A Story Behind Every Empty Seat: How Evan Wilson’s Scaffold Ed is Tackling Chronic Absenteeism with AI

In the wake of the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has reached crisis levels in U.S. schools. With nearly one-third of students missing 10% or more of school days, educators and policymakers alike are asking: Why aren’t students showing up? Enter Evan Wilson, co-founder of Scaffold Ed, who is using AI-powered education tools to help schools understand the real reasons behind chronic absenteeism and design more effective, empathetic solutions.

The Crisis: Why Chronic Absenteeism Matters

Chronic absenteeism affects more than attendance—it deeply impacts student achievement, school funding, and community trust. In the 2023 school year alone, absenteeism cost schools an estimated $70 billion in funding.

“There is always a story behind that empty seat.” — Evan Wilson, Scaffold Ed

Common barriers include transportation issues, mental health struggles, disengagement, family responsibilities, or students simply not feeling safe or seen at school. But despite the scale of the issue, most schools lack the tools to understand the "why" behind the absences.

The Solution: How Scaffold Ed Works

Scaffold Ed acts like a research team and AI co-pilot for schools. It uses AI to analyze qualitative data like climate surveys, pulse checks, and family feedback—often overlooked sources of insight. Within seconds, Scaffold Ed surfaces themes and actionable insights that help school leaders address the root causes of absenteeism.

Examples of insights include:

• Students are disengaged due to bullying or poor peer relationships
• Families face transportation barriers, including lack of bus access or MetroCard shortages
• Students skip school to work under-the-table jobs due to delays in work permit processing

This data-driven clarity allows administrators to prioritize interventions that actually work—from supplying extra bus passes to re-evaluating curriculum relevance.

Equity-Centered by Design

One of Scaffold Ed’s standout features is its emphasis on anonymous feedback, which helps surface voices often left out of traditional data collection methods like PTO meetings or town halls. This approach creates psychological safety for families and students while ensuring equity in student engagement strategies.

Scaffold Ed also reduces friction by:

• Accepting uploads from existing survey tools like Google Forms
• Generating instant summaries and trends from qualitative responses
• Supporting speech-to-text input to remove language and literacy barriers

The Power of Leading Indicators

While most school decisions rely on lagging indicators like test scores or attendance reports, Scaffold Ed provides leading indicators. These predictive insights allow districts to make real-time decisions and get ahead of potential crises.

“If we know burnout is an issue, we help schools identify exactly why and how to intervene before it’s too late.” — Evan Wilson

AI in Education: Responsible and Human-Centered

As AI becomes more embedded in education, bias and privacy are top concerns. Scaffold Ed begins with anonymous, bias-reducing models and adds context only when necessary, ensuring that insights are both actionable and ethical.

“We’re focused on elevating voices, not replacing them.”

Impact and Next Steps

To date, Scaffold Ed is on track to make 100,000+ families feel heard in the next year alone. With the support of a $50,000 Pitch Playground grant, the team plans to expand into AI agent deployment, helping school communities not only understand the data but also act on it—without requiring more from overburdened school staff.

Why This Matters Now

In a resource-constrained education system, AI for absenteeism intervention offers scalable, low-lift solutions to a deeply human problem. By making family voices central, Scaffold Ed is turning data into decisions that re-engage students and rebuild community trust.

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