It won’t come as a surprise to most, that when students feel like they belong in school and are meaningfully connected to their peers and adults in the building, school becomes a safe place where they want to be. 

Students who feel connected to school are more likely to have positive attendance, educational, behavioral, and health outcomes in adolescence and into adulthood. When students feel connected to their school, they are less likely to experience poor mental health, sexual health risks, substance use, and engage in violent behavior. A sense of being cared for, supported, and belonging at school has also been shown to combat feelings of loneliness, sadness, and hopelessness – all of which can have an impact on a student’s attendance behaviors. 

Moreover, these types of positive impacts continue to hold true for students experiencing trauma. In fact, research from the CDC has even identified school connectedness as an important protective factor for students now and as they transition into adults. 

With such a clear set of benefits to focusing school connectedness, it is essential for school and district leaders to focus on fostering a nurturing environment where students feel valued and engaged, leading to improved academic performance, reduced behavioral problems, and a stronger, more inclusive community that supports the holistic development of every child. Based on over a decade of experience supporting schools implement early warning systems and attendance improvement initiatives, the following two strategies are ways that you can get started on improving school connectedness as the school year begins.

School connectedness strategies

Make school activities a reality for every student

Extracurricular activities have been cited by students as one of their motivating factors for attending school. Even though these activities may not directly tie into academics, they can help promote connectedness with their peers, foster a sense of accomplishment, and build relationships with adults that supervise the activities. 

Most schools have at least a few sports that students can be involved in, but not every student who wants to participate may have resources. Plan supports for students who may not have the means to participate, such as transportation to practices and events, financial costs for uniforms and equipment, and health clinics for required physicals. 

Think beyond sports. Many times, extracurricular activities are initially chosen by teachers and adults in the building who are willing to support a club of their interest, then students choose from that list. Instead, consider flipping the order so that students can express their interests first and teachers and adults can sign on to support those opportunities. Identify opportunities within the school day for students to participate and reach out to local businesses and community organizations to donate needed supplies.

Plan for mentorship opportunities

Another strategy for helping students feel more connected to school is to build a mentorship program. Mentorship programs can vary from highly structured activities to informal opportunities for connection. 

Some mentorship programs focus on adult to student relationships. These can be one-to-one pairings with a student and adult or many-to-one groupings of students with a designated adult that monitors students’ progress and wellness and are available to check-in. Consider engaging all of the adults in the school – bus drivers, food preparation staff, custodial staff and school volunteers may already have built relationships with students. 

Mentorship programs that focus on near-peer relationships can also help foster a sense of connectedness for students. Near-peer mentorship programs pair older students with younger students. These programs help older students feel a sense of responsibility where they can share their experiences with younger students. They also provide younger students with someone close to their age that they can ask questions to and get advice from. 

For any type of mentorship program, ensure that safety is a top priority. Mentoring.org provides comprehensive, research-based ideas for creating almost any type of mentorship program. Above all, make sure that there is a safe location for meeting that is public or monitored regularly and that there are open channels to report any type of abuse.

Don’t forget to measure your efforts

How will you know if your programs are having the desired impact on school connectedness? Even though school connectedness may feel like an abstract, hard-to-measure construct, educators implementing these strategies are using quantifiable data to assess their efforts and engage in continuous improvement strategies.

Go to the source – talk to your students. Plan time to check in personally with students and provide opportunities for students to talk to leaders of the initiatives to provide feedback. Intentionally involving students in the process of improvement can be a powerful learning opportunity for educators and supports student connectedness as well. According to the CDC, students reported feeling more connected to their school and peers when they felt they were given the chance to help make decisions and had a say in how things work.

Climate or social emotional learning surveys can also be a good resource for gauging whether students feel like they belong in school and are connected to their peers and teachers. Rather than having surveys become a checkbox item, they can be another source of information to help you learn how students are feeling and continuously improve your school connectedness strategies. Several companies offer these types of surveys, but you can also create your own. Some tips from educator Shannon Feineis include: 

1. Explain the purpose of the survey so that students understand how their feedback will be used.
2. Don’t take feedback personally, use it as a learning opportunity.
3. Share the results with the students and ask them for help with the solution.
4. Make sure to follow through. No one likes to give their input, but not see anything done with it.

Spreadsheets to track connectedness measures can also be used. For example, Southeast Lauderdale High School outside of Meridian, MS created a google spreadsheet and sent it around to staff to see which students were connected to which activities. Upon learning that 40% of their students were not involved in activities outside of their academic work, they used the data to help find a place for each of the students identified as unconnected. Using their tracking spreadsheet, they were able to quickly and easily see when students were engaged in an activity and talk to the students who weren’t connected to any activity. The conversations with students helped them identify new opportunities for students to engage in school beyond academics. The school now has more than 88% of their students connected to something beyond the classroom and adults in the building continue to find new involvement areas.

Take action!

With national averages of chronic absenteeism remaining stubbornly high, improving student attendance can feel overwhelming. Using research-based strategies for improving student connectedness can be part of the solution and have long-lasting impacts on students now and as they transition into adulthood. 

Sarah Frazelle is the Co-Director of the National Student Attendance and Engagement Center (SEAC) and a senior researcher at AIR focusing on projects related to attendance and engagement. In her role at SEAC, she leads the AIR team in developing tools to help reduce chronic absenteeism through root cause analysis and creating technical assistance that highlights data-driven cycles of inquiry. Frazelle also helps build the capacity of state education agencies to address chronic absenteeism through a systems approach. She has supported SEA teams and multiple LEA teams across the nation. She serves as a national thought leader on attendance, engagement, and student support systems as an attendance subject matter expert, invited national presenter, and author of multiple publications. Previously, Frazelle was the Director of MTSS and Early Warning Indicator Systems at Puget Sound Educational Service District. Frazelle holds a Masters degree from University of Kansas.

Photo by Max Fischer