A Note from the Executive Director
With over 70 percent of states and the District of Columbia using some form of chronic absence metric as a measure of accountability in their
state ESAA plans, demand for effective strategies to improve attendance is greater than ever. Our new
Teaching Attendance Curriculum, an online interactive series, provides a chance to learn more about the issue and what works to reduce chronic absence.
Register here to gain access.
We’ve just launched our sixth
Attendance Awareness Month Campaign with nearly 1,900 registered for our free webinar Team Up for Attendance: Leadership Matters. In
partnership with America's Promise Alliance, the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, Get Schooled, Everyone Graduates Center, Healthy Schools Campaign, Institute for Educational Leadership, MENTOR, Points of Light, and United Way Worldwide, we are calling on schools, districts and communities to Team Up for Attendance! Over 70 collaborating partners have already agreed to join us again to spread the word that all children should be in school every day they can. We'll be hosting three more webinars, free of charge, in the months to come.
We hope you’ll join us this year as we encourage everyone to keep up the drumbeat of attendance awareness throughout the year, beginning with the start of school in September!
Best wishes,
Hedy N. Chang
Executive Director, Attendance Works
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Our ability to continue to provide free resources and tools, webinars, technical assistance and guidance depends on our foundation partners, colleagues and you. Your tax-deductible donation will ensure all students an opportunity to thrive, do well in school and succeed.
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May 8:
Working Together Matters, 11-12:30 pm (PST) / 2-3:30 pm (EST). Registration coming soon!
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Policy Spotlight: ESSA Blog Series
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Many states have included some form of chronic absence metric in their accountability systems, but the nature of the indicator and definitions of chronic absence differ. Variations include 29 states using a 10 percent absence, or 90 percent attendance metric, and eight states using a combination of 15 days, 5 percent of days, and other measures. Find our sixth blog
Reducing Chronic Absence – It’s about problem solving and support, not blame and punishment,
here and find links to the other five blogs.
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Attendance Works in the News
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We had the opportunity to help the PBS NewsHour shape a segment highlighting the importance of chronic absence and showcasing how it is being addressed in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. We are thrilled to share with you "
Empty Chairs" which aired on March 20, 2018. We hope you will help us to share this broadly! Here is the video link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELacS6N7ZGc
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SAMPLE TWEET
High levels of chronic absence often mean there are bigger challenges & you need a community approach to address them, Hedy Chang @attendanceworks says. @KavitaCardoza PBS @NewsHour shows how @CLEMetroSchools is making a difference for Ss:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELacS6N7ZGc
#SchoolEveryDay
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We’re using this sixth annual
Attendance Awareness Campaign to encourage everyone to remember that community-wide engagement matters for attendance. This year’s theme, Team Up for Attendance! lifts up the role everyone, from educators to local agency and business partners can play in creating a welcoming and engaging school environment that motivates students and families to come to school every day. Look for a special focus on health providers and early childhood providers, as well as the leadership role states can play as they proceed with ESSA implementation. Find
2018 downloadable badges for your email signature line or outreach.
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We’ve updated our essential guide to help you launch or expand your attendance campaign. Find new badges, resources, research summaries and free downloadable tools in our
Count Us In! toolkit. Watch for new success stories from Contra Costa County, Arkansas and Cleveland.
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AAM Kickoff Webinar Exceeds Expectations
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Nearly 1,900 people registered for the 2018 Attendance Awareness Month Campaign kickoff webinar held on March 28.
Leadership Matters featured leaders at the state and district levels who show the crucial role leaders play in mobilizing their communities to action. Learn more about our speakers from Connecticut, Mississippi, Detroit, MI and Pittsburg, CA, and find the
PowerPoint and webinar recording here.
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- May 8: Working Together Matters will focus on building and training teams in schools with robust participation from community partners.
- Aug 15: Community Matters will examine the role that a variety of key community partners can play in helping to reduce chronic absence.
- Sept. 15: Health Matters will showcase our annual brief highlighting bright spots where successful strategies to address health barriers have reduced chronic absenteeism.
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We extend special thanks to our Attendance Awareness Month Campaign corporate sponsors for their commitment to help ensure that every child is in school every day, has access to a quality education and an opportunity to achieve their full potential. Their investment makes it possible for us to provide you with free strategies and materials:
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Safe and Civil Schools: $10,000
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Resource Spotlight: Teaching Attendance Online Curriculum
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We are delighted to unveil our new
Teaching Attendance Curriculum, an online, interactive series of courses designed for principals, teachers and school support staff. In partnership with TeachingReady, the Teaching Attendance Curriculum is a research-based, comprehensive educational program that offers an understanding of the issue, guidance and resources to help you reduce chronic absences in grades K-12th.
Learn more and sign up here!
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Updated Resource: Early Childhood Education
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For the first time, Attendance Works has developed a toolkit that reflects our three-tiered system of intervention. Our updated Early and Often: Showing Up in Preschool Matters 2.0 offers ideas, strategies and resources to help you address each tier—from prevention and awareness to early intervention activities—that help educators address challenges faced by families with students missing 10 percent or more of the school year.
Find the toolkit here.
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In addition to free resources and strategies, Attendance Works offers fee-based consulting services tailored to individual state agencies, school districts and schools.
Find out more.
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The Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk published the first of a two-part special issue: Combatting Chronic Absenteeism: Bridging Research and Policy. Guest Editors Michael Gottfried (UC Santa Barbara) and Stacy Ehrlich (U of Chicago) edited papers by researchers with expertise in absenteeism from pK-12. Issue one focuses on tracking data and measuring the effects of absenteeism; issue two explores which efforts by schools and other stakeholders may hold promise in reducing school absenteeism.
Find the research.
Chronic school absenteeism is common among school-age children who witness neighborhood violence, live with family members using substances, or have multiple adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Researchers Mandy Allison and Hilary Stempel analyzed data from the 2011–2012 National Survey of Children’s Health, and suggest that pediatricians have a role to ask and address attendance patterns and ACEs.
Find the research in Academic Pediatrics.
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Event Spotlight: National Convening
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Join us at the National Student Attendance, Engagement, and Success Center (NSAESC)’s National Convening in Baltimore, MD May 9-10, 2018.
FLIPPING ESSA: Achieving Success through Student Engagement is hosted by the U.S. Department of Education and the Office of Safe and Healthy Students. Attendance Works will facilitate several sessions. (We’ll also unveil new guidance for principals in our updated Leading Attendance toolkit.)
Find out more and Register Now!
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Attendance Works would like to express its deep appreciation to the foundations that are currently funding our work nationally and in communities across the country: The California Endowment, The Campaign for Grade Level Reading, First 5 San Francisco, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, Hellman Foundation, Kaiser Permanente Northwest, Open Society Institute –Baltimore, The Patterson Foundation, Skillman Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Stuart Foundation, United Way for Southeastern Michigan, Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation
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