VUSD a Leader in Student Attendance District Support and Engagement Keeps Attendance High
September is Attendance Awareness Month, and while attendance rates around the country are still recovering post-Covid, Vista Unified has cause to celebrate.
When it comes to attendance, the district is leading the way not only in San Diego County but also in the state of California. Their average daily attendance (ADA) for the 2023-24 school year was more than 3% higher than the state average for unified school districts.
What is behind the impressive stats? Rhonda Marriott-Spencer, Director of MTSS (Multi-Tiered System of Support) explains: “Last year, a goal was presented to all of our administrators at the beginning of the school year to reach 96% attendance.”
Continuous Improvement
She says ongoing measurement and assessment during principal meetings helped create strategies to boost attendance numbers, while principals focused on the unique culture of their particular school to identify what worked for students. “In education, we're always on a continuous improvement cycle,” says Marriott-Spencer. “We try new things, reflect on if they work or not, and identify why.”
One idea that’s proven successful across several VUSD schools is an attendance board posted up front and center as students walk onto campus.
“It’s large, live, and updated every month to show what each school's percentage of attendance is, and you can see it grow throughout the year,” says Marriott-Spencer. “Everybody can see and say ‘How are we doing?’ and then it becomes a school-wide focus about moving towards a goal.”
Social-Emotional Impact
She goes on to explain that the three main areas most affected by school attendance are the social-emotional impact, the academic impact, and the financial impact.
Regarding the social-emotional issue, the teachers and admin of VUSD have worked hard to create a culture of belonging where students want to be at school.
“Number one for us is to create engaging learning environments so that school is a place kids want to be,” says Marriott-Spencer. “That way attendance rates will go up.”
She points to Vista’s use of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) program as an example, which aims to create flexible learning environments to fit all students' needs rather than a one-size-fits-all curriculum which can make students feel excluded.
“As we move into this year, it continues to be a focus, and major efforts are involved in making sure all of our staff have the professional learning to build their capacity in that area.”
In addition, each VUSD site has at least one school counselor assigned, and often a social worker, to support students’ social, emotional, and behavioral needs. Having these supports available to students at school makes attendance even more important so that students receive the mental health assistance the need.
Academic Impact
As for how attendance impacts a student’s academics, Marriott-Spencer describes how missing school results in students missing out on much-needed extra support. “Some of our students need supplemental support, often through small group instruction with a learning support teacher or a resource teacher.
“When they aren’t in school, they don't have access to those supports to get that specific focus for their area of need. So it’s very important for kids to be there every day because we have small group instruction scheduled throughout the week.
“The more a child is struggling, the more they need supplemental and intensified support. It can't be random. It needs to be every day for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, to give that direct instruction so they can practice those skills and experience success.”
Family & Community Engagement Team
Vista USD’s Family & Community Engagement (FACE) team is another vital component of creating a welcoming culture at school and support for students and families to connect to resources. This extends to matters of attendance, where the liaison may be able to spot challenges and act quickly to provide assistance.
Every VUSD site has a family and community liaison who is instrumental in the home/school connection and can communicate with families in their home language. Sometimes this can facilitate a home visit to see if a student’s absence is based on something that the school can assist in finding a remedy.
“I’m a huge proponent of the home visit,” says Marriott-Spencer. “It's all that about creating direct communication with families to get an understanding of the barriers and challenges of getting a child to school.
“All of these things have really have helped us to achieve these higher rates of attendance.”
Financial Impact
When it comes to the financial aspect of attendance, if a child misses school it can lead to a loss of funding for schools. California’s school funding includes a formula that funds schools for each day that a student attends. Missed days mean less funding for schools, which can add up to affect the programs, opportunities, and support that students and families want and need, including resource staff support and enrichment activities.
Like all districts, VUSD has had to deal with chronic absenteeism, which is defined as 10% of instructional days missed. This averages out to 2 days absent per month and includes excused absences. This makes it all the more important that parents communicate with the school if they are taking their students out for any reason.
Says Marriott-Spence, “Simple things that parents can do to help attendance rates are to make sure students go back to school after doctor’s appointments, schedule vacation only during school breaks, and always communicate with their child’s school to let them know if their student will be absent so it can be marked as an excused absence.”
Setting High Goals
Marriott-Spencer is proud of the district’s 96% attendance goal, knowing that the combined efforts of principals, teachers, liaisons, administrators, and parents can deliver on these expectations so that VUSD students are equipped and empowered to succeed.