Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, learners will be able to:

1. Differentiate the purpose and intensity of Tier 2 targeted attendance interventions from universal and intensive supports.
2. Analyze early warning data and contextual assessment information to identify students who may benefit from targeted intervention.
3. Evaluate the appropriateness of family outreach, mentoring, tutoring, youth engagement, health-related supports, and mental health interventions for different attendance barriers.
4. Develop individualized intervention hypotheses and select supports matched to identified student and family needs.
5. Construct a targeted attendance intervention plan that defines responsibilities, support components, outcome measures, and review intervals.
6. Interpret intervention response data to determine whether targeted supports should be maintained, modified, or intensified.

1. Understanding the Purpose of Tier 2 Attendance Support

A multi-tiered attendance framework distinguishes universal prevention from increasingly individualized responses to persistent or emerging nonattendance. Tier 2 represents a level of targeted assistance for students whose needs are not adequately addressed through foundational and schoolwide practices.

The Attendance Playbook describes Tier 2 interventions as approaches intended to remove attendance barriers for students at heightened risk of chronic absenteeism, including students approaching or already missing approximately 10% of school days.

Targeted support may be delivered to an individual student or to groups of students experiencing similar barriers. What distinguishes Tier 2 is not a particular service, but the intentional targeting of additional supports based on identified needs.

Tier 2 Is Not a Waiting Period

Although attendance thresholds help schools identify students who may need support, students should not be required to accumulate a predetermined number of absences before receiving appropriate assistance.

A student experiencing escalating emotional distress, significant peer mistreatment, or an emerging access barrier may require prompt intervention, even when the student's cumulative absence rate remains below the standard definition of chronic absenteeism.

Likewise, a student with extensive absences and multiple interacting needs may require intensive coordination immediately rather than progressing sequentially through every possible Tier 2 intervention.

2. Identifying Students for Targeted Intervention

Pages 47–49 of the Playbook describe early warning systems that combine attendance, behavior, and academic performance information to identify students who may be at risk of disengagement.

A reliable Tier 2 identification process begins with regularly reviewing data and verifying that reported patterns represent the student's actual educational circumstances.

Indicators to Examine

• Increasing full-day absences or partial-day nonattendance.
• Repeated late arrivals and early departures.
• Absences concentrated around specific classes, transitions, or school events.
• Declining academic performance or difficulty completing missed work.
• Student or caregiver reports of emotional distress or access barriers.
• Changes in school engagement, relationships, or participation.

These indicators provide reasons for additional inquiry. They do not establish a psychological diagnosis, the student's motivation, or the function of avoidance.

Distinguishing Accumulated Risk From Emerging Risk

A student may have a relatively low cumulative absence percentage while demonstrating rapid deterioration during recent weeks.

For example, in a hypothetical 80-day reporting period, a student may have missed only one day during the first 60 days and seven days during the next 20 days.

The cumulative absence rate is 10%, but the rate within the most recent 20-day period is 35%.

This pattern may warrant a more urgent response than a stable cumulative percentage alone suggests.

3. Connecting Assessment to Targeted Support

Effective Tier 2 intervention begins with a working explanation of the barriers contributing to nonattendance.

The formulation may be provisional, but it should identify plausible psychological, instructional, health-related, family, or environmental mechanisms that specific supports can address.

A Barrier-to-Support Framework

The table presents potential supports rather than fixed prescriptions. Several barriers may coexist, and the same intervention may serve different purposes for different students.

4. Early Warning Systems as a Foundation for Tier 2

Early warning systems are valuable when they support timely identification, discussion, and intervention. They are less useful when data are collected without a corresponding plan for action.

The Playbook discusses regular data review and collaborative teams that examine attendance alongside academic and behavioral indicators.

Elements of an Effective Review Process

1. Establish clear attendance measures.
2. Review information at regular intervals.
3. Identify students with concerning levels or changes in attendance.
4. Examine additional indicators and relevant contextual information.
5. Select targeted outreach or intervention.
6. Assign responsibility for implementation.
7. Review the student's response and modify supports as needed.

Depending on the nature of the concern, review may occur weekly, biweekly, or more frequently when urgent student needs are present.

5. Targeted Home Visits and Family Outreach

Pages 50–51 describe targeted home visits as one strategy for strengthening relationships with families and identifying circumstances affecting attendance.

The primary purpose of supportive outreach is to understand barriers and develop collaborative solutions, not to investigate or blame families.

Potential Functions of Family Outreach

• Establishing trust with caregivers.
• Learning about changes in household routines.
• Identifying transportation or access barriers.
• Understanding caregiver perceptions of the student's school experiences.
• Clarifying available school and community resources.
• Developing a mutually acceptable attendance support plan.

Home visits are one possible outreach method, not a universal requirement. Families may prefer school meetings, telephone calls, virtual meetings, or other accessible forms of communication.

Designing a Productive Outreach Conversation

A collaborative conversation may begin by recognizing the student's strengths and expressing the school's interest in supporting successful participation.

Questions should invite the family to explain what has changed, which parts of the school day are most difficult, what supports have been helpful, and what practical obstacles remain.

Outreach should result in agreed-upon next steps and a plan to review their effectiveness.

6. Mentoring as a Targeted Attendance Intervention

Pages 52–54 examine mentors and tutors. Mentoring may provide a consistent relationship with a supportive adult, create opportunities for problem-solving, and strengthen the student's connection to school.

A mentoring intervention should be more specific than merely assigning an adult to a student. The team should define the expected contact, responsibilities, and intended outcomes.

Core Components of a Targeted Mentoring Plan

• A consistent adult contact.
• Regular, predictable check-ins.
• Collaborative discussion of barriers.
• Recognition of improvement and meaningful participation.
• Coordination with caregivers and relevant school personnel.
• A method for monitoring implementation and student outcomes.

Mentoring may be particularly relevant when the student's assessment identifies limited adult connection, weak school engagement, or a need for consistent relational support.

7. Tutoring and Academic Reengagement

Attendance problems and academic difficulties can reinforce one another over time.

A student who initially misses school because of illness may return to accumulated assignments, reduced confidence, and increasing concern about falling behind.

Targeted tutoring can help students recover missed learning, strengthen academic confidence, and reduce some instructional barriers to participation.

Academic Questions to Examine

• Which skills or assignments were missed during absences?
• Are current instructional demands accessible to the student?
• Does the student report embarrassment or anxiety about academic performance?
• Are academic supports being delivered consistently?
• Has the student received assistance with planning and prioritizing missed work?

An intervention may combine tutoring, manageable work-reentry expectations, and supportive teacher communication.

8. Targeted Youth Engagement

Page 55 discusses targeted youth engagement strategies. These approaches seek to strengthen participation by providing students with meaningful opportunities for connection and involvement.

Students experiencing attendance difficulties may have become disconnected from positive experiences at school. Opportunities involving interests, peers, trusted adults, or purposeful participation may help rebuild engagement.

Assessment Considerations

The team should examine which activities are meaningful to the student, whether participation is accessible, and what barriers prevent involvement.

Engagement activities should support the student's actual needs rather than simply serving as rewards for attendance.

9. Addressing Health-Related Attendance Barriers

Pages 56–57 focus on asthma as an attendance-related concern. Chronic health conditions can interfere with attendance through symptoms, treatment needs, environmental triggers, and barriers to accessing care.

Students experiencing health-related absences may benefit from coordinated communication among caregivers, school health personnel, and qualified medical providers.

Potential School-Based Supports

• Review of relevant health support needs.
• Coordination with school nursing personnel.
• Examination of environmental conditions that may aggravate symptoms.
• Support for accessing appropriate health services.
• Reasonable instructional reentry assistance following illness-related absences.
• Monitoring of missed instruction and participation.

Health-related absences should not automatically be interpreted as school avoidance. Psychological and medical factors may coexist, but the team must avoid substituting behavioral explanations for appropriate health assessment.

10. Mental Health Support and School Refusal

Pages 58–60 discuss mental health interventions and school refusal. These sections are particularly relevant when school avoidance involves emotional distress, fear, or difficulty participating in specific school situations.

Anxiety-related attendance difficulty may occur alongside separation concerns, social evaluation fears, peer conflict, academic stress, or other psychological and environmental conditions.

Assessment should identify the student's experiences and the circumstances associated with nonattendance rather than assuming that every student who refuses school has the same psychological needs.

Cognitive Behavioral Approaches

Cognitive behavioral approaches may address anxiety-related avoidance by helping students develop coping strategies, examine unhelpful predictions, and participate gradually in appropriately supported school experiences.

When exposure-based components are used, the plan should be individualized, collaborative, and appropriate to the student's assessment findings. Actual safety and access barriers must be addressed, rather than treating justified concerns as irrational fears.

Coordinated Mental Health Support

School-based intervention may include psychological consultation, family collaboration, appropriately selected mental health supports, and coordinated reentry planning.

When student needs exceed the resources or scope of the school team, collaboration with qualified outside providers may be appropriate.

Such collaboration should complement rather than replace the school's responsibility to address relevant school conditions and educational barriers.

11. Constructing a Tier 2 Attendance Intervention Plan

A strong intervention plan links assessment findings to concrete supports and specifies how the team will evaluate progress.

Essential Plan Components

1. Presenting concern: Describe the attendance pattern using accurate and clearly defined measures.
2. Working hypotheses: Identify the supported attendance barriers and relevant information gaps.
3. Intervention components: Specify which strategies will address the identified barriers.
4. Responsible individuals: Identify who will coordinate and implement each component.
5. Student and family collaboration: Include preferences, strengths, and feasible implementation.
6. Outcome measures: Define attendance, participation, distress, or other relevant outcomes.
7. Review schedule: Identify when the team will examine progress.
8. Revision criteria: Specify conditions that would justify modifying or intensifying supports.

12. Monitoring Intervention Response

Tier 2 intervention should be evaluated through repeated review of relevant outcomes.

A student's attendance may improve while other problems remain. Conversely, progress in emotional functioning or school engagement may precede substantial improvement in full-day attendance.

Measures to Consider

• Full-day attendance and absence percentage.
• Late arrivals and early departures.
• Participation in relevant instructional periods.
• Student-reported school distress or connectedness.
• Academic reentry and task participation.
• Delivery of planned mentoring, tutoring, or other supports.
• Caregiver and student feedback about intervention feasibility.

Measures should match the hypothesized mechanisms underlying the attendance concern.

13. Deciding Whether to Maintain, Modify, or Intensify Support

Intervention decisions should account for both student outcomes and the quality of implementation.

When a targeted strategy produces meaningful improvement and addresses identified needs, the team may continue the support while considering how progress can be maintained.

When improvement is limited, the team should determine whether the strategy was implemented as intended, whether the assessment formulation was accurate, and whether additional barriers have emerged.

More intensive support may be needed when the student's needs are complex, persistent, urgent, or insufficiently addressed through targeted strategies.

14. Professional Contributions to Tier 2 Intervention

Psychologists working in schools can support targeted attendance interventions through assessment, consultation, intervention selection, staff collaboration, and progress monitoring.

Their contributions may include identifying psychological and behavioral processes, evaluating academic and environmental demands, facilitating family-school communication, and helping teams assess intervention response.

The goal is not to apply a predetermined attendance program to every student. It is to develop supports that respond to meaningful barriers while preserving student dignity, safety, and educational access.

Lesson Synthesis

The assigned reading demonstrates that Tier 2 attendance supports should respond to the specific barriers contributing to emerging or established nonattendance.

Pages 47–60 present a range of targeted strategies, including early warning systems, home visits, mentoring and tutoring, youth engagement, health-related supports, and mental health interventions.

The central instructional principle is that these supports serve different functions. A mentoring relationship may address weak school connectedness; tutoring may address academic reentry; health coordination may address medical barriers; and mental health support may address emotional distress associated with school participation.

For a psychologist working in schools, successful Tier 2 consultation involves linking assessment to intervention, coordinating implementation, and evaluating whether student needs are meaningfully improving.

The three activities reinforced these skills through intervention sequencing, interpretation of progress-monitoring data, and development of a matched support plan.

Preparing for Lesson 7: The next lesson examines Tier 3 individualized and intensive attendance supports, including complex barriers, interagency coordination, and intensive case management.

Reference

Jordan, P. (2023). Attendance Playbook: Smart Strategies for Reducing Student Absenteeism Post-Pandemic. FutureEd and Attendance Works.

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