Supporting Attendance Through Wellness, Connection, and Systems Change
The Contra Costa County Office of Education, through the Wellness in Schools Program, partnered with Attendance Works to support Contra Costa County schools and districts strengthen their approaches to student attendance and address chronic absence. This partnership recognizes the important connection between attendance, mental health, school engagement, and overall student well-being.
Attendance is more than a measure of whether a student is physically present at school. Attendance patterns can serve as an early indicator of whether students feel connected, supported, healthy, and able to participate fully in their education. Frequent absences may signal mental or physical health concerns, disengagement from school, a lack of belonging, or barriers related to transportation, housing, family, responsibilities, and other unmet needs.
Improving attendance requires a mindset shift - moving away from viewing absences only as a compliance or disciplinary issue and toward understanding why students are missing school. Attendance data should help schools begin caring, problem-solving conversations with students and families and connect them with appropriate support.
Attendance is a student wellness indicator. When students are healthy, connected, supported, and engaged, they are more likely to attend school regularly and benefit from relationships, services, and learning opportunities available on campus.
Continuing The Work
CCCOE and Attendance Works are continuing their collective work to ensure that every student feels connected, supported, and engaged in school each day.
During the 2026-2027 school year, Attendance Works will expand its learning opportunities through E-Series webinars and PLAN sessions. These professional learning experiences will provide school and district teams with practical tools, evidence-based strategies, and best practices for understanding attendance challenges, strengthening student engagement, and building sustainable attendance systems.
Districts are encouraged to participate as multi-disciplinary teams which may include:
- Administrators
- Teachers
- Counselors
- Wellness and student support staff
- Attendance teams
- Family engagement staff
- Paraeducators and paraprofessionals
When staff across roles share a common understanding and approach, schools and districts are better positioned to identify barriers to attendance, coordinate support, and create welcoming environments where students feel seen, valued, and connected.
These opportunities extend beyond professional learning. They support the development of integrated systems and strategic partnerships that align school, family, community, and wellness resources around a shared goal: ensuring every student has the opportunity to attend, engage, and succeed.
The CCCOE and Attendance Works Partnership
During the 2025-2026 school year, CCCOE and Attendance Works offered three distinct professional learning and consultation opportunities to help school and district teams strengthen attendance system, examine chronic absence data, and implement positive, evidence-based approaches to student engagement.
Professional Development E-Learning Series
The Professional Development E-Learning Series provided an introductory learning opportunity for school administrators, instructional staff, student service teams, attendance staff, and other school-based professionals responsible for supporting student attendance and engagement.
Through the series, participating school teams:
- Learned evidence-based, tiered strategies for absences and increasing student engagement.
- Explored attendance measures that can help identify students who may need additional outreach or support.
- Examined strategies for creating positive school climates that encourage students to attend and participate.
- Connected with staff from other Contra Costa County schools and districts.
- Participated in interactive discussions and breakout sessions facilitated by Attendance Work experts.
This series emphasized that improving attendance requires a coordinated team approach involving school staff, families, students, and community partners.
Professional Leadership Attendance Network - PLAN
The Professional Leadership Attendance Network ,or PLAN, supported Contra Costa County district administrators responsible for leading and improving attendance systems at the local level.
Through structured learning, collaboration, and individualized coaching, participating leaders worked with Attendance Works experts to strengthen district wide systems and develop practical, sustainable, and equity-centered approaches to attendance improvement.
The Contra Costa County PLAN experience included:
- District-specific coaching sessions focused on a critical attendance problem of practice.
- Personalized feedback on district attendance improvement plans.
- Practical tools and frameworks to support system wide implementation.
- Opportunities to learn from other district leaders addressing similar attendance challenges.
- Guidance for building leadership capacity and long-term attendance improvement systems.
PLAN helped district leaders develop the clarity, confidence, strategies, and peer support needed to move attendance work forward across departments and school sites.
District Consultation and Technical Assistance
Contra Costa school districts received individualized consultation and technical assistance from Attendance Works.
Participating district teams received support to:
- Establish goals for reducing chronic absence.
- Examine chronic absence data for patterns and areas of need.
- Assess strengths and gaps within their attendance systems.
- Conduct district self-assessments to identify priority areas.
- Identify student groups that may need additional support.
- Develop strategies for improving attendance and engagement among specific student populations.
- Align available resources with identified student and family needs.
- Create more coordinated and sustainable district wide attendance systems.
This consultation process helped districts move from reviewing attendance numbers to using data as a tool for identifying barriers, activating support, and improving systems.
Attendance Works provides practical tools, frameworks, communication materials, and self-assessments that schools and districts can use to strengthen attendance and student engagement.
Use Attendance Works self-assessment tools to examine current practices, identify strengths and gaps, and determine priorities for attendance improvement.
Find messaging, posters, activities, and engagement strategies that schools can use throughout the year to communicate that every student’s presence matters.
