Partner with tribal governments to remove attendance barriers through staff expertise, transportation, and health and social services¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

The brief identifies tribal governments as essential partners for addressing attendance challenges. They can add staff to school attendance teams who have the expertise and cultural knowledge to create bridges between schools, tribal Elders, and mentors; provide or supplement transportation; and offer medical, dental, vision, behavioral health, and social services through clinics, mobile units, or transportation assistance. The brief gives the example of rural Del Norte County, California, where the Yurok Tribe's bus helps students who miss the district's yellow school bus get to school.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Engagement of tribal education directors, clinic administrators, social services directors, and other tribal leaders with insight into systemic barriers

Constraints¶

• The brief frames this strategy as addressing barriers, one of its four root-cause categories, rather than aversion, disengagement, or misconceptions

Target Learners¶

• AI/AN students, including those in rural communities

Target Learning Goals¶

• Getting students to school by removing logistical and health-related barriers to attendance

Related Strategies¶

• Partner with community-based organizations to deliver critical services, since districts and schools alone cannot reduce chronic absenteeism
• Implement a tiered, prevention-first approach to reducing chronic absence that invests in positive conditions for learning

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Chang, H.N., & Leong, C. (2024). Missing more than school: Reducing chronic absence for American Indian and Alaska Native students. WestEd. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED655926