Concentric CEO Molly Hebert Loyd explains why chronic absenteeism demands a human-centered response—and how technology can support, but not replace, real connection.
After nearly two decades at leading edtech organizations such as Discovery Education and Defined Learning, Molly Hebert Loyd made a bold shift in 2024—leaving the sector to join Concentric Educational Solutions as Chief Revenue Officer.
Concentric is on a mission to address one of the most urgent challenges in education today: chronic absenteeism. Working alongside school systems and community partners across the country, the organization helps reconnect students and families to opportunity. Through a unique, human-centered service model, Concentric supports chronically absent students in returning to school, re-engaging in learning, and building pathways toward their fullest potential.
In 2025, Hebert Loyd was named Chief Executive Officer. Recently, EdTech Digest sat down with her to discuss her journey from edtech into Concentric’s work, why a human-centered approach is essential to addressing chronic absenteeism, and the role technology can play in helping schools bring students back to the classroom and reconnect them to opportunity.
Molly, it is great to meet you. You’ve had a long, distinguished career in edtech, working at some of the most well-known brands in the space. What made you take the leap out of edtech into a new challenge like Concentric Educational Solutions?
Thanks, Victor. It’s great to connect with you today.
I’m really grateful for the opportunity to have worked with two really impactful edtech organizations earlier in my career. During my time at Discovery Education and Defined Learning, I had the chance to partner with some of the most forward-thinking school systems in the country as they navigated their digital transitions. I’m proud of the work I did supporting districts nationwide as they built engaging, dynamic digital learning environments.
After the pandemic, though, the limits of even the best-designed edtech became much clearer to me. Working closely with school-based partners, I saw that many of the challenges they were facing were not issues that more engaging content or more data could solve. They were challenges that required real human connection, and I believe there is no issue that calls for a human-centered approach more than the urgent challenge of chronic absenteeism.
‘They were challenges that required real human connection, and I believe there is no issue that calls for a human-centered approach more than the urgent challenge of chronic absenteeism.’
Concentric Educational Solutions touts its human-centered approach to bringing students back to school. Can you share more about what that means?
Absolutely. But first, I think it is worth revisiting some of the core data around chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absenteeism, which is defined by the U.S. Department of Education as missing 10% or more of school days, emerged as a serious challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the American Enterprise Institute’s Return to Learn Tracker, chronic absenteeism surged nationwide from 15% before COVID-19 to 28% in 2022 and remains elevated at 24% in 2024. Today, chronic absenteeism remains one of the most urgent issues facing K–12 leaders, the communities they serve, and our nation.
In a well-intentioned effort to address this crisis head-on, many school districts invested in systems that use automated texts, emails, and alerts to try to bring chronically absent students back to school. These technology-driven communication tools can be helpful, but they are not sufficient. They lack the compassionate, in-person engagement and relationship-building required to address the deeper realities behind chronic absence.
At Concentric, we believe chronic absenteeism is rarely an issue of motivation or truancy. More often, it is the result of a breakdown in trust between schools and families, combined with social, emotional, and environmental factors that make daily attendance difficult.
‘…we believe chronic absenteeism is rarely an issue of motivation or truancy. More often, it is the result of a breakdown in trust between schools and families, combined with social, emotional, and environmental factors that make daily attendance difficult.’
The human-centered approach at the heart of Concentric’s work seeks to rebuild school-to-home relationships where trust has been broken and to address the complex set of factors that prevent students from attending school consistently. This work is accomplished through:
– Home visits by trained, community-based teams to students identified as chronically absent or not attending school;
– Engagement with families through collaborative discussions to identify barriers to attendance;
– Custom ethnographic research from noted scholar and Howard University Professor Dr. Ivory Toldson interpreting the data collected during family engagements and outlining how and why chronically absent students have disengaged from learning; and
– Collaboration with school administrators that turns research into intervention and remediation strategies for the students and families engaged during home visits.
Does this approach negate the need for tech-centered interventions?
Not at all.
There is certainly a role for “soft-touch: strategies to address chronic absenteeism, including automated texts and emails. Personalized SMS and email outreach can provide a low-cost, scalable way to gently engage students and families at just pennies per student. While typical tech-based attendance solutions may offer automated alerts and deliver great scale, they fundamentally stop short of the relational work required to solve the most complex attendance barriers. A human-centered intervention is essential.
‘…they fundamentally stop short of the relational work required to solve the most complex attendance barriers. A human-centered intervention is essential.’
At Concentric, we understand that absenteeism is rarely about truancy or motivation alone. It often signals deeper challenges: housing instability, health concerns, transportation gaps, trauma, caregiving responsibilities, and broken trust between families and schools. What is often required is more than what traditional “soft touch” outreach can offer.
Unfortunately, the families that need the most support getting students to school will not respond to a text or email. Those students are in need of someone knocking on their door, listening to their needs, and working collaboratively with them to find ways to connect them to the services that will support their return to learning.
I understand. Is Concentric planning to inject technology into its work?
Absolutely.
Later this year, Concentric will launch a new digital platform that represents the next evolution in chronic absenteeism intervention. This platform seamlessly unites real-time school data and insights with a tiered continuum of support that ranges from scalable, automated outreach via email and text up to certified, human-centered outreach delivered by our team of trained professionals.
We believe this solution reflects the real-world needs of school systems. By combining scalable technology, certified human engagement, quality control, and real-time data, our platform will empower schools to take on chronic absenteeism. It’s designed not just to bring students back to the classroom, but to re-engage them in learning and reconnect them to long-term opportunity.
This will be the first solution in the field to truly integrate technology-driven outreach with a fundamentally human-centered approach to chronic absenteeism, making it an essential new tool for school districts committed to solving chronic absenteeism.
With AI becoming ubiquitous in edtech, do you see a role for AI in Concentric’s work, and if so, where?
I think AI can be a tremendous force in the battle to bring students back to school.
‘I think AI can be a tremendous force in the battle to bring students back to school.’
At Concentric, we are looking at ways to use AI to more quickly and effectively read and interpret the data collected by our teams. This will better help us not only provide faster solutions to our partner school systems, but it will allow us to better spot national and regional trends in chronic absenteeism. There are a few other ways we are looking to inject AI into our work as we move ahead, and I look forward to sharing some of those in the future. In addition, we are looking at ways of using AI to quickly generate geo-targeted sets of solutions school-based partners could use to support the chronically absent students.
Switching gears, what do you see as the state of education in America at this time?
The last few years have been challenging for American educators. Each day, K–12 educators face intense pressure from learning loss, mental health crises, staffing shortages, and more.
But what’s encouraging to me is the decisive shift we’ve seen toward a ‘whole-child’ approach to education. Despite financial pressures, school systems are making investments in counselors, trauma-informed practices, and Social Emotional Learning. To me, this is a clear signal that school systems now fundamentally understand that student success is inseparable from personal well-being and strong relationships.
This deep appreciation for human-centered support is why the crisis of chronic absenteeism must be met with a human-centered solution. The investments I see schools making to support the Whole Child tell me that American school districts are ready to move beyond just data and content and embrace the relational work required to reconnect every student to opportunity.
Do you have anything else you’d like to add or share with EdTech Digest’s readers?
Because of its long-term consequences, chronic absenteeism is one of the top issues facing society today.
To begin with, chronically absent students are far less likely to achieve early reading proficiency, and academic gaps, especially in math, become harder to close over time. Poor student attendance is also a strong predictor of dropping out, which leads to lower graduation rates and reduced postsecondary enrollment.
Lower educational attainment, in turn, is tied to decreased lifetime earnings and fewer stable career opportunities. Chronic absenteeism also hampers the development of essential workplace skills and contributes to broader social costs, increasing the strain on community systems.
‘When schools, families, and communities work together to understand and address the root causes of student disengagement, attendance improves and students reconnect to learning.’
However, I don’t believe chronic absenteeism is inevitable or irreversible. When schools, families, and communities work together to understand and address the root causes of student disengagement, attendance improves and students reconnect to learning. With earlier human-centered interventions, stronger relationships, and a shared commitment to removing barriers, we can help all students return to the classroom, re-engage in learning, and reconnect to opportunity.
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Victor Rivero is the Executive Producer of Future Focus Forums (F3) and Editor-in-Chief of EdTech Digest. Write to: victor@edtechdigest.com
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