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Beyond Attendance: Inside Seneca’s Compass Care Program

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By Darius Griffin

When people think about school attendance, it’s often framed as a simple question: Is a student showing up or not? But for many families, this is rarely about motivation or “not caring”. It’s about unseen barriers like housing instability, unmet mental health needs, economic stress, lack of transportation, or systems that have historically failed to meet families where they are. The COVID-19 pandemic only intensified these challenges, magnifying long-standing inequities and leaving many families disconnected from the supports they need. Compass Care was created to respond to this reality. “Our main priority is to support them with necessary resources,” Jaz Ponce, Wellness Coach for Compass Care explains. “And to help them figure out how to navigate the school path and life in general with the support that they have in their community, their family, and ideally at school.”

Compass Care Explained

Compass Care is a family-centered, wraparound intervention designed to help students who are struggling with chronic absenteeism. Developed through a partnership between Seneca, Valor Collegiate Academies, and Transcend Education, Compass Care recognizes that attendance is deeply connected to student and family wellness. It does this by asking why students aren’t showing up to school and addressing the challenges happening beyond the classroom.

At its core, Compass Care is all about partnership and understanding. The program works alongside students and caregivers to identify challenges, elevate strengths, and build achievable pathways forward. Students are identified based on patterns of chronic absenteeism, but families are invited into the program through language that emphasizes additional support rather than punishment or blame. Once enrolled, Compass Care staff first focus on building trust through active listening and nonjudgmental communication. Families are encouraged to share their experiences, values, and aspirations, while staff work to reframe challenges through a strengths-based lens that builds confidence and hope.

Watch our video explaining Compass Care:


The program is delivered in a structured 10-week cycle during the school year. Typically, a Certified Wellness Coach (CWC) is assigned to a school and leads three or four cycles per year, serving about 10–15 families per cycle. Throughout the cycle, staff work closely with students and caregivers through regular check-ins and flexible communication (in-person, video, phone, or text), based on what works best for the family. The model is organized into six interconnected phases that guide families from initial outreach through long-term sustainability, while also allowing flexibility based on individual circumstances.

“We follow them through their entire journey within the school and outside of school. If my student needs support in math class, or they’re having a difficult time with making friends, I’ll go shadow them to make sure their needs are met.” – Daniela Estrella Rojo, Wellness Coach.

Program Phases

At the start of each cycle, CWCs identify students who meet the school’s definition of chronically absent. This can vary from school to school, but it is typically around 10% or more days absent. After reviewing attendance data, coaches then gather additional context from school staff to understand what may be contributing to absences and which students may benefit the most from extra support. This phase helps ensure that outreach is thoughtful, informed, and responsive to each student’s situation.

Compass Care staff reach out to caregivers through email, phone, or text to invite them into the program. Over time, staff have learned that families are more receptive when Compass Care is framed as additional support rather than a consequence of absenteeism. This approach reduces shame, builds trust, and creates a welcoming entry point for families to engage at their own pace.

This phase often sets the tone for everything that follows. Families experience Compass Care as something happening with them, not to them. Once a caregiver and student opt in, staff schedule an initial meeting—together or separately, depending on what works best for them. These first conversations center on relationship-building through active listening, nonjudgmental communication, and curiosity about what matters most to the family. By using tools and guided activities, our staff help to identify strengths, values, aspirations, and existing supports, while also beginning to expand that circle of care.

This is where plans become practice. Coaches meet weekly with students and every other week with caregivers. Working together, they build goals across key areas like attendance, academics, behavior, and mental health. This is also where coaches actively help remove barriers that make consistent attendance difficult. Depending on each family’s needs, this may include connecting students to therapy or psychiatric services or helping caregivers access essential resources like Medi-Cal, food assistance (such as CalFresh), rental support, or other community-based services. Throughout this phase, accountability is shared. Students, caregivers, and staff each have a role, ensuring that progress feels collaborative and sustainable.

At the end of the 10-week cycle, Compass Care staff and families reflect on growth and celebrate progress— especially the small wins that helped build momentum. Staff review what worked, reinforce strategies that supported improvement, and help create a plan for maintaining progress beyond the program.

For the three months following the cycle, coaches continue to check in periodically and monitor school records related to attendance, academics, behavior, and overall well-being. They share updates with caregivers, help address emerging needs early, and help sustain progress through continued connection and support.

What We’re Seeing in the Data

While the phases help illustrate how Compass Care is structured, they don’t fully capture what the experience feels like for the students and families who move through it. To better understand that impact, staff collect feedback at the end of each cycle through an online survey. This short survey invites both students and caregivers to reflect on what felt helpful, what changed, and areas that may still need support.

RELATED | How the Youth Advisory Board Shapes Compass Care

In a 2025 survey, students and caregivers consistently pointed to the same parts of the program as most meaningful: 94% said the program helped them/their student with schoolwork, 98% agreed that it helped them/their students talk with teachers, and 99% agreed that meeting with Compass Care staff was helpful. These aren’t just program components, they’re moments where families feel supported, understood, and not alone in what they’re navigating. That support begins to show up in how students experience school, like how 97% of students reported that Compass Care helped them make a plan to improve attendance or grades. For caregivers, that impact was even more pronounced: 100% agreed that referrals and resources provided by staff were helpful.

“All of my kids have shown improvement with every cycle that I’ve had. It fluctuates from cycle to cycle, but there’s an absolute huge improvement.” – Jaz Ponce, Wellness Coach.

At the same time, the data reinforces something we already know: attendance is rarely about a single issue. Families identified academic struggles, mental health or social-emotional challenges, and peer dynamics as key barriers to consistent attendance. Compass Care doesn’t try to separate those challenges from attendance—it tries to solve them head on. And when those needs are met, showing up becomes something that feels possible again.

More than Attendance

While attendance is often the entry point, Compass Care is ultimately about something much deeper: connection. When students feel supported, understood, and safe—and when families feel respected and included—attendance begins to improve as a natural outcome. Our CWCs play a critical role in this process, building relationships that help families navigate systems that can often feel overwhelming or inaccessible.

“The way that I frame it is that by having me, it’s like you get to have a friend or someone at school that’s really going to look out for your child,” Daniela Estrella Rojo, explains. Whether it’s finding the right mental health support, accessing basic needs, or simply having someone who listens without judgment, these connections create the conditions for real change. These relationships are what make the difference. They shift the narrative from “Why won’t this student show up?” to “What does this student and their family need so they can show up?”

Compass Care challenges us to rethink how we define attendance and student success. If we continue to view absenteeism as a simple matter of choice, we risk overlooking the very real challenges families face every day. By taking the time to pause and understand the full picture, we create space for meaningful change. Because in the end, attendance isn’t just about being in the classroom. It’s about whether students feel safe, supported, and connected enough to walk through the door in the first place. Compass Care reminds us that when we address the barriers beneath the surface, we’re not just improving attendance; we’re creating pathways for students to truly belong.

If you have any questions or would like to work with our Compass Care team, please email Jason Keppe at [email protected].

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