Studies show that when students miss school two days per month, regardless of if the absences are excused, students are more likely to be adversely impacted. These absences affect students as early as Kindergarten, and the impact can last throughout a student's school career.
This year, attendance incentives are being offered to ALL students, with a hyperfocus on supporting specific students who suffer from chronic absenteeism. Students are being monitored for growth and given objectives that they can achieve. By focusing on growth, not radical change, students are able to feel successful, which is an important key indicator for student attendance and success in school.
However tough our most challenging students can be, their lives in many cases have been exponentially more difficult to live. Therefore, this year we began to offer support to families in getting their child to school. Working closely with individual families, site leaders are identifying barriers and helping provide resources in an effort to remove the obstacles impacting students attendance.
As a district we are taking action to build a foundation for celebrating, promoting, and emphasizing attendance for ALL students. Addressing attendance issues is time consuming, demanding, and complex. There are no quick fixes and no easy tricks. If there were simple solutions to support their growth, attendance, especially in rural areas counties like Mariposa, wouldn't be so challenging.
Finally, I invite everyone to set aside time to acknowledge students and their attendance. Our staff is exceptional at engaging with and getting to know our students. Our positive interactions remind children that day after day we are happy they are in school and we care about their well being.
10 FACTS ABOUT SCHOOL ATTENDANCE (http://www.attendanceworks.org/facts-stats-school-attendance/)
- Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.
- An estimated 5 million to 7.5 million U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year.
- Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back
- By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
- Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That’s just two days a month and that’s known as chronic absence.
- The academic impact of missing that much school is the same whether the absences are excused or unexcused. Suspensions also add to lost time in the classroom
- Low-income students are four times more likely to be chronically absent than others often for reasons beyond their control, such as unstable housing, unreliable transportation and a lack of access to health care.
- When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.
- Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students.
- Most school districts and states don’t look at all the right data to improve school attendance. They track how many students show up every day and how many are skipping school without an excuse, but not how many are missing so many days in excused and unexcused absence that they are headed off track academically.
Jeff Aranguena
Mariposa County Unified School District
Director of Human Resources/Student Services
