How can districts reverse chronic absenteeism and gain a deeper understanding of why students don’t come to school?  Can we measure how “connected” students are to their schools? How do we impact the level of connection they feel with potential mentors in their lives?  I invited Jen Perry to episode 172 of the De Facto Leaders podcast to discuss this topic and explore ways schools can assess student engagement and put meaningful programs in place to increase it.  Jen Perry is Senior Manager of Learning Design and Whole Learner at Edmentum. Jen has worked over 30+ years with youth in educational and community settings. As a teacher, administrator, and trainer, her passion has been to help educators develop an understanding of the importance of social emotional learning and build trauma-informed responses and systems. This work has included supporting youth, administrators, and schools in understanding behavior and implementing transformational change through strength-based approaches. In this conversation, we discussed: ✅Using positive youth development models to support youth involved with the legal system. ✅Changing our assumptions about kids who have “risk factors” and resources.  ✅Helping youth build developmental assets through community navigation and academic support. ✅Research on the effectiveness of high-impact tutoring in increasing attendance and student engagement. ✅How do we help kids connect academic work to meaningful life goals?  ✅Giving students the language they need for self-advocacy and self-awareness. In this episode, we mentioned the following resources: “The Poverty Problem: How Education Can Promote Resilience and Counter Poverty’s Impact on Brain Development and Functioning” by Horacio Sanchez  Link here: https://www.amazon.com/Poverty-Problem-Resilience-Development-Functioning/dp/1071842927 Maguillie, L, Perry, J., Aiello, J. (2019). The impact of an Alternative to Detention Program on Developmental Assets for adolescents involved in the juvenile justice or legal system. Journal of Applied Juvenile Justice Services.Link here: https://irp.cdn-website.com/45a58767/files/uploaded/2019-Alternative%20to%20Detention%20%28Maggiulli%29.pdf Whole Learner Foundations: Understanding Behavior and our Default SettingLink here: https://www.edmentum.com/intl/resources/webinars/whole-learner-foundations-understanding-behavior-and-our-default-setting/ Jen Perry on Students and ConnectionLink here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38EMkeKK96c Jen Perry on Teacher Well-beingLink here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMuiiq56bsY Targeted Skills Instruction-Accelerate High-Impact Virtual Tutoring ServicesLink here: https://www.edmentum.com/products/virtual-tutoring/ Learn more about where to connect with Jen on Linked here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-perry-8aaa99204/) or at edmentum.com.  In this episode, I mention the School of Clinical Leadership, my program that helps related service providers develop a strategic plan for putting executive functioning support in place in collaboration with their school teams.  You can learn more about that program here: https://drkarendudekbrannan.com/clinicalleadership We’re thrilled to be sponsored by IXL.  IXL’s comprehensive teaching and learning platform for math, language arts, science, and social studies is accelerating achievement in 95 of the top 100 U.S. school districts. Loved by teachers and backed by independent research from Johns Hopkins University, IXL can help you do the following and more: Simplify and streamline technologySave teachers’ timeReliably meet Tier 1 standardsImprove student performance on state assessments🚀 Ready to see why leading districts trust IXL for their educational needs? Visit IXL.com/BE today to learn more about how IXL can elevate your school or district.