April 19th, 2010

A Toolkit for Assessing Chronic Absence

As any educator knows, if students aren't present in school they miss valuable opportunities to master the knowledge and skills they need to stay on grade level. Indeed, when it comes to student achievement, Attendance Counts. If students are chronically absent, it is even more unlikely they will catch up with their peers, and a teacher's efforts to help them make up the work can disrupt learning for the entire class.

So chronic absence is a critical issue to consider for any school seeking to improve its academic achievement, and any district committed to reducing its student dropout rate. It is a particularly important indicator for schools participating in the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program.

Assessing and addressing the issue in your school or district, however, requires some explicit thinking and planning. Now a coalition of organizations in California is offering this toolkit for examining whether chronic absence is an issue at underperforming schools, and for tackling the problem.

These tools and guidelines can help administrators and teachers gauge the extent of chronic absence in their schools, identify some of the factors contributing to the problem, and lay out a strategy for helping children and their families overcome the obstacles to attendance. In order to tackle problems with achievement, educators need to know whether students are struggling with the content, or if they are missing too much instruction due to absence.

Of course this is not an issue exclusive to California. Schools and districts in other states can benefit from this toolkit as well. Getting children on the path to academic success requires that they be present and engaged in school. Creating a culture that recognizes the importance of attendance will help us move closer to our school improvement goals.

Does your school or district track chronic absence? What strategies do you use for improving attendance for these children?

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