Developing Your School’s Attendance Team and Strategies: Making the Case for Student Voice & Student-Centered Strategies

By: Toriyn James, Jaliscia Robinson & Shelneka Marsalone

July 18, 2026

Students as Attendance Team Members

Attendance is often discussed through data, policies, and interventions, but one perspective is often missing from the conversation: students. Educators, administrators, and families play crucial roles in addressing absenteeism, but students are the ones experiencing the challenges that affect attendance every day. If schools want to improve attendance, they must involve students as partners in the process. Research shows that chronic absenteeism can harm academic achievement, school engagement, and long-term outcomes (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012). Schools often launch attendance initiatives created by adults, but these efforts may overlook valuable insights from the students they aim to support. 

Students know firsthand about the academic, social, and personal factors that influence attendance and can often identify barriers and solutions that adults may overlook. Including student voice in attendance discussions helps schools move beyond assumptions and gain a clearer understanding of why students miss school. Students can provide valuable feedback during attendance conferences, school improvement planning, and attendance-focused initiatives. Rather than treating attendance meetings and conferences as discussions about students, schools should create opportunities for students to participate as active partners in the conversation. 

Student voice can help shape attendance interventions. Research suggests that absenteeism is influenced by a combination of academic, social, emotional, health, and family factors (Kearney et al. 2020). Because these factors vary among students, schools are more likely to succeed when they gather student input before implementing solutions. Student perspectives can help schools identify unmet needs, recognize emerging challenges, and design supports that better address the barriers students face. 

Student-Centered Strategies

Schools can elevate student voice through surveys, focus groups, student advisory councils, peer mentoring programs, and participation in attendance conferences. However, collecting student feedback is only the first step. Schools should use this information to identify attendance barriers, evaluate existing supports, and guide strategies for improving attendance. Just as importantly, schools should communicate how student feedback influenced decisions and what actions were taken as a result. When students see their input leading to meaningful changes, they are more likely to remain engaged and continue contributing their perspectives. Students who feel heard and valued are more likely to build strong connections to their school community (Goolsby, n.d.). Likewise, students are more likely to attend regularly when they experience a sense of belonging, purpose, and meaningful relationships at school (Bloomberg, 2026). 

Improving attendance requires more than encouraging students to show up. It requires listening to them. If attendance discussions are intended to support students, then students deserve a seat at the table. What does that look like? Having a student representative join school attendance team meetings. How does this work without pulling the student out of instruction? Creative scheduling! Select students who have advisory periods, consider hosting these meetings during lunch periods (i.e. Lunch & Learn), or have these meeting before or after school. If a school is looking to get really creative, let social studies classes take on school policy issues like attendance as class projects. Allow them to share their projects with the school attendance team and maybe even district board members.

By intentionally integrating student voice into attendance conversations, interventions, and decision-making processes, schools promote a culture of trust, inclusivity, and shared accountability. Students offer unique insights into the barriers that affect attendance and can help schools develop more effective, responsive solutions. When students feel heard, respected, and empowered to contribute, they are more likely to actively engage with their school community and maintain regular attendance. Ultimately, creating lasting improvements in attendance means moving from doing things for students to doing things with students.

Join the conversation! How does your school currently include student voice in attendance improvement efforts? What student-centered strategies should be considered when developing initiatives to support student attendance?

*Note: Toriyn James and Jaliscia Robinson are We Got Goals 2026 High School Summer Interns. The cover image for this blog post is a conceptual graphic, with the hope that it encourages schools to develop platforms that amplify student voices.

Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2012). The importance of being in school: A report on absenteeism in the nation’s public schools. Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization of Schools. https://new.every1graduates.org/the-importance-of-being-in-school/

Bloomberg, P. J. (2026). The attendance problem isn’t attendance: What one student’s comment reveals about why re-engagement efforts keep falling short. The Core Collaborative. https://thecorecollaborative.com/the-attendance-problem-isnt-attendance/ 

Goolsby, D. A. (n.d.). The importance of student voice in building school culture. Create for Education. https://createforeducation.org/the-importance-of-student-voice-in-building-school-culture/ 

Kearney, C. A., Heyne, D., & Gonzálvez, C. (2020). Editorial: School Attendance and Problematic School Absenteeism in Youth. Frontiers in psychology, 11, 602242. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.602242

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.