Wraparound Services

Wraparound Services

What Are Wraparound Services?

Wraparound services are non-academic supports that help address the underlying barriers keeping students from attending school. These services often include access to mental health care, housing assistance, food programs, transportation support, and family counseling — coordinated through schools or community-based partnerships.

They are typically used in Tier 3 interventions under MTSS and are a key component of SARB referrals, especially when absenteeism is tied to systemic or personal challenges outside the classroom.

Why It Matters

Students often miss school for reasons that go beyond illness or truancy. When a student is dealing with unstable housing, untreated mental health issues, or lack of access to transportation, traditional interventions like phone calls or parent meetings won’t solve the problem.

Wraparound services help schools:

• Support students holistically, not just academically
• Reduce chronic absenteeism linked to poverty, trauma, or instability
• Build trust with families and communities
• Comply with state mandates around equitable access and intervention

They’re especially critical for students in foster care, experiencing homelessness, or navigating other high-risk circumstances.

How Schools Use This Term in Practice

When a student is flagged for persistent absenteeism — especially after initial interventions haven’t worked — schools may bring in wraparound services as part of a Tier 3 support plan.

These services are often coordinated during:

• SART meetings
• SARB referrals
• Attendance Success Plan creation

Common implementation practices include:

• Partnering with local organizations to provide mental health therapy, transportation passes, or housing support
• Having district social workers or family liaisons facilitate referrals
• Embedding service access into the MTSS workflow for high-risk students
• Using case management platforms to track services over time

Some schools also deliver wraparound services directly through on-campus wellness centers or school-based mental health teams.

What’s the Difference Between Wraparound Services and Traditional School Interventions?

Traditional school interventions (e.g., calls home, behavior plans, attendance contracts) focus on school-managed actions.
Wraparound services go further — they address external challenges that the school alone can’t resolve.

For example:

• A school can’t fix a family’s eviction — but they can connect them to housing aid.
• A student with untreated anxiety may not respond to attendance incentives — but they might with counseling access.

Wraparound = coordinated care beyond the classroom.

Related Terms and Concepts

• Tiered Attendance Supports – Wraparound services are typically used in Tier 3
• Attendance Intervention – Wraparound is one of the most intensive forms of intervention
• SARB (School Attendance Review Board) – Often the trigger point for activating wraparound referrals
• MTSS – Framework that organizes when and how wraparound services are applied
• Chronic Absenteeism – Wraparound helps address the root causes that lead to persistent absences

Example Scenario

A student in San Bernardino USD has missed 20 days of school. Initial interventions — phone calls, letters, and a success plan — haven’t worked. During a SART meeting, the team learns the family lost housing and is living in a shelter. The district activates wraparound support, assigning a case manager who connects the family to stable housing, coordinates weekly counseling, and ensures transportation is in place. Attendance improves significantly, and a SARB referral is avoided.

How Wraparound Services Impact Districts

While resource-intensive, wraparound services deliver long-term value:

• Reduce chronic absenteeism tied to trauma, poverty, and instability
• Improve equity metrics across vulnerable student populations
• Demonstrate compliance with state-level requirements for intervention
• Build stronger school-family-community partnerships
• Prevent escalation to court involvement or punitive outcomes

They’re also increasingly tied to grant funding, ESSA mandates, and statewide attendance frameworks in places like California and Illinois.

How Are Schools Across the U.S. Using Wraparound Services?

Districts are adopting a variety of models to expand their support infrastructure:

1. Community School Models
Schools partner with local orgs to provide food, health care, legal aid, and social services onsite.

2. Attendance Case Management
Designated staff track high-need students and coordinate referrals to external agencies and district teams.

3. Integrated Mental Health Services
Districts are embedding therapists into schools or offering telehealth options, especially for Tier 3 students.

4. SARB Coordination
Many SARBs now include housing liaisons, public health reps, or child welfare workers to recommend wraparound support as alternatives to legal escalation.

5. Cross-Agency Data Sharing
Some districts use secure systems to share key student info with wraparound partners — creating a more unified plan of care.

How Nudge Helps

Nudge makes it easier for attendance teams to identify students who need wraparound services — and to act quickly and collaboratively.

With Nudge, districts can:

• Flag students for wraparound referrals using attendance thresholds
• Track Tier 3 intervention history in one place
• Assign follow-up tasks to social workers, counselors, or community partners
• Document the full scope of what’s been offered before escalation
• Report on which services are working and where more support is needed

Because reducing absenteeism isn’t just about tracking — it’s about coordinating care that removes the barriers.

Want to Bring Wraparound Coordination Into Your Attendance Strategy?

See how Nudge helps districts identify high-need students earlier, streamline service delivery, and reduce chronic absenteeism through real-time collaboration.