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Oregon - This section of our Integrated Guidance outlines targeted universalism and names our focal student groups:  https://www.oregon.gov/ode/StudentSuccess/Documents/AppendixB_TargetedUniversalism.pdf

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Live it rather than have to "listen" to it.  Consider the inherent inequity of how all the time being "listen to" is really expensive for communities.  The individual and professional time of underserved populations has costs just like those in "centers." It costs the time of individuals and local organizations that they don't get to invest into their own community.  And it is repeated across every sector to where a local community-based organization with local expertise is regularly tapped and spends most of its own funded FTE time repeatedly describing, explaining, and justifying the rural community to train and educate those meant to be serving them. We frequently are subject to urban "centers" or "hubs" receiving funding to support our rural and frontier communities, using funding to "serve" us, requiring community time, and not recognizing the disservice to the community in requiring community time and energy.

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OSSE/DC: Through grantees, can learn/prioritize/integrate strategies into other programs (i.e., 21 CCLC) before selecting final recipients. Re: family engagement, we request a certain number of activities/per year.

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This section of Oregon's Integrated Guidance outlines targeted universalism and names our focal student groups: https://www.oregon.gov/ode/StudentSuccess/Documents/AppendixB_TargetedUniversalism.pdf

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Be embedded in the community. Don't call special meeting just for the community to train you living elsewhere.

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The grandparent/kinship work is prevalent. Would be helpful to dig into the reasons behind why this is on the rise.

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MA - disparities in dropout rates. EL population, mostly our Spanish speaking students. They are overrepresented in the dropout rates. Attendance and family engagement - that's where we have to focus

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NY- The most helpful thing might be getting district buy-in

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CT - New comprehensive plan for the state has two priorities focused on attendance and engagement.

Parents' bill of rights for multilingual learners (in multiple languages)

Home visits to at-risk families; engagement with community organizations with a focus on equitable access

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MA: Attendance messaging (e.g., a nudge letter). The nudge letter includes the concern about the child's absence and show how the child compares to other students in the class.

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VT - work with other organizations/partners to do that direct family work. Brings them together to have those discussions with each other which is helpful, as they can feel isolated.

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OSSE/DC: data driven process to see where programming is needed and then bake this information into grant-making (with questions about approaches for addressing specific needs).

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awareness that school districts have changed and considering the dynamics of asking parents to do things that they may not be able to do.

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IL - The tiered systems of supports is key to helping us as we look at that data to identify our bright spots - Holistically. So we know what we're dealing with and best way to address it. It allows us on a need to know basis (From the Office staff to the school counselor, etc).

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MA - trust building strategies -- listening to families needs and responding; having clothing closets for youth schools; laundry rooms in some schools; work with school teams to identify specific needs/barriers

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CT - high needs: multi-lingual, special needs, free & reduced lunch

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OH- appreciated hearing about engaging "ancestorial communities"

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In consultation with the nine federally recognized tribes of Oregon, our SEA has made funds available to school districts who serve the highest number of Tribally Affiliated and American Indian/Alaska Native students to address the root causes of Chronic Absenteeism.

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The Oregon legislature set aside funds for the 2021-2023 biennium to operate TAPP projects focused on supporting the attendance of Native students in nine preselected Oregon school districts. TAPP will enable participating districts to receive up to $186,530.55 for their Family Advocate position, which has deep local connections, to create school-wide initiatives focused on reducing chronic absenteeism.

The intent of the collaboration is to strengthen the links between Oregon Tribes and the schools that serve any student identifying as American Indian/ Alaska Native (AI/AN) , even if the student is not a member of a federally recognized tribe. TAPP differs from Title VI programs in that fundamental way. However, because this is a school-wide initiative, it will positively impact the attendance of every student attending TAPP schools.

" Schools across Oregon, nation grapple with attendance issues"

Rolando Hernandez - December 5, 2023 - OPB
"Last week, a state report showed that 38% of all Oregon students are chronically absent, meaning they miss at least 10% of school days." Charan Cline and Stacy Parrish speak about chronic absenteeism - THINK OUT LOUD Article and Podcast

TAPP is proud to announce our newest partnership with the Salem-Keizer School District. This will be our first urban TAPP site, providing a TAPP Family Advocate to help Native students reduce chronic absenteeism and succeed in their academic goals.

TAPP Program Promising and Best Practices

Since the TAPP Pilot year, our district sites have been deeply committed to the work of the Tribal Attendance Promising Practices grant program. Educators look to our TAPP districts to learn from them just what it takes to increase the attendance of our American Indian/Alaska Native students. While some of the best practices linked below can be readily implemented at any school site, our most "promising practices" are the ones which have required educators and school and district leaders to evaluate systems, structures, policies, and beliefs present in themselves and throughout their complex K-12 ecosystems to determine to what extent they truly serve our AI/AN+ students and center their unique cultural and linguistic needs in their district and school improvement efforts.
TAPP Promising and Best Practices Comprehensive Resource Setting the TAPP Family Advocate Up for Success - Self Assessment Fostering a School-Wide Culture to Promote Positive Attendance - Self Assessment
TAPP Family Advocate Monthly Meeting - September TAPP Quarterly Webinar #1 - September 21, 2023 TAPP Family Advocate monthly Meeting - October TAPP Quarterly Webinar #2 - November 30, 2023 Every Day Matters Training - November 30 - Foundations of Family Engagement
TAPP Family Advocate Monthly Meeting - February 2024 TAPP Quarterly Webinar #3 - Februrary 8, 2024 TAPP Family Advocate Monthly Meeting - March 2024 TAPP Family Advocate Monthly Meeting - May 2024

Courageously naming, addressing, and working to heal the historical trauma of settler colonialism - the impacts of land theft, reservations, broken treaties, the attempted genocide of culture and languages with the boarding school era, and the devastating impacts of Indian termination policies on the lineages of entire families still today - is really the work of TAPP. The document below uplifts a fraction of these promising practices happening across our various TAPP sites. Our deep gratitude and appreciation goes out to them as they engage in this work each and every day at 28 school sites in ten school districts across the state of Oregon.

TAPP Trainings for 2023-2024

TAPP Family Advocate Monthly Meeting - December 2023

2023 TAPP Symposium

The Tribal Attendance Promising Practices Program held an end of year symposium for all TAPP Project Directors, Family advocates, Tribal Partners and esteemed guests. This event had the honor of hosting the Native Wellness Institute and Spoken Word Poet Shuina Sko who created a one of a kind poem you will find linked below. We would like to thank all who traveled near and far to attend the 2023 TAPP Symposium and we will be looking foward to hosting next years event! Please enjoy the photos taken from the symposium along with the Best Practices Slide show from our TAPP Family Advocates.

Poem: "Family is Us" by Shuina Sko

TAPP Family Advocates Best Practices Slide Show

OIE TAPP 2022 Fall Site Visit

Fall Comprehensive Report

*TAPP Best Practices in the report can be found on pg. 33-44

2021-2022 TAPP Training (Archive)

Our 2021-2022 TAPP Training was a success. We enjoyed the presentations shared by three inspiring guest speakers. You may access materials and view the recorded training below:

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Tribal Attendance Promising Practices (TAPP)

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VA - hard to start from the state level down. State level communicating directly with parents. How does the state level do this work?

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Around serving native students: level-setting. Explaining to providers why building trust is difficult with native peoples. Get everyone on the same page.

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CA (virtual school): Individualization of work/assignments. Try to get to know the family and meet them where they are. There's a process for students who are engage (a 3-step process). Try to use the relationship to help with engagement and learn what helps them stay engaged.

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MA - goal for this year is to co-create student plans.

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It is critical to be embedded in the community, not trying to do work to the community

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Full services for parents: health screenings, nutrition classes, etc. Making sure they can achieve their goals, too.

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NY- learned kindship caregivers and grandfamiles today. We know we need to strengthen school, family engagement. Doesn't happen overnight, but needs strategy over time.

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MN: instead of assuming, checking with families re: barriers to consistent attendance, especially in rural / mid- little-sized towns areas (often missed). some schools have 50% of students who don't attend school consistently. re: parent engagement, context makes a difference (lots of variation).

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CT - Family engagement is everything. How do we engage district leadership to infuse it into everything? With Covid relief funds going away, the family engagement folks are being let go so trying to be more systemic about family engagement

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Tribal attendance promising practices are working well.

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I know this isn't available/acceptable everywhere but when I worked at a high school in MA (Boston) the counselors texted families/guardians/students and had success with that.

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MA: Home visits to families is essential to building trust. Trying to use the language that families understand use in the home.

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SD - Does Family Engagement Champions to have common language w/families and what family engagement means to them. Also two staff members and one family member go through a six month training around family engagement champions.

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NY- at district level, used parent and student voice. Included communication in native languages.

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Here is the link to Oregon Tribal Attendance Promising Practices website, including registration links to our Summer Learning Series -- https://www.oregon.gov/ode/students-and-family/equity/nativeamericaneducation/pages/tribal-attendance-pilot-projects.aspx

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NJ - work with DOE and understanding what their needs are. We're here to gather information and have this content drive our journey

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IL - We reach out to community based organizations who are grounded throughout the districts. We want those voices at the table to share information about the community that may not be trickling into the school.

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MN - Starting to focus on chronic absenteeism. Full service community schools; family engagement specialist at the agency. Funding for attendance pilot in 9 districts starting this year.

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Home visits and listening to what parent needs are.

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Oregon does a great job creating resources, but as we are a "local control" state, we have a really difficult time gaining any momentum on initiatives.  Here is the community engagement toolkit as a sample.

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MI- echo what NY is saying. Special populations unit, assist with migrant populations and ELL. Office has been on campaign to get districts to understand that parent involvement/engagement and student voice is important. The more you can get that student voice, you can dive down into barriers to attendance.

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District attendance intervention plan. Coach teams at schools to review attendance data and how well interventions are working. Use SMS database which has ethnicity codes and add to the attendance trackers. Discuss how to build trust with families.

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DC: It is baked into the grant application

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TN: Host MTSS summit each quarter 5-tiers (EL, middle, high) to discuss needs/activities, what needs to be addressed, working on supportive letters (effect how parents communicate with each other - more partner vs punitive); frig magnets to track attendance also helped

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MA - position at the state level for family engagement specialist. Trying to do it all by herself, but we'd like a center. Every LEA should have at least on family engagement specialist. Putting guidance together based on the Dual-Capacity Framework

There's 5 of us on this call - that's a record and it's because of the family engagement aspect and link to attendance

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Surveys through listservs

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VA - Attendance is also critical - empowering that stuff to build trust and relationships. How do we take it from that level to recognition at the school division level how key that is?

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Student success plans in Oregon. Codified into legislation. Utilizing listening, root cause analysis. What is effective community engagement. Ensuring things are being done with the community instead of to the community

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NJ- We have a coordinated effort to combat school absence. We want to make sure our families and schools understand the importance of school attendance. Doing PD with teachers/educators on school attendance.

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Create criteria for grant-making to support historically underserved populations.

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VA - Empowering role of parent engagement staffs within schools - finding ways to fund is a starting point. Heard "it can't be one person" so need to empower that one person to build a community of leaders to support them.

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TN: transitioning/collaborating between departments to reach a more holistic approach

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NY- State Ed. department works with schools to create plan. Requirement that at least two parents involved at every step. This can be challenging to get schools to embrace.

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MA - Fundamentals program focused on dual capacity building. Trainings and PD for teachers; building partnership for family engagement.

Multilingual training for families; focus groups. Family engagement summit: 350 families / 700 participants last year!

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CT -- look at home visits as way to build trust -- LEAP

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In a rural community, it's frustrating that the experts are getting paid to understand the needs, rather than actually representing it.

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Listening, hearing

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ME - Trust has to be with multiple members of the community.

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VT - Trust and relationship building has been a heightened conversation this year and looking for concrete resources on how to build trust.

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IL- We live in an autonomous state. Its valued and advocated for. We must trust the schools and districts to trust their constituents. We encourage districts to look at the data that comes from families to inform what they need. "Constituents and Clients" is the ways we address our families. Its not a cookie cutter or one stop shop.

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Success starts with trust between practitioners and families.

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VT: have family engagement network community that is facilitated by school district staff with colleagues from different community organizations that partner with families on a monthly basis (with sharing out)

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Homeless students, network of young scholars. Valuing input and ideas from scholars. Encouraging local and states to engage with youth as well

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Working to push funding into pre-k deserts

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Question: How are we more intentional about involving families in the decision making process? From Kayla: make the content accessible and give the caregivers confidence so they feel like they can step up

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At the state level, there isn't a strong focus at looking at underserved populations b/c there are a lot of challenges around attendance. Mentoring has been powerful to build trusted relationships with families.

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OH- Local level, check and connect. (Tier 1 & almost Tier 2 strategy). Reach out to families to ask how transition has been in first 30 days, check in on technology strategy. Helped identify strategies that may impact attendance. Helped us to customize an approach.

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CT - listening tours and use of family voice for all of the tiers is critical and a powerful equity-based strategy for understanding needs for all families.

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VT: Primarily relate to generational community poverty (less race/ethnicity), rural communities and equity of resources

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My LEA is in the beginning stages of understanding how to best meet the needs of the families we serve. I appreciate the great resources to assist my district with developing a guide.

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CT home visitor training to avoid punitive language

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Oregon -- identified different funding streams and have used common needs assessment and application process to standardize materials

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OR - We have affinity plans for our underserved populations and target attendance and academic behavior specific to each affinity group.

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CT - attendance messaging and campaigns. Common language and having districts brand the messaging the same. Also working on home visits.