Overview
Good attendance is the foundation and often a dependency for the effectiveness of nearly every other school-based support. Measuring and reporting alone do not change attendance behaviors. Effective methods of addressing attendance issues are proactive, rooted in a better understanding of students and their families, and can result in more trusting relationships between schools and families.
Because attendance is so important and schools have continued to struggle with chronic absenteeism since the COVID-19 pandemic, for the 2024-25 school year TalkingPoints first introduced attendance messaging as a proactive tool to communicate and educate on the importance of attendance to overall student success.
For the 2025-26 school, the Attendance Message Series becomes a part of a larger, more comprehensive package - the Attendance Improvement Plus add-on package - to help address attendance challenges. Attendance Improvement Plus will be available for the 2025-26 school year at special introductory pricing.
When will the Attendance Message Series be available?
The Attendance Message Series is currently available in the TalkingPoints for Schools product under ‘Engagement Tools.’
Who will have access to the Attendance Message Series?
TalkingPoints for Schools users with appropriate permission can access the Attendance module and send messages.
Where can partners access the Attendance Message Series?
As of the 2024-25 school through June 2025 the Attendance Message Series will remain under the ‘Engagement tools’ menu within the TalkingPoints for Schools web application.
However, for the 2025-26 school year its functionality will be moved to a new Attendance module.
Access to the Attendance Message Series for 2024-25 school year through June 2025 will remain as shown below:
After June 2025 the Attendance Message Series will be found under a new ‘Attendance’ module:
How does it work?
The Attendance Message Series has been designed using research-based best practices to build strong relationships between families and schools that will help improve attendance for students.
It includes pre-built attendance best practices messages that are:
Calendarized and ready-to-use to educate families and encourage attendance in a proactive and preventative manner throughout the school year.
Suggested weekly messages are provided with grade-level appropriate variations for elementary, middle and high school student families.
Use the messages as-is to send out a weekly cadence of attendance-related reminders and tips, or modify the pre-built messages to better meet your needs
Can schools adjust the timing and frequency of the message series?
Schools have flexibility to choose when the Attendance Message Series begins — for example, aligning it with the start of the school year — but the series is intentionally designed to be sent weekly. This steady, consistent cadence of brief and focused messages helps keep attendance top of mind for busy families and fosters a positive attendance culture. While schools can adjust the start date, the weekly frequency is a key part of the program's design and cannot be changed.