Attendance Specialist

KIPP DC; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 71,000 - 78,000; Full time

Job summary

KIPP DC is seeking an Attendance Specialist to join the Operations team. This exempt role supports school campuses in DC, coordinating attendance initiatives to improve in-seat attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism, with an anticipated start date in September 2026.

Reporting to the Director of Operations, the role requires collaboration with school-based attendance leads, data-driven planning, and on-site support four days per week across multiple campuses.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• At least four years of related work experience.
• Experience in the education sector preferred.
• Ability to create data management and reporting systems.
• Strong communication and cultural competency skills.

Responsibilities

• Improve in-seat attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism.
• Create and maintain attendance plans with students and families.
• Coach attendance leads and ensure effective attendance meetings.
• Direct case management for students with high absenteeism.
• Develop and monitor school-wide attendance incentive programs.
• Coordinate with school personnel to file required reports.

Skills

Strong communication

Cultural competency

Coaching/training adults

Data management

Data reporting

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's degree (preferred)

Tools

Excel

Google Docs (Sheets)

Google Slides/PowerPoint

Job description

Attendance Specialist

Job Summary

The Attendance Specialist role is an integral part of the Operations team, ensuring that students attend school every day so they can learn and succeed. The starting salary range for this role is $71,305-$77,504. This is a full-time, occasionally flexible role based at KIPP DC school campuses with an anticipated start date of September 2026.

About KIPP DC

For 25 years, KIPP DC has partnered with students, families, and the community to create joyful, academically excellent schools across the nation’s capital. Today, our network of 22 schools educate more than 7,500 students in grades PreK3-12, supported by 1,500 dedicated teachers, leaders, and staff.

Our work is grounded in five pillars—Academic Excellence, Joy & Sense of Belonging, Highly Effective Teachers and Leaders, Safe, Structured, and Nurturing Learning Environments, and Commitment to College Readiness—which ensure every student is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to pursue success in college, careers, and beyond. Our schools combine high expectations with joyful, affirming environments that nurture academic success and personal growth for students and staff alike.

As part of the national KIPP network, we share best practices and innovations while maintaining deep roots in Washington, D.C. Together, we strive toward a future without limits for our students, alumni, and community.

About the Role

In this role, you will partner with school-based attendance leads to ensure excellent student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism. The Attendance Specialist will coach school-based attendance leads on implementing their attendance plans, providing ongoing feedback to improve impact and effectiveness. This role works directly with students and families, helps plan and organize school-wide incentive programs, and identifies trends in attendance patterns to inform network-level decisions on incentive design and barrier reduction.

Location and Type of Work

This is an exempt position, and it will report to the Director of Operations on the School Support and Service team. As a headquarters team that is focused on being responsive to our schools and meeting the needs of our students and families, we approach our work in a way that reflects these priorities. Schools operate in person and our students and families rely on us for in-person support, and this position will regularly provide on-site support to school teams, frequently partner with other headquarters teams, or regularly work in multiple locations. Because of the nature of the work, this role allows for occasional flexibility and will be required to be onsite 4 days per week.

Responsibilities

The percentages for each key responsibility are estimates, and other duties may be assigned. Flexibility and responsiveness are encouraged to accommodate organizational needs.

• Improve in-seat attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism (30%)
  • Improve in-seat attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism by working with families, students, and staff
  • Provide daily outreach to students in need of attendance support or challenges.
  • Convene frequent family meetings to address attendance issues as needed
  • Create individual student support plans to get students to school as needed
  • Meet with individual students to build and monitor attendance plans
  • Monitor that interventions have been implemented, following up and adjusting course as needed
  • Participate in any school-based activities that relate to attendance, including parent-teacher conferences, back-to-school nights, welcome nights, and family events
  • Develop an ongoing incentive plan for each school, order incentives, and schedule incentive events
• Create functional and effective school systems (20%)
  • Create functional and effective school systems in tandem with school personnel
  • Coach office managers and other attendance team members on implementing attendance protocols, including daily attendance-taking, tracking tardiness, following up with families, and coordinating with school staff
  • Create and maintain a system for checking and updating contact numbers
  • Use email and DeansList attendance reports to share ongoing attendance information with families
  • Monitor each school’s attendance portal and work with office managers to update information if necessary
  • Conduct monthly audits of attendance-related school systems, including tardy tracking, daily review of absences, classroom-level attendance-taking, and portal usage
  • Follow up with school personnel about school-based interventions in a timely manner
• Direct case management of students (30%)
  • Direct case management of students who are chronically absent or have reached Tier 2/Tier 3 intervention
  • Monitor data weekly and create and maintain an ongoing list of students with over 20 absences
  • Document all meetings in the list of students
  • Ensure all required reporting and interventions are completed, including 5 UA, 9 UA, and CFSA/OAG reports
  • Hold meetings with families, in person or virtually, as soon as a student reaches 20 absences, to build an attendance plan
  • Store all plans centrally for easy reference with students and families
  • Hold meetings with any students in grades 3 -12 with 20 absences - include them in the creation of an attendance plan, identify specific incentives that would encourage them to come to school
  • Hold additional meetings with families and students at every 5-absence threshold beyond 20 (25, 30, 35, etc.)
  • Coordinate with school personnel to file additional CFSA/OAG reports at agreed-upon thresholds (generally 20 absences for CFSA, 30 for OAG)
• Lead/facilitate various teams throughout the organization (20%)
  • Coach school-based attendance leads and drive alignment across attendance teams throughout the organization
  • Coach school-based attendance leads on implementing their attendance plans and running effective attendance meetings, preparing relevant data as needed
  • Confirm weekly attendance team meetings are scheduled and consistently held and documented at each school
  • Follow up on action items coming out of weekly attendance meetings
  • Attend and participate in KIPP DC attendance work meetings, presenting data and weighing in on protocols, data collection, and appropriate interventions
  • Attend school-based meetings at the request of the school leader
  • Attend MHP meetings at the request of the Mental Health Leadership Team Page
  • Meet at least weekly with the attendance team designee to review attendance data
  • Send a weekly follow-up email to the school attendance team outlining next steps

Requirements & Preferences

Required:

• Bachelor's degree
• At least four years of related work experience
• Previous exposure to or experience in the education sector
• Experience providing training, facilitation and/or coaching for adults. Specific experience working directing with youth.
• Ability to create data management systems and data reporting systems
• Technological skills - creation of spreadsheets, powerpoints, knowledge of Excel, Google Docs including Google Sheets, ability to create and analyze surveys
• Strong communication skills.
• Strong cultural competency skills, including the ability to communicate and work effectively and cultivate relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders
• A belief that every child can succeed and that their family plays an integral part in that success.
• Commitment to advancing KIPP DC’s anti-racist ambition through their work with staff, students, alumni, and families

Preferred:

• Master’s degree
• Previous exposure to or experience with case management, counseling or social work services is a plus.

Physical:

• Ability to travel across multiple schools and campuses and conduct home visits
• Coordinate distribution/organization of incentive materials, etc.

Demonstrated Excellence in the Following Areas:

• Commitment to Students and Schools: Demonstrates commitment to education reform, believing in every child's potential for success and prioritizing students, schools, and the essential role of families.
• Strategic Thinking and Problem Solving: Finds creative solutions to challenges that achieve broader goals of team and organization.
• Project Management: Sets a high bar for own work and supports others to achieve desired team outcomes.
• Communications and Influence: Demonstrates adept communication skills and influence to advance work by adjusting content and style.
• Teamwork: Contributes to a supportive team culture, fostering diverse work styles and maintaining a high performance standard.
• Trust and Collaboration: Establishes and nurtures effective relationships with a diverse set of stakeholders to support the best outcomes for our work.
• Cultural Humility: Advances KIPP DC’s commitment to anti-racism by creating a diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment for all stakeholders.
• Continuous Learning: Commits to continuous learning through feedback, self reflection, humility, and action.

Benefits & Compensation

KIPP DC offers an extremely competitive compensation and benefits package:

• The anticipated starting salary range for this position is $71,305-$77,504. At KIPP DC we strive for clarity, equity, and to be highly competitive. When determining salaries we look at benchmarks in the education and non-profit sector.
• KIPP DC offers a robust benefits package including medical, dental, and vision insurances; various voluntary benefits; and employer paid benefits such as short term disability, long term disability, life insurance, and a membership to One Medical.
• KIPP DC also offers a 403(b) retirement account with a 3% employer contribution and a 3% match with vesting after three years.

Equal Employment Opportunity Employer

KIPP DC Public Schools does not discriminate against, or tolerate discrimination against, employees or applicants for employment on any legally-recognized basis or protected class including, but not limited to, actual or perceived race, color, national origin, immigration status (except as necessary to comply with federal, DC, state, or local law), religion, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, lactation and related medical conditions), age, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, gender (including gender identity or expression), marital status (including domestic partnership status), genetic information, political affiliation, pregnancy, family responsibilities, personal appearance, veteran status, uniform service member status, status of being unemployed, status of victim a survivor of domestic violence, sexual offense or stalking, matriculation or any other protected class under federal, state, DC, or local law.

Click here or here to review KIPP DC’s non-discrimination policy and KIPP DC’s Title IX Coordinator’s contact information.