Attendance Counts –  Starting with Kindergarten

Why is kindergarten so important? A 2011 California study found that 64 percent of students with good attendance in kindergarten and first grade could read at grade level after third grade, but only 17 percent of students who were chronically absent in both grades could do so.

Poor attendance through all grades, according to Attendance Works, is four times more likely among low-income students ““ the ones with the strongest need for class time to boost their math and reading scores. And the further behind a student gets, the less likely he or she is to graduate.

What can be done to get students to show up? Techniques include educating parents of kindergarten students about the importance of attendance, letting them know quickly when attendance problems arise, addressing any barriers that are preventing students from making it to school.  Schools can send text messages to parents starting at 6:45AM each morning to remind parents to get their children ready for school. The schools can also pass out hygiene kits to young students to help reduce illnesses and the resulting absences.

In 1997, 18 percent of households had internet access. In 2017, 92 percent of teenagers from around the world, according to Child Trends, access the internet daily. Any young person turning 13 this year  has never lived in world without Facebook. In 2014-2015, three-quarters of youth could access their smartphones to use the internet anytime, anywhere.

Social media provides opportunities that help build communities, engage with others, and gain exposure to new ideas from around the world. But it also provides a dark side, it provides an opportunity for bullying. Around one-third of young people between the ages of 12-17 (31 percent of males, 36 percent of females) report experiencing cyberbullying at some point of their lifetime. Cyberbullying does not require the bully and the bullied to be in the same place at the same time and can occur more anonymously.

Bullying affects a young person’s social, emotional and psychological development.

While schools play a role in dealing with bullying and cyberbullying so do parents, and the rest of society.

This has been sent to me by a dear colleague, Marie Sobers. Marie is the George Mason University Supervisor, Division of Special Education and Disability Research. Marie raises an interesting point. We do not know how students learn to learn.

Each year we enter classrooms armed with curriculum, pacing guides and other tools that are designed to drive instruction.  These tools are designed to assure that students learn what is deemed important in each content area.  To greatly increase the likelihood that students meet these goals and be better equipped to face learning needs in their future, we must teach them HOW to learn.  If we take the time to teach students HOW to approach learning by purposefully teaching the thinking and action processes necessary to fully achieve both the letter and spirit of the goals, the WHAT of the learning will quickly follow.  Arguably, the HOW is more important than the WHAT.  Once students learn HOW to learn, they will be able to transfer those skills to new learning opportunities that greet them each day.

This website went “live” on December 15,2007 – almost 10 years ago. Today it hit a milestone. As of this morning over 500,000 people had paid a visit. Over 1/2 of them are “unique” – first time visitors.

The list of visitors reads like a list from the United Nations. Visitors have come from the United States and Canada -_expected. But from the developing world as well as the developed world. (The number three nation is Morocco.)  I would estimate that visitors have come about 130 nations.  The #1 topic searched is dropout prevention with #2 being alternative education.

This is really your website. Your comments and suggestions have driven the direction and topics.  Please continue to offer suggestions, comments (both positive as well as negative.)

I thank all of you for your support.

With sincere appreciation,

Franklin

I am honored to be a member of the Akribos Group. They have just posted my article on increasing School Attendance. You can find the article here or by visiting https://www.akribosgroup.com/increasing-school-attendance/ you can see their website and download additional articles from other members of the group.

 

Increasing School Attendance By: Franklin Schargel, Akribos Professional Associate Students who are not in school frequently do not learn. Did you know that missing just two days a month is equal to missing 10 percent of the school year and could lead to a student’s falling behind? In most states, that is defined as a habitual truant. A habitual truant refers to a child of compulsory school age who is absent without a legitimate excuse for five or more consecutive school days, seven or more school days in one month or twelve or more school days in a school year. Not only does this impact on a child, their parents but the school and the school district as well. Schools and their leaders are rated on their performance in part by the number of students who regularly attend. In some states, school funding is based on the number of students who attend regularly.  What can leaders do to encourage students to attend? Read More

 

According to the Centers for Disease Control, “approximately 11 percent of children in the United States between the ages of 4 and 17 have received a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (ADHD)

While parents must deal with this every day, teachers may have one or more ADHD students in their classes. My heart goes out to both.