What Counts as an Intervention?

Any communication with a student or family: a call, text, email, home visit, or hallway conversation.

What it accomplishes

• Gathering information about a possible barrier
• Building or repairing the relationship
• Confirming what the family already tried

What it does not accomplish

• • A contact by itself does not change the condition causing the absence
• • A voicemail with no response is an attempt, not information

Example: “I called mom twice” documents outreach. It becomes intervention only when something changes for the student as a result.

A required letter or notice — truancy notification, chronic absence letter, SARB notice — sent to satisfy a statutory obligation.

What it accomplishes

• Meeting a legal requirement and creating the required record
• Making the seriousness of the pattern clear in writing

What it does not accomplish

• • A notice is not an intervention and does not address a barrier
• • Mailing a letter does not tell you why the student is absent

Example: Truancy letters continue on their required timeline; they run alongside intervention, never in place of it.

A specific action intended to reduce or remove an identified barrier, with an owner, a start date, a dosage, and a review date.

What it accomplishes

• Named barrier it is intended to address
• Named staff member responsible
• Defined frequency and duration
• Defined review date and success indicator

What it does not accomplish

• • “We talked to the student” with no plan
• • A referral with no service actually delivered
• • A support offered but never accessed by the student

Example: Daily morning check-in with the counselor at 8:05 for 10 instructional days, reviewed on the 11th day.

Reviewing whether the intervention was implemented and whether attendance, punctuality, or engagement responded.

What it accomplishes

• Comparing attendance to the pre-intervention baseline
• Confirming implementation fidelity first
• Recording a decision: continue, modify, intensify, step down, or resolve

What it does not accomplish

• • Noticing months later that nothing improved
• • Reviewing without knowing whether the intervention actually happened

Example: Baseline 82% over four weeks; 91% over the two weeks after the intervention started; check-in occurred 9 of 10 days.