Tactics for Increasing Attendance and Enrollment, Event Recap

Nearly two hundred leaders and educators from across the country gathered for a conversation between Possip’s CEO Shani Dowell, school administrators Kavon Seay and Marc Anthony Peek of Napier Elementary in Nashville, communication consultant Austin Rhodes of Rhodes Branding, and lawyer and community fitness leader James Crumlin. Keep reading to learn their tactics for increasing attendance.

---

The framework for improving attendance and increasing enrollment starts with engaging families to understand the barriers to attendance. 

Data from Attendance Works, a national non-profit initiative, finds that: 

“Possip’s routine Pulse Checks are a way to engage all families often and learn about their needs early on. Through routine feedback you can notice a potential barrier when it first arises for a family. For families already dealing with chronic absences, Possip’s Attendance Checks are a way to learn about direct and specific barriers to missing school.”

Possip’s data shows us that sickness and transportation are the biggest barriers to attendance. In feedback from over 7000 families since 2019, we learn that 40% of families report having a barrier to attendance. Sickness is the top barrier, ranging from half to the majority of absences. Transportation is the second top barrier, averaging about 10% of absences. 

---

Once you understand barriers, you can begin removing them. Addressing health and transportation first. 

Marc Anthony Peek, Community Achieves Site Manager at Napier Elementary in Nashville, shares some of the tactics his team has developed to address transportation barriers, including a walking school bus, and smartly timed attendance incentives informed by data.

 

Consider these tactics for removing transportation barriers: 

1. Community schools can meet families where they are with solutions like Napier’s walking school bus. 
2. Wide windows of time for drop off and pick up help families have flexibility in their schedules. 
3. Helping families build their net of support for carpooling, and having parents who volunteer to help with carpooling
4. Extracurricular activities and afterschool programs aid with that flexible timing and have the added benefit of motivating students to come to school. 

When families are asked in Pulse Checks what would help with attendance, Possip data shows they believe extracurricular activities, and a support person or mentor will help ensure attendance each day. This is why we consult partnering schools in creating community “nets” of support. 

1. Consider intentional partnerships, engaging community organizations to help motivate students or provide a safe place. 
2. Send parents home with a family phone tree to collect phone numbers of families who live near them and/or their bus stop. 
3. During school events, have parents build out their support network as an activity. 

Lawyer and Triathlete James Crumlin, who notably leads Nashville’s most popular and longest running free community workout Capitol Steps, talks more about the role of a support person or mentor:

 

To address the top barrier of sickness, establish clear guidance for parents and kids on what to do when sick. Here are a few ways: 

1. Make “go/no go” decisions clear. 
2. Keep schools healthy, and communicate about it – highlight post-COVID protocols, share stats, update families on your efforts. 
3. Repeatedly communicate the attendance policies related to sickness throughout the year. Make sure parents know exactly how and when to contact you for help. 

---

While doing the good work of removing barriers, focus your team around communicating a culture of attendance rather than a prerogative of compliance. Focus efforts on community over compliance. 

Possip’s CEO Shani Dowell voices the family perspective that surfaces in Pulse Checks, and how parents tend to respond to messages of compliance. 

---

Communications consultant Austin Rhodes of Rhodes Branding talked about building a culture of attendance by integrating messaging and values that school is worth going to.

 

Your team can stepback to discuss developing these motivating mindsets: 

1. What a student has to look forward to each day and each week
2. Why it’s worth showing up at school
3. What a student might miss if they miss school
4. How the school is better with the student present

---

Extend that culture of attendance to families, aligning through sharing data and stories. 

Attendance Works provides free diagnostic tools for tracking attendance data. Possip Attendance Checks collect data consistently on the individual and collective family experience of absenteeism. 

Dr. Kavon Seay, Dean of Students at Napier Elementary reminds us that “coming through with the caring piece” and sharing our own stories as educators and mentors is a way to align families, staff and students around this culture of attendance you’ve worked so hard to reinforce and communicate.

---

We shared several resources and tactics throughout this blog. Here are quick links to each of those: 

• Family Phone Tree template
• Family Support Network Guide
• Resource Sheet including links to additional data tools
• Full Event Clip 

Interested in bringing Possip Attendance Checks to your organization? Click here!

The post Tactics for Increasing Attendance and Enrollment, Event Recap appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Possip Event: Ideas for Improving Attendance and Increasing Enrollment

Register today to receive the event recording! Thank you for joining Possip’s CEO Shani Dowell along with invited guests as we share ideas for improving attendance and increasing enrollment. 

The post Possip Event: Ideas for Improving Attendance and Increasing Enrollment appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Howard University MS’s Protocol for Using Family Feedback in School Improvement

Kerry Whitacre Swarr, Possip reporter and education equity consultant who is also working on her Ed.D. dissertation involving Possip, partnered with Howard University Middle School to develop a research-based protocol for using family feedback in school improvement projects. Keep reading to learn the protocol for your team!

---

Those of us in education know that our field loves a protocol.  A protocol is simply an agreed-upon set of guidelines for conversation.  But the real purpose of using Protocol in educational settings creates a space to learn together and create value while improving and potentially transforming schools.  This was the genesis of my dissertation topic.  What if we used a meeting protocol with a School Improvement Team or other existing school teams with families representing your school population to review and make meaning of Possip Family Feedback Reports, together?  I got to test this out with Howard University Middle School this fall.

The meeting protocol I created drew heavily from the works of both McDonald (2013) and Wegner and Wegner (2020). The protocol is basically a script that walks a group or team through three steps while reviewing a Possip Family Feedback Report–described below: 

Quietly and individually, write three or four Notice Statements based on your observations from the Possip Feedback Report on Post-Its or on virtual Post-Its. These statements begin with the phrase “I notice that…”  They should be free of inference, judgment, or speculation; they are fact-based, observing only.

Team members take turns reading aloud one new Notice Statement at a time and post them on a wall or virtual wall, without discussion.  Group “like” noticing together. The process continues until all Noticing Statements have been shared. 

Collectively reflect on why some noticing was more common than others.  

• What do the Noticing Statements mean? 
• Why should we care? 
• How can we better understand the impact of what they noticed?
• Is most of the feedback compliant?
• What does that mean for building an equitable school community?

 

Quietly and individually, participants write three or four Wonder Statements about the family feedback. These statements, which begin with the phrase “I wonder why/if/how/whether…” may or may not relate directly to Noticing Statements shared in Step 1. Sometimes they offer a suggestion; other times they are merely inquiries. 

In no particular order, team members take turns reading aloud one new Wonder Statement at a time and post on a real or virtual wall organized by theme. This process continues until all Wonder Statements have been shared, without discussion.

 

The team reviews the notes. The team members have a dialogue about the noticing and wonder statements that were shared. Each person speaks before someone speaks again. When you speak, build off the point the person before you made. Actively listen to everyone. 

Dialogue Questions:  

• Are there some themes?  
• Do you have a new perspective from the noticing and wonderings of others?  
• Now what? What are some actions that the team recommends the school take based on your collective learning that addresses family priorities, address power differences, and will contribute to building more equitable policies, programs, and structures at your school?
• What other questions do we have? Can you collectively design questions to be used as the fourth question through Possip for the upcoming month that can? 

Facilitator and Notetaker Roles for the Protocol

I built two roles—a facilitator and a notetaker.  I recommend these roles change each meeting and include families, teachers, non-instructional staff, and school administrators to address any power differentials.  Although we were able to accomplish everything in the protocol in an hour, the team members I worked with thought it would be great if they had even more time for rich discussion, meaning-making, and value creation–something that is rarely prioritized in the busy school day.

Create a Safe Space and Anonymizing Your Reports

With any feedback, there are concerns by team members no matter their role in your school community that things will feel personal and potentially threatening.  But, we all know you don’t improve and get better unless you are open and truthful about how things are really going.  This requires trust and that can be built in your team over time.  Creating meeting norms to address these concerns that you revisit regularly will help. Also, school administrators can easily anonymize all feedback in the Possip portal and quickly and easily black out names in feedback to share with a team.  This took me less than five minutes.     

Why is it important to have a protocol and families at the table? 

This protocol helps school teams focus on what families are saying. Because there are different perspectives at the table, teams can quickly understand family feedback from different perspectives, including families.  Having families at the table makes schools immediately more accountable for making meaning from the feedback captured in the Possip Family Feedback Reports and doing something as a result to improve your school.  Try it!    

To read more on protocols and strategies for equitable family engagement, you can click here!

---

Sources:

McDonald, J., Mohr, N., Dichter, A., McDonald, E. (2013). The Power of Protocols:  An Educator’s Guide to Better Practice.  Teachers College Press, New York. 

Wenger-Trayner, E., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (2020). Learning to make a difference: Value creation in social learning spaces. Cambridge University Press. 

 

Join Our Event on Family Feedback and School Improvement Projects!

The post Howard University MS’s Protocol for Using Family Feedback in School Improvement appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Possip Live Demo

Feedback matters. Join us to learn more about how Possip collects, analyzes, and reports back feedback within your school communities!

The post Possip Live Demo appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Moving into the New Year: 2022 Reflections

Shani Dowell, Possip CEO and Founder, shares important forms of reflection as the year comes to an end.

---

When I first started Possip, two big questions stood before me like boulders in a path.

1. 1. Will schools even want regular feedback?
   2. Will parents ever share?

In my mind, hearing from families would help schools and districts be stronger. But the question of whether schools wanted feedback – or whether parents would share – became potential obstacles.

As we close out our 6th year of Possip, I can answer both questions definitively.

Yes.

---

Instead of boulders in the path, schools wanting feedback – and parents, caregivers, students and staff wanting to share – are accelerants. That doesn’t mean every school wants feedback – or every parent will share. But the power and impact we see from those who do share has become like rocket fuel to what is possible in schools when we ask, listen, and act on feedback. 

2022 Reflections to Consider in the New Year

Seeing the power and impact provides additional reflection points:

People asking for feedback is an act of strength. 

Asking for feedback is leaders saying, “I can handle hearing hard things.”  “I can be stronger from learning.”

People asking for feedback is an act of vulnerability.

When leaders ask for feedback, they say, “I am shaking free the idea I’m perfect.” “I am asking you about things I may not have the power, skill or capacity to change.”

People sharing feedback is an act of hope.

That things can be better or different. That someone is listening. That the individual can be an agent of change.

People sharing feedback is an act of trust.

They trust that the people, organization or system they are sharing with cares what they think – and can do something about their experience.

The power of knowing your impact.

So often things happen and while you may understand the order of events, you may not know the impact of the events. I remember in Possip’s first Pulse Check in February of 2017, a parent shared the positive impact a teacher made on her anxiety-ridden child by giving  her child a journal and encouraging her child to write.  Another parent wrote about the positive impact a parent made when their child was absent and the teacher called to check in on the child. I remember a Pulse Check where a parent shared the impact of a disciplinary decision involving her child.

As the principal read this comment, the principal said “I knew all of the events surrounding this decision but  I didn’t realize the impact it had.”  So often things happen and move so quickly in a school day – that it is hard to know the impact – positive, negative, or neutral. 

The limits of even good intentions.

Closely connected to the power of impact are the limits of even the best of intentions. We often miss the opportunity to learn more about the success – or failure – of our intentions.  In large systems like districts and schools, we make decisions with the best of intentions. No one wakes up and asks how they can make a big decision that negatively impacts tens of thousands of people.

And yet we know that the realities from any policy perspective is that sometimes our decisions have negative and unintended consequences. Unfortunately, without easy ways to hear about the impact of positive intentions, a lot of schools, districts and organizations have to suffer from more painful ways of hearing from their community about the negative impacts of a decision.

The truth of conflict.

I was recently interviewing someone and they said “conflict is a part of life – you just have to go through it.” This resonated with me as a truth. So often what stands in the way of engaging in difficult conversations is the fear of conflict. Conflict really is a part of life. Finding productive ways to engage in, and manage through conflict are important skills.

The  other side of hard.

Gosh. We’ve learned hard in new ways the past 3 years. I was at a fundraising event last year, and the speaker shared a well known quote from the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, “everything you want is on the other side of hard.” In our work we get to walk alongside our partners in the hard. We see parents sharing hard feedback – about kids struggling with mental health, academic needs, feelings of isolation, bullying. We see schools having to deal with the hard – staffing shortages, COVID and sickness protocols, changing policy environments, attendance and enrollment challenges. But we also see them walking forward – towards a future on the other side of hard.

---

As we head into the new year, may we keep walking forward in the hope, trust, vulnerability, strength, knowledge of impact, comfort with conflict, and push through the hard that is going to make our schools, districts, organizations, and people even stronger.

I’ll see you on the other side.

To learn more about the importance of feedback, join a Possip live demo!

The post Moving into the New Year: 2022 Reflections appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Actions for Keeping Safe Schools

Possip’s CEO Shani Dowell sat down with mental health counselor Malené Dixon and Catherine Cecere of Joffe Emergency Services to discuss school safety. After the conversation, Possip had requests from attendees to recap the tangible use cases and takeaways. 

---

Keep reading to cover actions to take for keeping schools safe. 

First, let’s pause there on the statement “keeping schools safe.” Notice, it’s a verb. As a society, we can’t guarantee we will always have safe places, but we can work together at keeping safe places for everyone. We can do this by creating: 

1. 1. Systems of Safety

1. 1. Ecosystems of Safety

1. 1. Safe Practices 

---

On creating Systems of Safety: 

Shani Dowell shares starting points for a safe school climate, highlighting in this 1-minute clip a helpful mindset for establishing and adapting systems that can be adapted to unpredictable situations. 1.) Have templates to guide you, but respond appropriately and according to real-time situations. 2.) Ask questions, get answers, and keep listening by using Possip surveys and other methods. 

From Shani: We need to be talking about competing ideas. Keep understanding that the answers are not always easy answers, but there are strong systems to put in place. Keep learning and hearing from our students and staff so we know what’s important to them.” 

---

On creating Ecosystems of Safety 

Catherine Cecere shared a visual for this ecosystem below and discusses these “circles of safety.” She points out, “We at Joffe talk with schools about: how do we keep people safe and how do we make them feel safe? As you can imagine these have so much overlap, but they are not always the same thing.” Critical actions: 1.) Keep people physically safe. 2.) Keep people feeling safe. She discusses administration’s role and other critical actions centered around communication practices in the full conversation 

 

---

On creating Safe Practices: 

Cat made excellent points summarized here and in the 1-minute clip below. 1.) Learn trauma-informed practices. 2.) Make practicing safety intentional and meaningful. 

From Cat: We need to talk about meaningful and trauma-informed practices. Keep talking to kids about what could happen and how to keep our bodies safe. Keep talking to parents about how we practice intentionality of decreasing trauma.

---

In closing, we loved this key takeaway from mental health counselor Malené Dixon. Safety impacts attendance. How safe and secure a student feels at school is a determining factor of whether they show up at school. Malené pointed out that when schools have threats to campus, they likely have the lowest attendance of the year the next day – stating that was true for her former campus KIPP Sunnyside in Houston, Texas. Hear more on how safety impacts attendance in this one-minute clip with Malené and join us for a special conversation on increasing attendance this January. 

---

Resources and connecting to the panel: 

• • Visit youtube to hear the entire 50-minute conversation. 

• • Joffe Emergency Services welcomes you to sign up for their free resources, including a monthly e-newsletter, invitations to webinars, templates, and turnkey slides for schools to use. 

• • To connect with Cat Cecere of Joffe Emergency Services, schedule a call. 

• • To connect with Malené Dixon for consultation and consulting services, visit https://www.loftylife.net. 

For federal resources on Campus Safety, click here!

The post Actions for Keeping Safe Schools appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.

Tips on Maximizing Attendance in Your Schools

Caitlin Churchill, Possip’s Community Director, provides tips to maximize attendance in your schools!

---

“When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” is a motto sometimes used to celebrate kids with perfect attendance. 

Modern day expectations and laws reinforce the message that every kid should be in school every day possible. However, historically that hasn’t always been the case. History tells the tale of kids staying home to offset families lacking resources, zoning and discriminatory regulations. This has required people to attend schools far from their homes, and unsafe and time-consuming transportation to school, not to mention unwelcome environments for many. 

It’s not surprising that people need support and motivation to get to school. It’s not surprising that when things get tough (insert: unsafe, unkind, inconvenient), people might not show up or lean into difficult situations. 

There are real tangible factors influencing attendance – physical and mental health, transportation, safety and communication – and Possip’s new Attendance Checks help districts and schools uncover which factors have become barriers to individual families. As you may or may not expect, families are still identifying COVID as the top barrier to missing school.

It begs the question: how do districts and schools …

1) more fully understand and address barriers?

2) shift mindsets so that families, kids and teachers agree it is important to show up for school? 

---

This January 24th, Possip will gather with educators to talk about improving attendance. We know this is a situation where multiple solutions are needed.

Let’s consider a broad framework for encouraging attendance. 

A: Understand barriers to attendance

B: Remove tangible barriers to attendance

C: Communicate about shared values related to attending school 

D: Align with families on expectations and requirements 

---

Here are five areas of barriers to consider with families, staff and students routinely throughout the year. 

1. There may be logistical barriers related to a caregiver’s ability to get a student to school such as the ability to afford transportation or help a student get to a bus. Parents may have competing commitments with work or caretaking and are unable to focus on logistics for a school-aged child. 

2. There may be communication barriers that influence whether a parent is fully informed about attendance expectations or able to communicate needing assistance. This could be due to cultural or language differences. It’s possible that families have also received conflicting information or even heard conflicting mindsets toward attendance from their teachers, children or fellow parents. 

3. There may be health barriers that are either physical or mental impacting the student or family members responsible for getting the student to school. There may also be concerns about illnesses spreading in school, or that a school environment is impacting a student’s emotional well-being. 

4. There may be safety barriers. It was illuminating in the November conversation between Possip in educators on school safety when former school counselor Malené Dixon, Senior Counselor & Student Leadership Advisor at KIPP Sunnyside, said, “If students don’t feel safe, they aren’t going to school.” Similarly, if parents don’t feel their students are safe, they aren’t going to send them to school. Addressing school safety – including bullying and disciplinary concerns – will impact how families and staff feel about being present.

5. Last, there may be different mindsets about the importance and value of attending school. These mindsets may be determined by the families’ level of engagement with teachers and administrators, cultural points of view, or even how students and families feel about their academic progress and the value of time spent in class. In these and other ways, mindsets or belief could become a barrier to attendance. 

---

Then, once you have a practice of uncovering these ever-shifting barriers for each individual family, you can address needs one-by-one in real time.

Here are some for removing barriers.

(Peer educators will talk through their favorite approaches to addressing attendance barriers on January 24th and you are invited – RSVP now to join the conversation!)

1. Addressing transportation barriers: Possip reporter Virginia Williams gives helpful insights on tackling car line at your school. 

2. Addressing communication barriers: Possip Reporter Savannah Staley shares communication plans and templates (see #7). 

3. Addressing health barriers: The pandemic taught us a lot about establishing and communicating safe health practices in schools. 

4. Addressing safety barriers: Possip CEO & Founder Shani Dowell provides a framework for safe schools and ways to communicate about safety. 

---

Finally, it’s important to emphasize the final two aspects of the framework – communicating the value of attending school and aligning with families, staff and students on expectations and requirements. Aligning, like giving and receiving feedback, is a two-way street. Signing a handbook or statement of intent is not aligning. Alignment is active, personal, and affirming.

How does that show up? 

1. Active – First, understand that barriers to attendance may be temporary and changing, or permanent. Use multiple methods and frequent, routine opportunities to talk about how attendance is going. Is it easy? Is it hard? Are these barriers? Use surveys like Possip Attendance Checks, implementation of structured conversations at parent-teacher conferences and in staff meetings, newsletters, teacher letters, and more. 

2. Personal – Second, make attendance a personal matter. While school culture and shared values will greatly impact both attendance and future enrollment – and we have tips on that from Monchiere’ Holmes-Jones, the CEO and Founder of MOJO Marketing + PR – the solutions for addressing barriers need to be considered case-by-case. 

3. Affirming – Last, affirm that families, staff, administration and students are aligned and mindsets are mutually aligned. This can be accomplished through surveys like Possip Attendance Checks and receiving feedback that expectations and requirements are indeed understood, shared and valued. 

---

We look forward to seeing you on January 24th when educators talk more about identifying and addressing attendance barriers and improving attendance! 

Register now to join the conversation!

The post Tips on Maximizing Attendance in Your Schools appeared first on Possip | Engagement Platform | School Feedback Survey.