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A Note from the Executive Director
It will take a comprehensive approach to turn around high levels of chronic absenteeism. Yet many of our schools and districts are scaled for pre-pandemic attendance issues, with one or two people focused on attendance at school and often one person at the district level. Cross-functional teams with people who represent a variety of perspectives and can leverage resources across departments are essential for adopting a comprehensive approach.
Before next school year begins, plan to include responsibility for your engagement and attendance strategy in an ongoing team, or establish a new group. We’ve developed steps on how to organize a team, the key functions and who should be members on our Teams page.
What does a comprehensive approach look like? First recognize that success is possible! Then, know your challenge, organize your response and align your resources. Learn more from this action plan for states, districts and schools developed by Attendance Works and Everyone Graduates Center and presented at the Every Day Counts Summit at the White House.
In the last weeks of school absenteeism spikes. Engaging and fun activities can motivate children to come to school. Check out the Game Library from Playworks, with hundreds of game ideas and modifications to ensure every student can have fun.
We are thrilled to see media coverage about local efforts that are moving the needle on attendance. Check out the two-part story by NPR reporter Cory Turner documenting how Livingston Unified School District in California is successfully partnering with families to ensure kindergarteners show up to school every day. See The kids missing the most amount of school may surprise you: kindergarteners (Morning Edition) and A California school is addressing chronic absenteeism at the root (All things Considered).
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your hard work and steady focus on students and families. Enjoy your summer break!
Warmly,
Hedy Chang
Founder and Executive Director
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