Tackling Absenteeism and Behavior Referrals: Five Minutes with Along

In this episode, EALA sits down with Jared B. Fries, the Partnerships Lead at Along by Gradient Learning. Listen in as they discuss the importance of teacher-student relationships in improving student outcomes, and how building strong connections is crucial for reducing absenteeism and behavioral issues, especially among diverse learners.

To learn more about this free, online tool, visit along.org

Access the full podcast transcript at: https://bit.ly/4d8BgOy 

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hi, this is Aurora from the Educating All Learners Alliance,
and today we're speaking to Jared B. Fries for 5 Minutes with Along.
Along is a free online student-teacher connection builder that helps quickly
build the strong ties needed to create and maintain trust year-round.
Joining us today is Jared B. Fries, also known as JBF.

(00:20):
He's the partnerships lead at Along, who is a passionate advocate for students
as a former teacher, school leader, district leader, and schools coach.
Thanks for joining us today, JBL. So great to be here again with you, Aurora.
So you were one of our earlier guests. You know, it's been a couple of years
since you've been on the podcast. So tell us more about your org and the work that you do.

(00:41):
Thanks, Aurora. At Gradient Learning, the parent nonprofit of O-Long,
I lean partnerships, which means that I support new organizations,
schools, and districts who are looking to easy to implement tools and practices
to support the whole child.
The reason we do this work is grounded in research. When there's a strong foundation
of teacher-student relationships, students are more engaged,

(01:02):
they feel like they belong, and they experience positive effects related to
academic growth, well-being, and social development.
On the Along platform, educators can choose from hundreds of research-informed
questions and follow-on activities to share with students and build intentional community.
I know there's been a lot of great stuff going on at Along, so tell us about
some of the exciting updates that are happening.

(01:23):
I'm so excited to announce the launch of our latest e-book, which takes a deeper
look into the current landscape and why teacher-student relationships matter.
You can download the e-book for free off of our website at alum.org.
We released the e-book, which is called Strong Classroom Connections Improve
Student Outcomes, because schools are facing a number of challenges.
Specifically, higher student absenteeism rates, an increasing number of behavioral referrals.

(01:48):
Some of the statistics are pretty shocking. According to the White House,
the number of students who have missed at least 10% of days in the school year
has nearly doubled to over 30% in the 21-22 school year.
And according to an Ed Week Research Center survey of educators,
70% said that students are misbehaving more now than compared with 2019.

(02:09):
This intersection of absenteeism and misbehaviors also overlaps strongly with
students who think and learn differently.
But even though these are difficult challenges, the good news for schools is
that there's a way to start addressing them, and the key is to focus on teacher-student connections.
Research from the Grad Partnership shows that when schools are grounded in relationship-focused

(02:29):
strategies, absenteeism rates decrease.
And the CDC reports that students that feel more connected at school are less
likely to have those behavioral referrals.
And this is where the work of Along comes in, because we offer an easy solution
for free to help schools focus on fostering these critical teacher-student connections
and paving the way for improvements in these challenging areas.

(02:50):
Well, free is always exciting to hear. Yeah. Right? I mean, as an educator,
you're always looking for that new free resource.
Tell us more about the importance of this current moment in education.
I mean, there's a lot going on. So much going on, you know. So let's dig in.
Educators, policymakers, and the media are rightfully focused about how to best
support individual students with their attendance, academics, and behaviors.

(03:13):
And so against this backdrop, it's where we turn to promising examples from
research and practice to know how to build inclusive learning environments for
all students to succeed.
And when school leaders ground their campus around relationship building as
a priority, there are just so many positive impacts.
Relationships are foundational to engaging inclusive learning environments because

(03:34):
students thrive when they feel seen and valued as individuals.
And perhaps most importantly, students want to be in school when there's a trusted
adult present and they're more primed to learn and participate.
So that's why these issues in the e-book are so important right now to show
that tackling these challenges and upholding our vision of equitable and inclusive
learning spaces, it's possible to support the whole child right now.

(03:56):
What educators need is just an easy tool to help them implement a consistent
and manageable plan to regularly engage in connecting with students.
I love that, you know, an easy way, an easy tool to help them out.
Easy, yeah. Yeah, right.
And, you know, you've mentioned inclusion and equity, but let's let's dig in
specifically. How does this work impact our students with disabilities?

(04:18):
Teacher-student connections matter for all students, but they can matter even
more for diverse learners, where the signals schools can be sending them directly
or indirectly indicate that they don't belong in a learning environment or that
they can't feel successful there.
The great thing about Along is that the platform provides different ways for
diverse learners to interact with their teacher, which opens up opportunities
to make connections and set the foundation for trust.

(04:41):
Many of your listeners might remember last spring's EdWeb webinar with Ila called
Creating community for diverse learners, where we had a chance to highlight
Heather Nielsen from Thompson Intermediate School near Houston.
She works with autistic students and asks an along question every week with our kiddos.
She tells us that building connections with our students through along creates
a foundation of trust and safety, so that way she's better able to work with

(05:03):
her students on things like behaviors and academics.
That's such a great example, and that was a great presentation we were able to do.
Thank you again for connecting us. So how can folks stay involved or get in
touch and stay connected to your work.
We'd love to stay in touch. We encourage school leaders and educators to visit
along.org and download our ebook.
You can also learn more about our tool and sign up for your free account.

(05:26):
Again, free account, very exciting to hear. I'd love to hear it.
Well, thank you so much. It was so great to have you on again, JBS.
Aurora, the pleasure is all mine. Thank you so much.
Well, that's it for us today, folks. Thank you to JRB Freeze.
And to learn more, check out their website at along.org. I'm Aurora from ILA
and this was 5 Minutes with Along.

(05:48):
Music.