduce chronic absenteeism among students with disabilities?
U.S. Department of Education. (2025). Chronic Absenteeism. https://www.ed.gov/teaching-and-administration/supporting-students/chronic-absenteeism
U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights. (2023). Civil rights data collection: Data snapshot (school climate and safety). https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/crdc-discipline-school-climate-report.pdf
About We Got Goals, LLC
Shelneka Marsalone is the Founder and Lead Consultant of We Got Goals, LLC (WGG). At We Got Goals, “Creating a Culture of Being Present,” means more than attendance. It means helping schools and organizations create atmospheres in which all stakeholders can show up authentically and be actively engaged. WGG supports education and organization leaders with developing multi-tiered systems of support to address attendance and engagement. Through incorporating initiatives that focus on student engagement, family engagement, and community engagement - The Triad of Engagement, data analysis, and assisting leaders with developing a strategic framework, WGG guides leaders through the mysterious void in which students disappear…chronic absenteeism.
This is a great article, as it addresses a very important topic and highlights an excellent point as it recommends the inclusion of special education school staff as members of the school attendance team. I have worked with many students that had health challenges (medical, physical, and emotional) that would sometimes cause them to be absent from school or miss several hours of school, and those with serious illnesses often missed weeks of school at a time. Sometimes addressing this issues with parents can be challenging. Schools can look at it from an attendance record point of view and forget how personal and sensitive it can be for the student and parents. As advocates, we must help direct the schoo…