What Are Home Visits?

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Home visits are in-person outreach efforts where school staff or district representatives visit a student’s home to check in, build relationships, and address barriers that may be affecting attendance. These visits are usually non-punitive, supportive, and often used as part of Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions under MTSS frameworks.

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Home visits are most effective when they’re framed as a way to partner with families, not police them.

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Why It Matters

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Many students experiencing chronic absenteeism aren’t disengaged — they’re struggling with real challenges like unstable housing, trauma, or unmet health needs. A home visit:

• Builds trust and human connection
• Surfaces barriers not visible through school data
• Sends a strong message that the student matters
• Helps schools fulfill intervention obligations before legal escalation

When phone calls and emails go unanswered, home visits can re-open the lines of communication and offer support in a respectful, personal way.

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How Schools Use This Term in Practice

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Districts typically schedule home visits when:

• A student has multiple absences and isn’t responding to outreach
• A family can’t be reached via phone, text, or email
• A student is trending toward chronic absenteeism or truancy
• A team needs to deliver documents (e.g., truancy letters) in person
• A SARB referral is being prepared, and documentation of contact attempts is needed

Who conducts the visit can vary:

• Attendance clerks or site administrators
• Counselors, social workers, or family liaisons
• SARB officers or intervention specialists
• Community-based partner orgs

Many districts now use trained outreach staff with trauma-informed or bilingual skill sets to ensure visits are respectful and effective.

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What’s the Difference Between a Home Visit and a Welfare Check?

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A home visit is initiated by the school and focused on supporting the student.

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A welfare check is typically requested through local law enforcement and used in situations involving safety concerns or emergency risk.

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Home visits are relationship- and resource-based. They’re proactive tools for building connection and offering help — not enforcement.

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Related Terms and Concepts

• Attendance Intervention – Home visits are often part of Tier 2 or Tier 3 interventions
• Chronic Absenteeism – Home visits help re-engage students before chronic patterns escalate
• MTSS – Many districts include home visits in Tier 3 playbooks
• SARB – Home visits are frequently used before or during SARB preparation
• Wraparound Services – Visits often lead to referrals for housing, food, or health supports

Example Scenario

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A student in Fort Worth ISD has missed 15 days of school and hasn’t responded to calls, texts, or letters. The attendance team schedules a home visit. A counselor and district outreach worker visit the home and learn the family has recently moved and lost reliable transportation. The team connects the family to a local agency for bus passes and sets up a follow-up call. The student begins attending regularly again within two weeks.

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How Home Visits Impact Districts

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When used strategically and respectfully, home visits help districts:

• Prevent chronic absenteeism and truancy escalation
• Improve family engagement and trust
• Fulfill compliance steps for SARB or state reporting
• Connect families to community-based supports
• Reduce court referrals by offering documented early intervention

They also humanize attendance work, reminding staff and families alike that schools care about students as people — not just numbers.

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How Are Schools Across the U.S. Using Home Visits?

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Districts are using home visits more thoughtfully and strategically:

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1. Non-Punitive Framing - Schools are training staff to approach visits as relationship-building, not enforcement.

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2. Targeted Outreach Models - Districts are using attendance data to identify students who are unreachable by other means, then deploying home visits as a final early step.

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3. Multilingual and Culturally Responsive Teams - To build trust, schools are staffing visits with people who reflect the community and speak the family's language.

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4. Embedded in MTSS - Many districts now include home visits in Tier 2 or 3 attendance playbooks as a standard escalation path.

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5. Partnerships with CBOs - Some schools partner with community-based organizations who conduct visits and connect families to wraparound services.

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How Nudge Helps

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Nudge helps districts coordinate and document home visits as part of a complete attendance support workflow.

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With Nudge, districts can:

• Flag students for potential home visits based on data thresholds
• Assign visit responsibilities to specific staff
• Log outcomes and notes from each visit in a shared dashboard
• Track which visits led to intervention or re-engagement
• Ensure follow-through before SARB referrals

No more tracking visits in notebooks or spreadsheets — Nudge helps make home visits strategic, documented, and impactful.