The message that we tell our students is that school is their most important job. They’re learning about more than math and reading. They're learning how to show up for school on time every day and how to be ready to learn.
Please help us make every day count. Good attendance really maters to your child's school success which leads to later success in life. Attendance Works, a national initiative dedicated to reducing absenteeism, notes that :
- Your children can suffer academically if they miss 10 percent of school days or about 18 days. That can be just one day every two weeks, and that can happen before you know it.
- It doesn’t matter if these absences are excused or unexcused. They all represent lost time in the classroom and a lost opportunity to learn.
- Attendance matters as early as kindergarten. Studies show many children who miss too many days in kindergarten and first grade can struggle academically in later years. They often have trouble mastering reading by the end of third grade.
- Preschool is a great time to start building a habit of good attendance. Studies show that poor attendance in preschool can predict absenteeism in later grades.
- By middle and high school, chronic absence is a leading warning sign that a student will drop out.
- Too many absent students can affect the whole classroom,creating churn and slowing down instruction.
- Families should avoid extended vacations that require your children to miss school. Try to line up vacations with the school’s schedule. The same goes for doctor’s appointments.
- For younger children, you can set a regular bedtime and morning routine. Make sure they get 9 to 11 hours of sleep. You can lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
- For older children, you can help set homework and bedtime routines that allow for 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep. Make sure that when the lights go out, so do the cell phones, video games and computers.
- Above all, set an example for your child. Show him or her that attendance matters to you and that you won’t allow an absence unless someone is truly sick. Don’t ask older students to help with daycare and household errands.
- You can turn to the school for help.
Go to http://www.attendanceworks.org/ for more information
