EVERY SCHOOL DAY COUNTS! 
Year two of our county-wide
Attendance Awareness Campaign  is underway!
Theme for April: 
Spring has sprung, school is fun. Be on time!

Key Message: 
Being late to school may lead to poor attendance. Attending school regularly and getting there on time helps children feel better about school, and themselves.
 
kids_classroom_hands.jpg

Communication Tools/Strategies:
The most crucial learning hours of a school day are the morning hours. On average, students are most attentive at the beginning of the school day. Tardy students miss the beginning of their morning classes, and they also cause a distraction when they arrive late to class. Many times, students who are frequently tardy have lower GPAs, lower scores on standardized assessments, and lower graduation rates. Chronic tardiness in elementary and middle school is also linked to failure in high school. 
   
Engage now, and help us boost school attendance and reduce truancy countywide! You can also follow the status of the county-wide campaign and share the strategies that you are using at your site and on social media
(#cocoschooleveryday)


ALL IN For Health, a project of The Children's Partnership, is a statewide campaign to equip education leaders with the tools they need to connect families and individuals in the school, early learning, and after-school communities to health coverage and care. The ALL IN Campaign is a project of  The Children's Partnership , in close collaboration with state leaders such as,  California Department of Education ;  California School Boards Association ;  California School-Based Health Alliance ;  California Coverage & Health Initiatives ;  Get Covered / Asegúrate Campaign ; and  Covered California .
This website has great resources for Principals to share with parents.
2016 Attendance Awareness Calendars
On Sale NOW... Get yours today! Only $10 

This beautiful calendar displays the winning submissions from the "Every School Day Counts" Poster and Essay contest. The contest consisted of a poster contest for students in Grades K-5 and an essay writing contest for middle school students. There were over 256 posters and 60 essays submitted and we are proud to display the creative work of our students throughout this calendar. If you are interested in purchasing one, please visit our website for an order form here.

All proceeds from the sales of this calendar will be used to support ongoing Attendance Campaign activities.


Attorney General's New Online Positive Parent Messaging Toolkit

This toolkit was created by the California Attorney General's Office, the Ad Council, and the California Endowment, in partnership with leaders fighting to reduce chronic absenteeism in California.

They sent communications experts to talk to nearly 1,000 parents of elementary school children who missed 10+ school days in the previous year. Based on what they learned, those experts developed this toolkit. Teachers, administrative professionals, school nurses, principals, and community leaders will find resources, tips, and research addressing a critical question: What's the best way to talk to parents about absences in elementary school?
Upcoming Webinars:
Tuesday, April 12, 2016:
Motivating Good Attendance All Year Long
11 am - 12:30 pm

Interested in the latest strategies for leveraging positive messaging to prevent and reduce chronic absence? Join us for our April 12th webinar featuring the new Ad Council campaign from the US Department of Education, California Attorney General Kamala Harris's Positive Parent Messaging toolkit, texting advice from Harvard Kennedy School Professor Todd Rogers and tips from the Parent Teacher Home Visit Project.

Attendance Works will also unveil its 2016 Count Us In toolkit to help communities plan for September Attendance Awareness Month. We invite new communities to launch Attendance Awareness Month in September as a step towards a year-round Attendance Awareness Campaign. Our special guests and toolkit offer many ideas to help you plan your activities in the fall, and to develop tools and messaging to keep up a steady drumbeat about the importance of attendance throughout the course of an entire school year.
Register here!

This webinar can be viewed independently or feel free to join with your colleagues in the CCCOE Board Room at 77 Santa Barbara Road, Pleasant Hill. The viewing will be followed by the first meeting to plan the 2016 Attendance Awareness Campaign.

SAVE THE DATES:
Don't forget to save the following dates for the Attendance Awareness Campaign 2016 webinar series:  May 17, August 16, September 8, and November 1.


Contra Costa County Office of Education | 925-942-3343
Bookmark our website and check back often for valuable resources.
www.cocoschools.org/attendance

Share your successes with us and other Contra Costa County schools on Twitter
#cocoschooleveryday