Naomi Tolentino鈥檚 crusade against chronic absenteeism is inspired by the relationships she built as a teacher to immigrant students鈥攕ome of whose numbers are still saved in her phone.
Five years ago, in her classroom for newcomers to the country, Tolentino witnessed the obstacles her students and their families confronted in getting to school everyday in the Kansas City, Kan., district. The more she saw, the less the district鈥檚 then-penalizing response to truancy made sense to her.
Instead, Tolentino worked to make her students feel welcome and valued, and sought practical solutions to their attendance roadblocks.
When she discovered that one girl, who had just come to Kansas from Guatemala, lived on her own, Tolentino connected her to the district鈥檚 homeless student liaison, who helped her access food pantries and clothing closets and ensured she had a safe way to get to school.
Now as the Kansas City鈥檚 schools鈥� coordinator of student support, Tolentino has taken the approach she honed in that classroom districtwide, helping educators across the diverse, 21,000-student system intervene in patterns of absenteeism before they throw students off-track.
She鈥檚 put research showing that strong relationships with teachers and peers can improve students鈥� attendance habits at the heart of her plan of action鈥攁nd it is yielding measurable results.
Her core strategy: building systemwide practices that strengthen interpersonal connections and help attendance teams in every building flag early-warning signs before they snowball into problems.
The district鈥檚 strategy relies on three prongs: collecting better data to determine what contributes to poor attendance, developing a menu of interventions that help schools confront the problem, and providing professional development to get everyone on the same page.
鈥淲e鈥檝e learned that we really had to work on creating that culture of regular attendance and stressing how important it is to be in school every day,鈥� Tolentino, a 2025 EdWeek Leaders To Learn From honoree, said. 鈥淭hat didn鈥檛 happen naturally. We have to focus on that proactive and positive approach at the beginning, before attendance becomes an issue.鈥�
Leader helps district shift its approach to absenteeism
Like many districts, Kansas City faced a reckoning over absenteeism early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when students鈥� ties to teachers and classmates were suddenly severed by a rocky shift to remote learning.
A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10 percent of school days or more, whether those absences are excused for reasons like illness or unexcused for reasons like skipping school without permission. The district aims to increase daily attendance rates to 95 percent and hit a 15 percent drop in levels of chronic absenteeism.
Tolentino started the work in July 2020, after students had finished the school year in remote learning.
In 2018-19, 27.5 percent of Kansas City students were chronically absent, a rate that climbed to 47.5 percent in 2021-22. Last year, 41.23 percent of students were chronically absent. That number is still high, Tolentino acknowledges, but the decline suggests the strategies are starting to turn the Titanic around.
Research shows that students who are chronically absent tend to underperform academically and are at higher risk of dropping out than their peers.
But the absent students aren鈥檛 the only ones affected: Their teachers often have a poorer perception of them compared with their peers, and even students with good attendance habits struggle when their peers are regularly out of the classroom, requiring teachers to spend more time repeating concepts.
In short, chronic absenteeism is a systemic problem that needs a systemic solution. The district鈥檚 previous approach of referring students to the judicial system after they crossed the legal threshold into truancy would not be enough.
Tolentino had to move a boulder up a hill one inch at a time.
She started by creating attendance guides that explain the difference between prevention and the district鈥檚 previous, punitive approach so that all employees鈥攆rom front-office staff to classroom teachers鈥攃ould develop a common understanding of the problem.
She created a data dashboard that could track attendance patterns by school, student demographics, and how students get to school, allowing educators to flag students at risk of falling far behind. Attendance teams at every school鈥攎ade up of attendance coordinators, principals, and such support staff as school counselors鈥攎onitor that data, review individual students鈥� situations, and determine when to intervene. Tolentino worked with Attendance Works, a national organization that researches and promotes school attendance strategies, to provide those teams with professional development.
More support for students with greater need
Tolentino incorporated attendance factors into the district鈥檚 multitiered system of support, a strategy that employs increasingly intensive interventions depending on a student鈥檚 level of need.
For all students, schools strive to create a welcoming culture through such strategies as greeting every student by name as they enter in the morning, holding advisory periods, and increasing parent communications about attendance through tools like the school calendar or materials at parent-teacher conferences.
School attendance teams go further for students with higher levels of absences. For students with 鈥渕oderate鈥� levels of absenteeism鈥攖hose who鈥檝e missed 10-19 percent of school days鈥攁ttendance teams use strategies like 鈥渞elationship mapping鈥� to ensure they have a connection with at least one trusted adult.
Teams plot out students鈥� relationships and known interests, matching them with teachers with whom they may have a natural connection, like a shared passion for anime or skateboarding. Teams also select another strategy at that level that matches the culture of their schools, such as calling or meeting with parents of affected students once a month.
鈥淲hen parents and students feel connected to school, they are more likely to come,鈥� Tolentino said. 鈥淭hey feel schools care and they learn about the resources we have.鈥�
Students with the most severe levels of absenteeism, those who鈥檝e missed more than 20 percent of school days, meet with their caregivers and attendance teams to flag their risk of violating truancy laws. Tolentino holds attendance academies with those families, where she invites community organizations to explain options like after-school programs and mentorship groups for students.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really taking an approach that is holistic and thinking about the whole child and all of the spheres of influence that affect children鈥檚 ability to attend school,鈥� said Octavio Estrella, the director of the district鈥檚 welcome center and family engagement, who works with Tolentino on attendance issues. The welcome center supports immigrant, migrant, refugee, and non-native English speaking families by assisting with the enrollment process and providing orientations to ease students into the school environment.
鈥淭he community we work in and live in, there are various kinds of deserts,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have food deserts, we have transportation deserts, families with a lack of access to basic things like a laundromat.鈥�
So some schools provide students with a change of clean clothes and allow them to do laundry in on-site machines, he said. Some direct them to community clinics or help them make a transportation plan to get to school.
Tolentino maintains relationships with a host of out-of-school groups, helping them target their services to stretch the district鈥檚 own funding further, Estrella said. For example, state child-welfare officials may help families access funding to cover childcare costs for younger sibilings so that older students can focus on school.
From the classroom to the central office
As a teen, Tolentino never thought she鈥檇 be a teacher. Raised in Puerto Rico and interested in neuropsychology, Tolentino, 40, earned a degree in biology from the University of Puerto Rico, aiming to become a scientist.
鈥淚n my last year I worked in a lab, and I thought, 鈥楴ope, I need to work with people!鈥欌�� she said with a laugh.
After college, Tolentino worked as a science teacher in Puerto Rico for six years. The child of Christian ministers, she also worked with a youth ministry organization, leading teenagers on service trips during the summers.
That role brought her to Kansas City in 2010, and after a few years, she decided to make it her home.
Tolentino鈥檚 previous knowledge of Kansas was limited to stereotypes drawn from the gray landscapes portrayed in the movie 鈥淭he Wizard of Oz.鈥�
But upon arrival, she quickly learned of her new community鈥檚 racial, ethnic, and linguistic diversity and she built connections with local immigrant and undocumented families.
Laura Mersman, a youth-services coordinator at Tolentino鈥檚 former workplace, Wyandotte High School, who helps unaccompanied youth and students experiencing homelessness, said that, as a teacher, Tolentino was able to quickly decipher when her students had unmet needs. That includes the girl living on her own from Guatemala, who Mersman and Tolentino still grab dinner with occasionally.
鈥淗ow she works with students and families has always been central to what she鈥檚 doing, no matter where she鈥檚 working,鈥� Mersman said.
Tolentino applied for her current job at the urging of a professional mentor, who recognized her relational strength and commitment to solving problems.
Attendance improvement requires persistent work
Kansas City鈥檚 approach to combating absenteeism relies on research-based strategies, and it includes plenty of supports that help all educators work together to solve the problem, said Hedy Chang, the CEO of Attendance Works.
鈥淪he does a lot of individual coaching, she checks in with every school, and she really relies on the data,鈥� Chang said of Tolentino.
The district has received recognition for its work, even as it continues to tackle high rates of absenteeism.
Tolentino was invited to the White House in May for a student-attendance summit, where then-President Joe Biden announced new resources on school attendance and directed the U.S. Department of Education to target attendance strategies with competitive federal grants.
Those honors alone don鈥檛 satisfy Tolentino, who says the district鈥檚 rates of absenteeism are still too high, despite early signs of progress.
But the top line numbers don鈥檛 tell the whole story. The number of students deemed 鈥渟everely chronically absent,鈥� those missing 20 percent or more school days, has declined every year, from 22.2 percent in 2021-22 to 15 percent in 2023-24. The number of 鈥渕oderately chronically absent,鈥� those missing 10 to 20 percent of school days, is also starting to budge, moving from 28.4 percent in 2021-22 to 23 percent in 2023-24.
鈥淲e call that a big win,鈥� Tolentino said. 鈥淲hen the student is still coming to school, we still have an opportunity to build connections and form relationships with them. They might not be here all the time, but they are still here.鈥�
Student surveys show some of the most persistent absenteeism comes from older students who are responsible for younger siblings after school, so the district expanded after-school programs from six to eight of the district鈥檚 28 elementary schools.
Tolentino is starting to probe another significant, stubborn factor: Students feel obligated to work to support their families financially. She鈥檚 exploring options like credit-bearing apprenticeship programs to help those students stay on track while acknowledging that the barrier will be among the most difficult to move.
But she鈥檚 going to keep pushing on it.
鈥淭his work is a privilege I don鈥檛 take lightly,鈥� Tolentino said.
