Fulton County presentation links attendance bands to student achievement and reports positive early results from Everyday Labs

Fulton County Schools staff told the Board of Education on Jan. 14 that the district’s attendance-improvement work is showing measurable links between attendance and student achievement and that integration with the third-party service Everyday Labs has produced early, positive results.

Director of Attendance Charity Trowbridge and Amanda Swerdlow, director of program evaluation, presented a district snapshot showing students with satisfactory attendance (roughly 95% or higher) have substantially higher rates of proficiency on state milestones in math and English language arts compared with students labeled chronically or severely chronically absent. The presentation framed attendance as a learning‑loss issue rather than only a compliance or truancy problem.

Why it matters: Trustees said the data demonstrates a clear academic impact from attendance patterns and asked staff to provide school‑ and subgroup‑level data so principals and parent communities can act. Officials also asked for more hands-on training for school teams to use Everyday Labs’ dashboard and for clear parent communications about how attendance is measured and counted.

Key findings and definitions - Attendance bands: staff defined "satisfactory" attendance as students present at least 90.5% of enrolled days (about no more than eight absences for a full-year student); "at risk" as 90–94%; chronic absenteeism as more than 10% absences; and severe chronic as 20% or higher. - District analysis: students in the satisfactory band showed higher proportions scoring at proficient or distinguished levels on math and ELA milestones than students in chronic or severe chronic tiers. - Causes of absenteeism: presenters grouped drivers into four categories — barriers (transportation, chronic illness), aversion (school avoidance or anxiety), disengagement (students lacking connection or relevance), and misconceptions (family misunderstandings about the impact of sporadic absences).

Everyday Labs integration and early impacts Charity Trowbridge described how the district uses Everyday Labs as part of a broader attendance-improvement framework that includes district policy, attendance recording, analytics and tiered supports. The vendor sends personalized attendance notifications (text and mailings), provides a family resource chatbot and helpline, and supplies an analytics dashboard for school and district teams.

Staff reported recent platform metrics (presented as district figures): two‑year impacts included 172 text message campaigns reaching about 61,000 students, roughly 107,000 mailings reaching about 34,000 students, and nearly 9,000 family interactions via the chatbot or resource line. Staff said 64% of students improved their attendance rate after receiving their first notification; and 82% of students who were in the "at‑risk" attendance band improved after notifications.

The Everyday Labs dashboard provides date‑by‑date trend analysis, lists of absences with excused/unexcused status for each student, and engagement reporting showing whether families opened messages or used the chatbot. Staff said the platform also identifies address or contact errors when mailings bounce, allowing the district to correct data that could affect absenteeism reporting.

Evaluation findings and recommended improvements Amanda Swerdlow summarized internal evaluation work using focus groups and staff interviews. Strengths cited by school users included reduced manual outreach and clearer parent communications. Limitations included: limited awareness of advanced dashboard features among some staff, underuse of campaign and trend features, sporadic usage patterns (often weekly), and that some families still require personal outreach rather than automated messages.

Evaluation suggestions included broader role-based access (allowing teachers and support staff limited dashboard use), more face-to-face training with school teams to increase routine adoption, customizable messaging templates and monthly administrative summaries.

Board requests and next steps Board members asked for school-level and subgroup data (by school, zone and special populations such as English-language learners and students with disabilities). Staff confirmed the district can produce more granular data and said the attendance task force — a cross-departmental group formed to coordinate attendance efforts — will continue to refine the relationship between student perception data and attendance patterns. Staff said they plan to submit a proposal to an external convening (Strategic Data Project) to further study the link between student perception surveys and chronic absenteeism.

Ending The board asked members to limit questions at the meeting to allow time for the work session; staff agreed to provide requested school-level reports and additional training on Everyday Labs’ dashboard for school teams.

All quotes in this article are attributed to board members and staff listed in the article’s speaker list.