Attendance Awareness Month Update
August 29, 2018
Calling All Superintendents! 

Attendance Works and our Attendance Awareness Month partners are calling all local superintendents to sign the Superintendents Call to Action by September 3rd!

Superintendents who sign on to the Superintendents Call to Action join a growing national movement of school leaders who are taking leadership in bringing attention to chronic absence, a  pernicious problem affecting at least 8 million students. All who sign on will appear on the Superintendents Call to Action Map and be listed on our website. We would like to thank Scholastic for its support of the 2018 Superintendents Call to Action!

Encourage your local superintendent to sign on to the Call to Action here. See our resources to help Superintendents get started, including assessments, action plans and tools for calculating absence data. 

Tweet It! 
Promote action! Encourage Superintendents to sign @attendanceworks Superintendents Call to Action by 9/3! Superintendents' names will appear on the Map & be listed on the website. See resources to help Superintendents get started, & sign on: https://tinyurl.com/yaarewf7 #SchoolEveryDay

Support
Attendance Works! 

Your gift will help fund more great resources to raise awareness of the importance of attendance for student achievement.
Share Your Attendance Story!

We are asking for stories that show what you are doing to reduce chronic absence at the start of the new school year. Submit a brief description of your activities - as well as a photo or video link - and your activity will receive a pin on the Share Your Story Map. It also may be featured on the Attendance Awareness Month website, in an AAM newsletter or on Attendance Works' social media pages. Share Your Story now!
What to Do When

Back-to-school season means there will be news coverage of local schools. Submit a commentary piece to local media, by tailoring our template op-ed, or pitch a reporter about the community's or school district's renewed emphasis on attendance.  See our tips for media outreach. 

Create an Attendance Awareness Month toolkit tailored for local schools and community partners. Attendance Works has created templates that include handouts, activities and local resources that can be easily adapted to help schools and local partners reduce absenteeism. These handouts include resource sheets that let parents know where to find help with health, transportation and other barriers keeping their children from attending school regularly.

Two California districts, Contra Costa and Oakland, have adapted Attendance Works materials for local audiences. See our resources for creating a local toolkit.
Share Your Story Spotlight!

In N.M., Mission: Graduate is collaborating with the Bernalillo High School attendance team and district administration on an attendance postcard. The "What's Your Role?" campaign, made up of postcards, magnets and posters featuring BHS students, is based on the information found on the Attendance Works website. The campaign asks parents, students and community members what they think their role is in student success. The postcard pictured will go out to families in September.

In PA., United Way of York County is celebrating Attendance Awareness Month by coordinating guest readers at early learning centers. The guest readers will read books focusing on the importance of attending school. The group will also be hosting back to school supply drives for local school districts.
Webinar Spotlight

Join us for the final AAM webinar, Team Up for Attendance: Data Matters on September 12th at 11-12:30 pm (PT) / 2-3:30 pm (ET).  Learn how to use chronic absence data to take action to identify and interrupt attendance barriers before students fall behind! Speakers will discuss the key findings of our report from Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center that features a new national and state analysis of how many schools face high levels of chronic absence. Speakers will provide tips on using the interactive map created by The Hamilton Project at The Brookings Institution. Register Now!

Look online for the PowerPoint presentation and recordings of Leadership Matters, (3/28), Working Together Matters (5/8), and Community Matters (8/15). Find them on our website.
Resource Spotlight

The National Center on Early Childhood Health and Wellness has created a resource with tips on how Head Start and Early Head Start programs can use health services to address attendance and improve school readiness. It provides recommendations for staff for talking with families about why attendance matters, and guidance for families about keeping children healthy so they can attend the program every day possible. Find the handout here.
Teaching Attendance Curriculum

The Attendance Works Teaching Attendance Curriculum, an online, interactive educational program, is designed to equip teachers and school support staff with an understanding of the issue, and the guidance and resources they need to reduce chronic absences in grades K-12. Each course contains videos, reflections and opportunities to apply concepts throughout. Start learning today! Register here! 
Partner Spotlight

Since 1964, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) - a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization - has been at the forefront of innovative efforts that bring together leaders across the various sectors of education (P-20), workforce development and child- and youth-serving systems. IEL builds partnerships across institutional boundaries, helping tackle leadership challenges and leverage the resources of multiple partners to foster reform.
Sponsor Spotlight

A special thanks to our Attendance Awareness Month Campaign corporate sponsor, Scholastic, for its commitment to help ensure that every child is in school every day. Scholastic's investment makes it possible for us to provide you with free strategies and materials:


Scholastic - $20,000  
Social Media

Tweet It!

Attendance Works has developed sample tweets, (in Spanish too!) Facebook posts and images. Adapt them to your school, district or organization.  See our social media tools.

Promote action by encouraging Superintendents to join @attendanceworks Superintendents Call to Action! & make attendance a priority, mobilize the community & drive with data. Find resources to help Superintendents get started and sign on to the Call! https://tinyurl.com/yaarewf7  #SchoolEveryDay

What are you doing to reduce #chronicabsence this year? @attendanceworks wants to know! Submit a brief description & your activity will receive a pin on the Share Your Story Map & may be featured on the AAM website, newsletter or a Tweet! https://bit.ly/2pMuXwy #SchoolEveryDay

Calling all Superintendents, School Boards, Mayors, Elected Officials & Community Orgs! Have you considered publishing a Proclamation declaring September #AttendanceAwarenessMonth? @attendanceworks has template proclamations just for you: https://tinyurl.com/ybfpklye #SchoolEveryDay

Join @attendanceworks' final AAM webinar, Team Up for Attendance: Data Matters, on 9/12/18!  We'll share highlights of a new nat'l & state analysis of schools w/ high levels of #chronicabsence with @hamiltonproj @JHU_EGC Register Now: https://adobe.ly/2MumH0v #SchoolEveryDay

Facebook Post or Newsletter Item
Attendance Works and its Attendance Awareness Month partners are calling all local superintendents to sign the Superintendents Call to Action by September 3rd! Superintendents who sign on to the Superintendents Call to Action will join a growing national movement of school leaders who are taking leadership in bringing attention to chronic absence, a  pernicious problem affecting at least 8 million students.  Encourage your local superintendent to sign on to the Call to Action here. See resources to help Superintendents get started, including assessments, action plans and tools for calculating absence data.

A growing body of research reveals the prevalence of chronic absence and its critical role in student achievement. This research also shows that chronic absence can be addressed when school districts, communities, and policymakers work together to monitor the problem and implement solutions that target the underlying causes. Learn more from Attendance Works! http://bit.ly/1oqfID7
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