We know that students who miss too much school suffer academically at every age and every grade. And throughout September, hundreds of communities across the country have worked hard to raise awareness about the harmful impact of chronic absence by celebrating Attendance Awareness Month. In addition to raising awareness, what else can your community do to encourage students and families to get to school every day?
Join us for a webinar Tuesday, Sept. 30 from 2-3:30 ET as we introduce the new Attendance Works toolkit, The Power of Positive Connections: Reducing Chronic Absence Through PEOPLE. Use the PEOPLE strategy to learn how you can make students who are experiencing attendance challenges a Priority for Early Outreach this fall. Identify ways to encourage them through Positive Linkages to caring adults, enriching activities and needed supports such as health services so that they are Engaged and excited about coming to school.
If you’re planning to join in, consider attending with colleagues. Set up a meeting space–live or virtual–where you can talk about the webinar afterwards and how you can move these ideas in your community. Here are some sample discussion questions.
This webinar will also feature Hedy Chang, Director of Attendance Works, and a cross-section of speakers as they discuss the impact of positive connections on attendance. Our special guests include:
- Don Olson, Superintendent, Del Norte County Unified School District, Del Norte, California
- Paige Swan, Principal, Smith River Elementary School, Del Norte, California
- Sarah Jonas, Senior Director of Regional Initiatives, National Center for Community Schools, The Children’s Aid Society
- Dr. Joshua Solomon, Principal, Business of Sports School, New York City
- Joe Vaverchak, Director, Attendance/Residency and McKinney Vento Liaison
- Sarah Harris, Principal, Vance Village School, New Britain, Connecticut.