Date of Award
8-2026
Degree Type
Doctoral Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Department
Education
Committee Chair
Deirdra A. Preis, Ed.D.
2nd Reader
Kathleen Wallace, Ed.D.
3rd Reader
Dr. Shannon R. Holder Ph.D.
Abstract
This Improvement Science Dissertation in Practice explored how a professional learning series for an attendance team that introduced a meeting protocol and an MTSS system, incorporating evidence-based culturally responsive intervention strategies, impacted participants’ mindset, practices, and group self-efficacy in addressing chronic absenteeism. The problem of practice at the center of this research, contributing to a high rate of chronic absenteeism, was the lack of proactive and responsive practices by the school for addressing its root causes. The focus of this research is on understanding school-level practices for addressing absenteeism, by investigating the true root causes that may not currently be addressed, assessing how existing practices impact efforts to improve attendance and to create systemic improvements that better address attendance challenges. This study will help support our attendance team and provide appropriate support to students and families in ensuring they attend school regularly. Findings demonstrated that using a standardized meeting protocol brought operational structure and clarity to team meetings, however, meetings were constrained by competing staff duties, and an expansive agenda. Through training and hands-on practice with the district's MTSS data system, participants improved their self-efficacy, developed greater empathy for family hardships, and learned to pair student plans with concrete, evidence-based resources. While working to shift team practices from punitive to supportive, ingrained deficit mindsets and compassion fatigue left some team members reliant on punitive measures for habitually chronic students instead of culturally responsive evidence-based tiered intervention plans. Lingering uncertainties about MTSS tier transition thresholds and collective responsibilities including the whole staff, not just the attendance team, remain at the discretion of administration. This study demonstrated that implementing a structured meeting protocol and MTSS framework successfully shifts and attendance team toward organized, data-driven, and supportive intervention practices. However, it also reveals that building a lasting impact requires staff-wide involvement and further training to overcome ingrained punitive practices.
Recommended Citation
Serville, A. R. (2026). Building culturally responsive attendance practices to decrease chronic absenteeism [Doctoral dissertation, Sacred Heart University]. https://digitalcommons.sacredheart.edu/edd/87/
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Comments
A dissertation in the Isabelle Farrington College of Education and Human Development presented to the faculty of Sacred Heart University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education.