Minnesota schools are starting a new year, but will the students show up for class?

Amid all the planning and preparation for the first day of school for most Minnesota students Tuesday, the goal of many school leaders is remarkably basic: Get more kids to show up to school on time, every day.

The percentage of students who are chronically absent — defined as missing more than 10% of the year — surged after the pandemic. While the rate has started to tick down in Minnesota, boosting attendance remains a stubborn problem in the state and nationally. In the 2022-23 school year, one of every four students was chronically absent, according to state data. Sixty school districts across the state had consistent attendance rates below 50%.

To combat the issue, districts have stepped up intervention programs, launched marketing campaigns about the importance of regular attendance and dedicated staff positions to identify and reach out to missing students. The Legislature created a work group to find solutions to absenteeism and truancy. And a dozen school districts across Minnesota are meeting monthly as part of a pilot program aimed at improving attendance.

"It was front of mind for all of us last year, and it's going to be front of mind this year too," said Jenna Mitchler, Bloomington Public Schools associate superintendent. "We know that when students have poor attendance they're at risk for not reading at grade level ... and they're probably at risk of not graduating on time."

Combating the issue requires a team effort, Education Commissioner Willie Jett said: "It's going to take social workers and counselors and families, and people all throughout the communities, to come together to talk about the importance of attendance in school."

Fridley Public Schools recently hired a social worker solely focused on connecting with and supporting students who are missing a critical amount of school. The social worker will offer individual and group counseling to students who are struggling with attendance and at risk of dropping out. They'll connect with those students' families to identify the reasons they are missing class and create individualized support plans.

"We want to break down the barriers for our students," Laura Seifert-Hertling, the district's director of special services, said.

Those barriers often vary, said Fridley Public School Superintendent, Brenda Lewis, and can include transportation issues, substance use in the home or mental health issues. Some families who are new to the United States may not know the expectations of school attendance and the laws around truancy, Lewis said.

"It's really our job to identify the 'why,' and this position allows us to come at it not in a way that is about shame and blame but in a way that says, 'How can we help?'" she said.

Many attendance intervention programs revolve around creating relationships with students so they feel motivated to come to school and connect with a trusted adult. That's the focus for one longstanding — and increasingly in-demand — dropout prevention program called Check and Connect that matches students with a mentor.

About 70% of the Anoka-Hennepin students who participated in that program have improved their attendance, Superintendent Cory McIntyre said. Other intervention programs aimed at addressing mental health or substance abuse issues have similarly high or higher success rates, he said.

"This is still a challenge and it's still something we have to do a lot better at," he said. "But we are seeing positive results. We have a lot of hope if we can just really double down and try to get as many students involved as we can."

Staff from Anoka-Hennepin schools last month testified about their strategies last month during the first meeting of the Legislature's study group on attendance and truancy, McIntyre said.

Separately, representatives from the dozen school districts in the three-year attendance pilot program — including Minneapolis, Columbia Heights and Burnsville — also have begun meeting monthly to brainstorm ideas. Some districts are looking into adding a staff member who could drive around in a "second chance" bus to pick up students who missed their morning transportation. Others are looking for ways to streamline ways to connect with anxious students in the morning so they feel more comfortable about coming to school.

'Kids need to be in school'

One of the first goals of the districts is to do a deep dive into data — including student and parent survey data — to identify the root causes of poor attendance, said Morgan McDowell, a Burnsville teacher on special assignment who is coordinating the district's work as part of the pilot program.

In the 2022-23 school year, barely more than half of Burnsville students were regularly showing up for class. Before the pandemic, that rate was more than 70%.

"Having the collaboration with other districts has been really powerful to learn about unique approaches," McDowell said.

Educators in Bloomington and Fridley schools are working to better track and encourage students' participation in extracurricular activities since children who participate in sports or music often have higher attendance rates. Bloomington's student survey now asks students if they are involved in an activity. More than 65% of students in grades 5-12 said yes last year, and school staff are working to get that number up.

Bloomington principals last year also started calling parents directly, rather than having a social worker or secretary do it, to say, "Hey, we missed your son or daughter in class," Mitchler said.

Social workers also noticed fewer absences when they brought a therapy dog to the office.

"Kids are more likely to show up because they look forward to it, and they feel this sense of responsibility to the animal," Mitchler said.

The various strategies seem to be working — the district's regular attendance ticked up last year from the previous year.

Some of the ongoing work is about re-establishing routines in the wake of the pandemic, said Tony Taschner, spokesman of Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan schools. The district has launched an "Every Day Matters" campaign to signal to families the importance of in-person learning, even if course materials are posted online and parents may have more work flexibility to stay home with their child.

"Some of it is about changing the mindset," he said, "and getting back to the idea that kids need to be in school."

MaryJo Webster contributed to this report.