How Palmdale School District Delivers on Its Promise

Attendance Management to Implement Success

For Superintendent Dr. Raul Maldonado of Palmdale School District, it’s all about careful planning and deliberate action. What allows his district to “love all their students equally,” is their attention to inclusion and follow-through. One key component of their strategic plan is their ability to make sure kids are in their seats and able to participate. That’s where SchoolStatus Attend comes in.

SchoolStatus Attend is the most effective way districts tackle chronic absenteeism. The data-driven attendance management platform and processes provide automatic interventions and positive reinforcement to support student success, increase daily attendance, and reduce administrative overhead. By reducing the time spent on attendance management by up to 75%, districts can spend less time stuffing envelopes for attendance letters and hosting conferences across their entire school population—and more time on family outreach and engagement.

Palmdale district has 28 K-12 schools with about 18,000 students. When Dr. Raul Maldonado was named Superintendent in 2014, he recognized the importance of students showing up to class, from a very early age, and how positive attendance habits impact long-term success.

To support student success and reduce absenteeism across the district, Dr. Maldonado implemented a software–and–services program to first understand the issues impacting attendance—and then address those challenges in his district’s schools. 

In partnership with SchoolStatus, Palmdale School District was able to fulfill the promise of high intellectual performance that prepares every student to graduate, be ready for college, develop career skills, and meet the world with 21st-century skills.

The Palmdale PROMISE, La PROMESA de Palmdale

The key to Palmdale’s PROMISE is complete transparency and full community engagement. To achieve this, the district leaders share their intentions and plans and solicit input from the community to help shape their designs as they move forward together. 

Dr. Maldonado says, “If we need to change one of the components in our strategic plan, we do it by letting everyone know that something isn’t working. We created the Palmdale PROMISE, but that’s not a singular item: It contains about 177 actions that we decided to take—and many that we’ve already taken.” 

Through the district’s PROMISE, they foster equality and engagement, and families are better able to encourage their students’ attendance. The school community is a place where families and kids want to be. Palmdale schools use SchoolStatus Attend to easily track attendance, communicate directly to their school community, and tackle solutions together. 

“We value the collaboration with everyone involved with our school district, including students, staff, faculty, administration, our community, and its leaders, to provide the best education for our students that will prepare them for a career, college, and beyond. To realize this vision, we must work together and focus on student achievement.”In October 2023, Dr. Maldonado’s work was celebrated with a Lifetime Leader in Latino Education Award from FootSteps2Brilliance.