Communities In Schools Featured in New National Toolkit to Combat Chronic Absenteeism
Communities In Schools® (CIS®), the nation's leading provider of K-12 school-based integrated student supports, announces its inclusion in The School-Based Site Coordinator's Guide to Improving Chronic Absenteeism, a new national resource developed by the Partnership for Student Success. The publicly available toolkit highlights evidence-based strategies that help schools and communities address one of the most pressing challenges facing students today: chronic absenteeism.
The new toolkit equips site coordinators and youth-serving professionals with practical strategies, promising practices and real-world examples they can adapt in their own communities.
Because CIS works directly inside schools to identify and address the barriers that keep students from attending and engaging, its model is closely aligned with the toolkit’s focus on localized, relationship-based support. The toolkit features CIS in its ‘Partnerships in Action’ section through two spotlight stories.
In Moline, Illinois, the toolkit highlights CIS’s partnership with United Way Quad Cities at Washington Elementary School, where targeted interventions helped reduce chronic absenteeism and connect students to essential resources. In Republic, Washington, a second spotlight features Communities In Schools of Rural Eastern Washington, where attendance-focused strategies and community partnerships are helping students address barriers common to remote rural communities.
Together, these examples illustrate how school-based partnerships can translate national attendance strategies into local action. CIS’s inclusion in the toolkit builds on its role as a partner in the National Partnership for Student Success since 2020.
As schools and community partners continue working to reengage students and strengthen attendance, the toolkit offers an accessible resource for turning proven strategies into action. It is available free of charge through the Partnership for Student Success website and can be accessed here.
About Communities In Schools
Communities In Schools® (CIS®) is proven to help students reach their full potential. For 49 years, CIS has supported millions of students in achieving their goals in school, succeeding in the workforce, and thriving in life. Working directly inside more than 3,500 schools across the country, CIS connects students to caring adults and community resources that help them see, confront, and overcome the barriers that stand between them and a brighter future.
