District cites smaller declines in chronic absenteeism, growth in home visits and volunteer sign‑ups under goal 3

Washoe County School District staff on April 22 told the board they are seeing early, measurable progress on Goal 3 (safety and belonging) under the district’s Milestones & Momentum reporting series.

Doctor Laura Davidson, director of research and evaluation, and Delisa Crane, director of family school partnerships, presented gains across several measures: an approximately two‑percentage‑point decline districtwide in chronic absenteeism, a 60% increase in schools participating in the district’s parent‑teacher home visit program (from 25 to 43 schools), and a doubling of educators trained to support home visits. The district also reported an increase in volunteer applications and the upcoming pilot of an online volunteer management system called Raptor.

"We have 13,000 volunteers already in the system who have been vetted and cleared and are ready to go and have their clearance for the next 5 years," Crane said, describing pilot schools for the vendor-based system and the fall districtwide rollout planned with promotional materials and QR‑coded forms for families. School leaders said the online system will streamline background checks, centralize approvals and give front offices real‑time data about who is on campus.

Davidson highlighted research connections between absenteeism and achievement: an analysis done in partnership with Northwestern University showed chronic absenteeism was associated with a 7.4 percentage‑point reduction in math benchmark outcomes and a 4.5 percentage‑point decline in English language arts benchmarks. She also said early‑grade absenteeism (kindergarten) had the largest negative association with reading outcomes, and urged attention to early‑grade attendance.

Trainer Middle School principal Lucy Dugan presented school‑level work that she said cut chronic absenteeism by about 15% and significantly improved climate survey indicators by focused family engagement, weekly positive phone calls, reorganized circulation patterns in the building, installation and repositioning of security cameras to reduce blind spots, and expanded after‑school clubs and attendance supports. Student Deron Greider described the day‑to‑day climate at Trainer: "There are fewer conflicts between kids because there's more staff to talk to and the rules are more clearer," he told trustees.

Staff said the district had developed seven new or expanded data tools to help schools track absenteeism and climate in more actionable ways, including consecutive‑days‑absent alerts and school dashboards that update daily. Research staff also said the district is piloting early‑warning systems in younger grades so interventions can start earlier.

Trustees praised the interdepartmental effort and said they want to see continued outreach to families and expanded volunteer opportunities in support of students. Staff said they will return with more detailed reports and recommended next steps for sustaining gains.