Cranston schools recognizing September as Attendance Awareness Month

Posted 9/11/14

To the Editor:

Two days isn’t a long period of time.

But missing two days a month of school is all it takes for a student to be considered chronically absent. These two days a month may …

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Cranston schools recognizing September as Attendance Awareness Month

Posted

To the Editor:

Two days isn’t a long period of time.

But missing two days a month of school is all it takes for a student to be considered chronically absent. These two days a month may happen for several reasons: children stay home because of chronic illness, unreliable transportation, housing issues, bullying or simply because their parents don’t recognize how quickly absences add up – and affect school performance. Two days a month can quickly lead to missing 18 days or 10 percent of the 180-day school year.

The effects of chronic absence are quite well known. Children who are chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are less likely to read proficiently by third grade, and students who don’t read well by that critical juncture are more likely to struggle in school. They are also more likely to be chronically absent in later years, since they never developed good attendance habits. By ninth grade, chronic absence is a better indicator than eighth-grade test scores that a student will drop out. A study in Utah found that a student chronically absent any year between eighth and 12th grade was 7.4 times more likely to drop out.

To highlight the issue of chronic absenteeism, Cranston Public Schools is recognizing September as Attendance Awareness Month; part of a nationwide movement intended to convey the message that every school day counts. But we’re doing more than that. We’ve put together a task force to combat the issue of chronic absenteeism and we’re working together to solve our common problem.  The task force is a coalition of the school system, non-profits, faith-based organizations, Cranston libraries, parents and students.

In the coming months, we’ll be working on several initiatives to increase attendance. The high schools and middle schools in Cranston are all committed to get connected to GetSchooled, an online program where kids can win rewards, compete for national honors and find fun and support to get to school on time and every day.

All of our seventeen elementary schools will form teams to focus on students who are chronically absent.

The nonprofit partners will offer incentives for improved attendance, provide workshops on improving attendance and decreasing chronic absenteeism and focus on kindergarten chronic absence and researching strategies for reducing chronic absence in the early elementary years. Faith-based partners will emphasize the need to be at school on time every day.

Other leaders in the community can help increase the awareness of the importance of good attendance. Health professionals can talk to parents and students about the value of good attendance during back-to-school check-ups. 

Business leaders can talk to their employees about the importance of good school attendance. Parents can share what is known about the importance of good attendance at PTA/PTO meetings.

There is strong evidence already that this focus on attendance will mean our students show up on time and more often.

Nationally, 64 percent of schools that participated in the GetSchooled program saw an increase in attendance. Locally, when Cranston High School West changed its attendance policy and was more diligent about following up with students and their families, the school saw a 37 percent decrease in the number of late arrivals by students.

Attendance counts! To find more information about the importance of regular school attendance and tools to help go to www.attendanceworks.org. Let’s all do are part to make sure that our students show up to school every day and on time.

Jeff Gale

Cranston School Committee

Ward 1

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