News and Announcements

September 26
Too often, we think of reducing absences as the job of parents or school clerks in the front office. But communities across the country have started to help schools address chronic absence, recognizing that they can build public awareness and leverage resources to address a problem that we can solve.

Check out this incredibly helpful resource, “10 Steps Communities Can Take to Reduce Chronic Absence,” here!

http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/10-Steps-Communities-Can-Take-to-Reduce-Chronic-Absence-6-15-12.pdf

“Like bacteria in a hospital, chronic absenteeism can wreak havoc long before it is discovered.”

That’s a quote from a study, “The Importance of Being There: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation's Public Schools,” which points to the importance of data collection. Only six states track chronic absenteeism: Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon and Rhode Island.

Read more here: https://getschooled.com/attendance-counts/report

September 18
In this news report, “Empty Desks: The Effects of Chronic Absenteeism,” highlights the irrefutable fact that chronic absence hits low-income students particularly hard, especially if they don’t have the resources to make up for lost time in the classroom and are more likely to face barriers to getting to school – such as unreliable transportation. Here the full story from WYPR, Baltimore’s NPR affiliate.
http://www.wypr.org/news/empty-desks-effects-chronic-absenteeism

September 17
FACT: One in 10 kindergarten and first grade students nationwide miss nearly a month of school each year. In some cities, the rate is as high as one in four elementary students. In some schools, chronic absence affects 50 percent of all of the students!
Learn how to help your community reduce chronic absence at http://www.attendanceworks.org/

September 13
There are many things we can do to stem chronic absenteeism. For one, we can help families to build the habit of attendance as soon as children start school. While all families want their children to succeed, many don’t realize that regular attendance matters starting as early as kindergarten or even in prekindergarten. We’ll let everyone know that missing 10 percent of school days, or just 2 days every month, can put children at risk.

Learn more about reducing chronic absence in your school by going to this website: http://www.attendanceworks.org/about/

IMPORTANT - The X-Country meet scheduled for today in Ellsworth has been cancelled due to weather. Our X-country students will be going home on the bus today. At this time, we do not have a make-up date.

September 12
Principal Cliff Hong knew that too many students missed class at his Oakland, Calif., middle school, but it was not until he analyzed the data that he saw the picture clearly. Every day, 50 to 60 Roosevelt Middle School students were absent and as many as 15% of students were missing nearly a month of school every year. Within a year, however, Hong cut his absentee rate in half and saw his school’s standardized test scores climb by 30 scale points.

How did he do it? Find out here: http://www.nassp.org/tabid/3788/default.aspx?topic=A_Focus_on_Attendance_Is_Key_to_Success

September 11
Chronic absence is a new way of looking at attendance data. Most schools rely on average attendance rates to tell them how many students typically show up each day. By contrast, chronic absence examines how many students are missing so much school they are at risk. Even a school with 95 percent average attendance rate could have as many as 20 percent of its students chronically absent.

Learn more in this report: http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/ChronicAbsence.pdf