When Students Want to Be There: Designing Classrooms That Drive Attendance

What if the key to better attendance is already in your lesson plans? This workshop explores the relationship between instructional design and student attendance. Rather than relying on external incentives or punitive systems, you will examine how curiosity, choice, belonging and authentic learning experiences increase student presence. Look at your current instructional practices through a student-experience lens and identify where learning can become more relevant, participatory and student-driven. Discover how to build more choice, real-world application and collaboration into existing lessons without a full curriculum overhaul. School leaders will learn how to identify and replicate classrooms with strong attendance patterns, creating shared design principles across teams that prioritize engagement as a driver of consistent student presence. Leave with concrete strategies for designing classrooms that students actively want to attend and a framework for spreading these conditions across grade levels and departments. All workshops are BYOD and require All Access or Session + Registration to attend.