Survey Instrument – Attendance Practices

We (Dr. Jeremy Singer and Dr. Sarah Winchell Lenhoff) developed this survey to collect data on school attendance strategies, including specific practices, organizational systems, staffing, and leadership. We administered this survey to Michigan school leaders during the 2024-25 school year, in partnership with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). To develop this instrument, we started by drawing upon survey items and survey design choices from prior studies of attendance practices. We drew inspiration from guidance and technical documentation of attendance strategies from advocacy organizations. We also drew upon other survey research for non-attendance items on the survey, such as those related to school climate and instructional practices. After our initial draft, we piloted the survey with four principals and revised the survey based on their feedback. We then shared the survey with MDE leadership and members of an internal working group on chronic absenteeism for feedback, making additional edits based on their comments. We administered the survey on the Qualtrics platform, and the document provided here is a "print-out" of the online survey. Please contact us if you have questions about survey design or the embedded skip-logic when administered. This survey is also included in the Annenberg EdInstruments library of educational measurement tools: https://edinstruments.org/instruments/survey-attendance-practices