Data Gaps Negatively Affect Academic Progress and Attendance

Key points:

According to a SchoolStatus survey, half of educators and administrators struggle to access necessary student data, and 86 percent say data gaps limit their ability to support academic success and attendance.

Most respondents (90 percent) believe school-family communication is important for student success, but many struggle with issues like inconsistent communication tools, gaps in data access, and family disconnection . To address these issues, educators advocate for translation services or tools (42 percent) and ai-powered solutions (26 percent) to improve communication and reduce absenteeism.

“These findings underscore the importance of having comprehensive and timely student information to help educators provide the support students need,” said Juan Duenas, M.Ed., Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services, Sheldon Independent School District. “With the right tools and unified systems, we can better understand each student's needs, collaborate more closely with families, and make data-driven decisions that truly impact student success.”

Key ideas of the Educator Report 2024: The Critical Role of School-Home Alignment include:

Family engagement remains a priority, but challenges remain

• 77 percent of educators surveyed believe that communication between school and home is essential to improving student outcomes.
• 43 percent report uncertainty about whether families receive school messages and 32 percent face language barriers; Time constraints (38 percent) and incomplete student data (34 percent) were also cited as challenges.
• Only 32 percent use student information and insights for data-driven discussions with families, revealing an opportunity for schools to better leverage data to engage families.

Supportive interventions and family involvement are key to addressing chronic absenteeism

• 73 percent of educators identify attendance as crucial to academic success, yet 46 percent say they struggle to get families to prioritize student attendance.
• Only 27 percent report having highly effective tools to identify at-risk students, and many rely on outdated, manual, or inconsistent processes.
• 67 percent of respondents believe schools focus too much on punitive measures rather than supportive interventions to address absenteeism.
• 82 percent believe that specific strategies to engage families could significantly reduce chronic absenteeism, highlighting the importance of family engagement.

Data gaps and access challenges hinder student support

• Only 37 percent of educators surveyed feel they have all the information necessary to address students' needs; 86% feel these gaps impact their ability to support students.
• 37 percent still use spreadsheets and manual methods to track student data, highlighting inefficiencies in current processes.
• Insufficient time to analyze and apply data (38 percent), lack of training on how to use data (32 percent), and fragmented data across multiple systems (31 percent) are the biggest obstacles to using data to improve student results.

“This survey highlights the critical need for unified data systems that not only support individual classrooms but address broader systemic challenges in education,” said SchoolStatus Founder and CEO Russ Davis. “The fragmented and inaccessible data that many educators struggle with is not just an isolated problem: it impacts family engagement, student attendance, and ultimately academic outcomes across entire schools and districts. “These findings underscore the importance of closing these data gaps to create a more connected and informed approach to student support that can drive significant long-term improvement in education.”

This press release originally appeared online.

eSchool Media staff covers educational technology in all its aspects, from legislation and litigation to best practices, lessons learned and new products. First published in March 1998 as a monthly print and digital newspaper, eSchool Media provides the news and information needed to help K-20 decision makers successfully use technology and innovation to transform schools and universities. and achieve their educational goals.

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