How to Boost Family Engagement & Attendance

Insights from the 2024 K-12 Educator Survey

Plus four free downloadable tools to help get you started!

Why Your School Needs This Guide

Do these thoughts sound familiar?

“I spend hours trying to reach families, but I’m never sure if my messages are getting through.” 

“We send out updates constantly, but parents still say they don’t know what’s going on.” 

“I wish I knew how to get more families involved before attendance becomes a problem.”

If you’re nodding along, you’re not alone. Our 2024 survey of over 1,000 K-12 educators reveals that while 77% of respondents consider family engagement critical for student success, only 25% find it easy to connect with families effectively.

This guide tackles the five biggest challenges schools face in family engagement and attendance:

• Messages that don’t reach or resonate with families
• Inconsistent or reactive communication
• Language and accessibility barriers
• Time-consuming, fragmented systems
• Difficulty tracking what works

In each section, you’ll find:

• Research-backed insights from our national survey
• Actionable, ready-to-implement solutions you can start using tomorrow
• Free tools and templates to save you time
• Real examples from educators who’ve solved these challenges

Whether you’re a classroom teacher trying to reach more families or an administrator looking to improve school-wide engagement, these are 5 steps you can implement immediately—no major system overhauls required.

Step 1: Create a Rhythm of Connection and Consistency
Step 2: Craft High-Impact Engagement Strategies
Step 3: Build Collaborative Partnerships
Step 4: Ensure Equitable Access
Step 5: Unify Your Efforts

Step 1: Create a Rhythm of Connection and Consistency

Let’s start with the foundation: creating a communication rhythm that works for both educators and families.

Regular, predictable communication helps families stay engaged and proactive about their child’s education. Our survey found that while 68% of families want daily or weekly updates about their child’s progress, most schools communicate far less frequently. Creating a consistent communication schedule doesn’t mean more work—it means more effective work.

Quick Wins

1. Send all non-urgent updates on the same day each week so families know when to expect them—like “Monday Memos” or “Tuesday Bulletins” 
2. Create three reusable message templates: One each for academic updates, attendance notifications, and positive news
3. Pick one metric (like attendance or assignment completion) and share weekly progress with families

📥 FREE TOOL: Communication Calendar Template

Use this ready-made template to:

• Plan regular family updates throughout the year
• Track important dates and communication needs
• Ensure consistent outreach across grade levels
• Balance different communication channels

Step 2: Craft High-Impact Engagement Strategies

Families want to help their children succeed but often don’t know how. Our data shows 60% of families want more frequent academic updates, and 53% specifically want to understand how missing school impacts their child’s performance. The key is providing clear, actionable information that helps families make decisions and take steps to support their children.

Quick Wins

1. Share one specific, positive observation about each student at least monthly (“Alex showed great leadership during group work today”)
2. Create a “Weekly Win Wednesday” tradition highlighting student improvements in attendance or academics
3. Send “Action Alerts” that pair concerns with specific suggestions (“Missing homework in math–here are 3 free online resources”)

📋 FREE TOOL: Communication Checklist

This practical checklist helps you:

• Craft clear, actionable messages
• Include key information families want
• Choose the right channel for each message
• Measure message effectiveness

Step 3: Build Collaborative Partnerships

Two-way communication is essential for building trust and engagement. While 34% of educators say their families are highly engaged, 31% of families report that school messages often aren’t relevant to them. This disconnect highlights a need for more effective communication strategies that address what families truly need to support their children.

Quick Wins

1. Start each parent conversation with “What questions do you have?” instead of “Do you have any questions?”
2. Create a simple “Reply Y/N” system for quick feedback on school communications
3. Share how you’ve acted on family feedback (“You asked for homework help resources—here’s our new after-school program”)

📊 FREE TOOL: Family Feedback Survey Template

This customizable survey helps you:

• Gather specific feedback on communication preferences
• Identify barriers to engagement
• Understand what information families value most
• Track satisfaction over time

Step 4: Ensure Equitable Access

Language barriers and technology access shouldn’t determine how well-informed families are about their children’s education. With 32% of educators facing language barriers and 42% needing better translation tools, making communications accessible to all families is crucial for student success.

Quick Wins

1. Add pictures (with alt text) to important announcements to support understanding across language barriers
2. Create a simple visual key for common updates (✏️ for assignments, 📚 for reading, 📅 for attendance)
3. Identify your three most-used message types and create translations for your most common languages

🔍 FREE TOOL: Communication Accessibility Audit Tool

Use this comprehensive audit to:

• Evaluate current communication methods
• Identify accessibility gaps
• Plan improvements
• Track progress toward equity goals

Step 5: Unify Your Efforts

Multiple communication tools often mean missed messages and frustrated families. When 39% of educators want a unified communication platform and 35% need better tools for identifying trends, it’s clear that streamlining our systems can make a big difference in reaching families effectively.

Quick Wins

1. Create a simple “communication directory” showing which tool to use for what (e.g., attendance alerts via text, progress updates via email)
2. Survey families to gather their communication preferences (text, email, app notifications) and then tailor your outreach to match. This way, messages are more likely to be received and read
3. Use one central calendar for all school events and deadlines to ensure consistent messaging

Remember: Even small steps toward unifying your communication efforts can have a big impact. Start with one area where streamlining would make the biggest difference for your families and staff. Track the time saved and improved response rates, then build on that success. 

By implementing the strategies in this guide—from creating consistent communication rhythms to unifying your outreach efforts—you’ll be well on your way to stronger family engagement and better student outcomes. The key is to start small, measure what works, and keep building on your successes. 

Ready to put these ideas into action? Review your Action Plan in the next section to get started.

Need More Support?

Every school’s journey to stronger family engagement is unique. SchoolStatus’ unified platform and resources can help you:

• Save time with automated communications
• Reach families through their preferred channels
• Track engagement and attendance effectively
• Make data-driven decisions about outreach

Remember: Start small, measure results, and build on what works. Each step toward better family engagement is a step toward student success.

Ready to take your family engagement efforts to the next level?