While the US Department of Education reports that chronic absenteeism rates are slowly improving following a post-pandemic surge, schools continue to face significant challenges with poor attendance. High absenteeism rates, low academic achievement, social disengagement, and high dropout rates are often so intertwined that it can be difficult to determine which is actually the root cause, leaving school leaders searching for strategies to improve school attendance.

Knowing where to start is a challenge in itself. Improving academic achievement depends on consistent attendance, while social-emotional interventions can take years to show results. Research and resources from K-12 online learning platforms confirm that student engagement is central to student success. Studies show that strategies focused on personal engagement — such as mentoring and building strong home-school connections — have immediate positive effects on student outcomes. For this reason, efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism may work best when schools start with a deliberate focus on strengthening students’ sense of belonging, purpose, and connection.

In the United States, are provided at the state or local district. Historically, federal financial support has focused on at-risk or low-income students. These funds are regulated by the title under which they were created, i.e., Title II or Title IX.�� Each state department of education has its own formula for funding districts; these formulas use different data points to determine how much per-student funding a local board of education can expect to receive.��

The remaining funding is determined at the local level and is based on taxes. This can be a combination of property and sales taxes. At the district level, the largest expenditures are payroll (salaries and benefits), instructional materials (curriculum and technology), and operational costs (building maintenance and transportation). Each school district will then allot a certain amount of money to an individual school.��

At the local school level, funds received will be used to support instruction. This could include areas such as professional learning, classroom supplies, supplemental curriculum materials, field trips, and staff morale. Individual schools can also supplement their budget with support from a parent-teacher organization, fundraising, business partners, or community donations.��

Each school year, there will be numerous requests for financial support. The most important question for each expenditure should be: “Does it support a specific goal of the school?” If the answer is no, the request should be at least postponed, if not outright denied. If the answer is yes, the request should be considered. A fair consideration should include a comparison with other possible solutions.��

School leaders will be tasked with making budget decisions ahead of the school year. Working closely with a bookkeeper, the principal or administrative team will create line items in as many categories as necessary. It is a sound practice to create items with specific purposes to avoid spending money that is actually designated for a particular use.

There is never enough time in the day when looking through the eyes of a teacher. In fact, that is one of the reasons I enjoyed teaching at first. I loved how my days flew by. I was never staring aimlessly at the clock, waiting for the day to end. It was the exact opposite. In fact, I quickly learned that all I wanted was time to just slow down!

We all know this feeling. We know it well. If only we had more time.

There are many reasons teachers need time management strategies:

• There is so much content to cover throughout the year.
  
  
• Students have many different needs and learning styles.
  
  
• Quality lessons take time to plan.
  
  
• Documentation for students—also known as paperwork!
  
  
• There simply is not enough time.
  
  

This is why teachers’ time management is so essential. It requires intentionally checking the clock and making time to practice strategies to improve how we manage our day. Like many skills in teaching, time management improves with practice. Over time, systems and routines begin to support stronger teachers’ time management habits.

There are many strategies that teachers can use to create more time for themselves and their students. A teacher’s daily schedule has to balance instruction, planning, classroom management, relationships with students, student needs, and, let us not forget, our own self-care. Teaching requires constant time-related decision-making. Teachers who implement time management strategies are on the path to accomplishing more throughout the school year.

Time management for teachers involves creating systems, routines, and planning strategies that help teachers maximize instructional time while still meeting the many needs of their students.

Curriculum alignment is the extent to which standards, instructional materials, classroom activities, and assessments work together to support a common learning goal and ensure every educational resource points toward the same expectations.

In an aligned system:

• Standards clearly define what students should know and be able to do.
• Instructional materials are chosen to support those expectations.
• Classroom activities reinforce the targeted knowledge and skills.
• Assessments measure the learning that was intentionally taught.
• Student data reflects progress toward the standards.

When these components work together, student achievement improves because expectations are clear and consistent. But this level of coherence does not happen automatically.

It requires time for teachers to build a common understanding of:

• What the standards mean in practice.
• Ways they plan to teach them.
• How to measure student learning.

Schools must intentionally create space in schedules for this calibration process to occur, so that consistency in teaching, student experience, and progress measurement can take hold.

When alignment is not strong, challenges begin to surface. For example:

• Teachers may emphasize skills that are not reflected in assessments.
• Assessments may measure expectations that were not the focus of instruction.
• Teams may assume a common understanding of standards or of what proficiency looks like without ever testing that assumption.

Over time, these differences add up, and the gaps between classrooms and in achievement data become more pronounced.

Curriculum alignment alone does not guarantee results. However, without it, even the best instructional strategies will struggle to produce steady, lasting growth. No single teacher, no matter how skilled, can drive schoolwide success in isolation. Schoolwide improvement happens when teachers across classrooms and grade levels work from common expectations.

When those expectations are aligned:

• Professional learning communities gain clarity.
• MTSS efforts become more focused.
• High-quality instructional materials are implemented with greater purpose.

In short, curriculum alignment allows the work already underway to have a greater impact.

1. Student-Centered
2. Teacher Support
3. Research-Based
4. Standards Addressed

The term High-Quality Instructional Materials (HQIM) refers to classroom materials that are directly aligned with state standards, incorporate evidence-based practices, have a clear scope and sequence, and provide resources for both teachers and students. This differs from the general use of instructional materials, which can refer to any resource a teacher uses in their classroom.��

In the United States, the creation of content standards is left to each state. When companies or organizations create HQIM for purchase, such as a k-12 online education platform, they will align it with the specific state in question. When examining the design of HQIM, it is crucial that the procedures and strategies are evidence-based, which means the materials have been reviewed and vetted through real-world research and application.��

From the start of public education in the US through the early 21st century, HQIM were most often textbooks and student workbooks. With the accelerated implementation of technology in education, current HQIM might include online access for students and teachers, teacher editions for lesson plans, consumables for students, and progress monitoring to track student growth.����

Occasionally, national research findings will impact state decisions regarding HQIM. The most recent example is the Science of Reading (SoR). Although the research behind the SoR is not new, the adoption of the practices and associated materials by states and local districts is a more recent development. The SoR research reports that reading must be taught with intentional elements, rather than practices such as ‘whole word’, ‘balanced literacy’, or ‘workshop models’. The Science of Reading stipulates that instruction should focus on phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension.��

Using the SoR as an example, it is possible to see the shift related to the intentional selection of HQIM. Over the last six years, almost every state has created its own HQIM literacy requirement. Each state’s department of education has crafted its own bylaws or bills requiring school districts to select a state-approved HQIM curriculum for use in early literacy practices.��

The underlying belief is that providing all classroom teachers with the same, extensively reviewed, standards-appropriate materials will increase student success. Government and school leaders hope that, as students progress through the grades, the accumulation of improved practices will have a notable impact on secondary reading and math scores and graduation rates.

Curriculum development is the intentional process of designing learning over time. It is the bridge between standards and daily lessons. Instead of making instructional decisions one day at a time, it lays out materials, activities, and assessments across an entire course so learning can build with purpose, and so each educational resource is used intentionally rather than randomly.

A school assembly is when a large number of students are brought together in one place within the school building for an event. In some schools, it is possible to bring the entire student body together. However, due to size or limited space, it may mean bringing together a designated portion of the students, such as a grade level or students grouped by last name.��

Student assemblies matter because they can help students learn in new ways and also teach life skills. The main purpose of a school assembly might be a recognition ceremony for students or student-athletes, a presentation by a local author, or even introducing students to animals they might not otherwise see in real life. As students enjoy the community-building or instructional outcomes of the school assembly, they also learn to operate in a large-group setting. Students understand the mechanics of moving and sitting within a crowd, when to speak and when to listen, when audience participation is expected, and what responses are appropriate.��

Along with understanding how to be part of the larger assembled group, students can be given leadership opportunities during school assemblies. The chance to lead in front of your peer group develops skills in student leaders and also sends a message to other students that they are not passive participants in their school journey.

To start, how will you and your staff know what “successful” looks like? If you define a baseline of expectations for teachers, then it will be clear when they meet or exceed it in job performance. One useful framework for setting expectations is the��, which provide guidance with flexibility to work in different contexts. These standards are grouped into five categories:

• Standard A: Professional Responsibilities
• Standard B:��
• Standard C: Engagement and Belonging
• Standard D: Learner-Centered Instruction
• Standard E: Instructional Design

Each standard has indicators of what high-quality online teaching looks like as well as the why and the how behind the standard, giving educators “actionable insights for implementation.”