Cornerstone Elementary School utilizing a series of incentive programs to reduce chronic absenteeism by rewarding students for building consistent attendance habits.
Communities in Schools Program Manager Alli Ledford said the initiative serves as a proactive measure to celebrate students for showing up and to help families understand the importance of consistent attendance. Ledford said the school has already reduced its chronic absenteeism rate from over 14 percent three years ago to 5.6 percent as of May 2026.
“The goal isn’t necessarily perfect attendance,” Ledford said, “It’s just kind of creating good habits, recognizing improvement, and making sure families know that we’re here to support them in any way if there were barriers that were getting in their way with attendance.”
Ledford said missing just two days of school each month qualifies as chronic absenteeism and can result in a student missing more than a full year of learning by the time they graduate.
Ledford said the school offers a quarterly challenge where students can win a large gift basket filled with games, puzzles, and snacks designed for family engagement. To qualify for the drawing, students must have zero unexcused absences, tardies, or early dismissals, and no more than five parent notes.
“I do this because I’m a mom and I understand that sometimes perfect attendance is not attainable and I don’t want kids coming to school sick just so that they could be entered in for a drawing,” Ledford said. “But I do want to reward when they’ve not gone over with their parent notes.”
Ledford said the school also facilitates monthly classroom competitions where students vote on a group reward, such as a water day with toys and popsicles. Weekly drawings are also held every Monday morning to recognize two students from each grade level who attended school every day during the previous week.
“They get to come to the office, pick out a prize from my prize bucket, which I have a really big old prize bucket, they like,” Ledford said. “And then they get their picture made with me and one of the principals and we put it on social media to celebrate them coming to school.”
Ledford said the school works to identify socioeconomic barriers that prevent attendance, including transportation issues, lack of affordable housing, or frequent changes in living situations.
“When students are consistently at school, they’re building routines, relationships, confidence, responsibility, and really most importantly, a sense of belonging somewhere,” Ledford said. “So my goal isn’t just to improve an attendance number, it’s to help students understand that showing up matters and helping families build habits that support their children far beyond elementary school.”
