{"id":132044,"date":"2026-01-21T16:06:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/132044\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T16:06:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T16:06:13","slug":"richardson-isd-short-of-fall-attendance-goal-introduces-new-strategies-for-spring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/132044\/","title":{"rendered":"Richardson ISD short of fall attendance goal, introduces new strategies for spring"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRichardson ISD fell short of its attendance goal in fall 2025 and plans to implement new strategies to increase attendance this spring, according to a presentation at the Jan. 15<\/a> school board meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not where we want to be with attendance,\u201d Superintendent Tabitha Branum said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made great gains, … but we still have work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breaking it down<\/p>\n

Matthew Gibbins, assistant superintendent of administrative services, reviewed the fall semester\u2019s average daily attendance results in comparison to RISD\u2019s District Improvement Plan<\/a>, which set the district-wide attendance goal at 96%.<\/p>\n

Average daily attendance is the percentage of students physically present each day, and it serves as the core measure of student presence. RISD\u2019s average daily attendance for the 2025 fall semester was 94.69%, putting the district a little over 1 percentage point behind its goal, although Gibbins said RISD is in line with the statewide average.<\/p>\n

Branum said the biggest opportunities for improvement are with the youngest and oldest students\u2014pre-K and kindergarten students and high school juniors and seniors have the lowest attendance rates across the district.<\/p>\n

Going forward<\/p>\n

Gibbins introduced several new strategies aiming to increase attendance this spring:<\/p>\n

Create attendance incentive programs using a portion of recaptured attendance fundsIdentify specific reasons for chronic absenteeism and implement personalized outreach to remove barriersUtilize tiered system of supports to formalize individual attendance interventionsOffer parent information sessions at campuses with lowest attendance to provide information about the impact of attendance and strategies for improvementGibbins said RISD is already working to improve attendance by spreading awareness about the impact attendance has on both student success and district funding, as well as the importance of absence notes, which are required to excuse absences.<\/p>\n

Every campus also has a targeted attendance goal in its campus improvement plan<\/a>, and many schools have already introduced attendance incentive programs centered around competitions or rewards.<\/p>\n

Why it matters<\/p>\n

Attendance is the biggest predictor of student success, Gibbins said, and directly correlates with increased academic achievement, fewer learning interventions, better test scores and higher graduation rates.<\/p>\n

Gibbins said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a> also found that student connectedness is one of the strongest predictors of mental health. Students who attend school regularly have more opportunity to develop relationships with peers and adults.<\/p>\n

Additionally, school funding in Texas is based on the average daily attendance, not on student enrollment. A 1 percentage point increase in attendance\u2014330 more students attending each day across the district\u2014would generate close to $2.5 million more in revenue, Gibbins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not 100% attendance \u2014 we just need a few more kids to attend every day,\u201d said David Pate, assistant superintendent of finance and support services.<\/p>\n

Put in perspective<\/p>\n

Texas is one of six states that still base district funding on student attendance rather than enrollment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly difficult to be funded on average daily attendance,\u201d board member Megan Timme said. \u201cI think it\u2019s important that if we want to hold districts accountable for what they\u2019re able to do in a year, then we fund them appropriately for what they\u2019re having to staff for and execute.\u201d<\/p>\n

Board member Eric Eager said it\u2019s becoming harder for the district to maximize the available funding to create the best outcomes for students.<\/p>\n

\u201cRegardless of how many students show up today, the costs are the same,\u201d Branum said.<\/p>\n

Although Timme stressed that students should still stay home when they are sick, she said parents should keep attendance in mind when making appointments or plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our families value the presence in the classroom and their presence in school for attendance, you\u2019re valuing their education,\u201d Timme said. \u201cYou\u2019re also supporting educators and you\u2019re supporting this district.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Richardson ISD fell short of its attendance goal in fall 2025 and plans to implement new strategies to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132045,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[11089,666,160,162,161,5810,8789,4119],"class_list":{"0":"post-132044","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-attendance","9":"tag-funding","10":"tag-plano","11":"tag-plano-headlines","12":"tag-plano-news","13":"tag-richardson-isd","14":"tag-school-board","15":"tag-schools"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}