Everyone can work together to offer positive messaging to help students and families feel a sense of belonging and realize that daily school attendance is key to reaching their dreams of a successful future.
The message we must deliver is that daily attendance matters, at every grade level. We can emphasize that a missed school day is a missed opportunity: School offers opportunities to learn, to make friends and build relationships, and to develop skills such as listening, problem-solving and self-regulation.
When students are absent, we can make sure they know their teachers and classmates missed them. We can share the learning activities that happened when they weren’t in class. Establishing a regular routine of school from the start of the year is importance since research shows that two to four missed days in the first month of school can predict chronic absence throughout the year.
Here are four key steps for messaging about good attendance. Click on the one that interests you for tips and resources.
- Incorporate information about attendance into daily interactions with families
Families are essential to ensuring good attendance, and not all are aware of the adverse impact of missing school. Keep in mind that attendance is an early indicator of engagement or disengagement from school. - Attendance incentives and contests
The opening of school is an excellent time to make sure an existing system recognizes good and improved attendance, not perfect attendance. - Host Special Events
Back-to-school nights, assemblies, teacher conferences and special exhibits all provide opportunities to educate families about the value of regular attendance.
- Develop media and public outreach to take place in September.
Photo by Allison Shelley for EDUimages. License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/