In partnership with TNTP, Learning Heroes launched The Engagement Advantage to examine how family-school partnerships relate to student attendance and academic outcomes. The first stage of this mixed-methods study found that schools with stronger pre-pandemic family engagement experienced significantly lower chronic absenteeism and higher academic performance post-pandemic — with family engagement showing a stronger relationship to absenteeism than poverty. The second stage identified the specific leadership practices, mindsets, and communication strategies that distinguish “bright spot” schools serving similar communities — offering a practical roadmap for states, districts, and schools seeking to strengthen partnerships and improve student outcomes.

While student attendance and learning outcomes got worse during the pandemic, this study found that schools with strong family engagement experienced much smaller declines in chronic absenteeism, attendance, and achievement. In partnership with TNTP, and with Harvard scholars Karen Mapp and Todd Rogers as advisors, these findings come from the first of a three-phase study, which also aims to surface successful models of engagement and improve family engagement measurement for the K-12 sector.