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TAP advocates outline attendance strategy focused on Native students in Willamina
Summary
TAP advocates Rebecca Arredondo and Mike Soule described a nine-year tribal attendance pilot turned promising practice focused on American Indian/Alaska Native students, defining chronic absenteeism, showing district data (roughly 34% AIAN enrollment) and listing interventions from home visits to classroom incentives.
Rebecca Arredondo, a TAP advocate with nine years in the role, and Mike Soule, the district TAP advocate, presented TAP’s approach to reducing chronic absenteeism among Native students. Arredondo said TAP started as a tribal partnership pilot and now focuses on root causes and culturally responsive engagement. "TAP's focus is really about addressing the root causes of chronic absenteeism... it's not just about getting kids to school," she said.
Presenters explained the difference between average daily attendance and chronic absenteeism (missing 10% of the school year) and noted that, for Willamina, that equates to roughly 16.5 days in a 166-day year. They described concrete strategies: weekly attendance team meetings, student and family check-ins, home visits, classroom incentives, targeted outreach (SOAR), and empathy interviews with students and families. The presenters said the district’s TAP work includes partnership with the Confederated Tribes and targeted data disaggregation for AIAN-plus and tribally enrolled students to better identify attendance gaps.
