Addressing the Opportunity Gap through School Community Collaboration on Student Attendance: A Qualitative Case Study

The purpose of this case study examines how school leaders, community leaders, parents, and students work to decrease absenteeism and improve individual student attendance through a collaborative effort in a Nebraska high school. Efforts to reduce both the mobility and absenteeism rates of students is one intervention to address out-of-school factors that affect the academic achievement of children of poverty. An attendance team at the high school consisted of both external and internal stakeholders. The team met weekly to reduce absenteeism by focusing on individual student and the student’s family, using a variety of methods to sustain ongoing collaboration with students, parents and the community. The data indicated family life and mental health were two barriers to improved student attendance rates. However, strong relationships were a supporting factor to improved student attendance. The themes from this study revealed two major findings: awareness of the many factors that can attribute to student absenteeism and the need for school-community collaboration to reduce absentee rates and improve student attendance