Tracking Attendance Remotely Presents Challenges
July 13, 2020
Researchers and advocates are calling on districts to implement better attendance tracking systems for the upcoming school year. While they note that though “it wasn’t realistic to expect districts to develop and implement perfect attendance systems immediately after the pandemic hit,” such data will be critical in understanding widespread trends in access amid remote and hybrid learning scenarios. Additionally, more accurate attendance data will inform resource allocation, targeted supports, and funding, though the federal Department of Education waived the use of attendance in determining funding distributions for the short-term, as is typically required by ESSA.