Count Us In! Working Together to Show That Every School Day Matters
Chronic absence has become a national crisis we can and must address. Chronic absence is typically defined as missing 10% of the school year – or just two days a month – for any reason. Listen to Hedy Chang discuss the chronic absence crisis on NPR’s All Things Considered.
To tackle this challenge, the Count Us In! toolkit offers messaging and positive engagement strategies, key concepts and tools to help educators raise awareness about why showing up to school matters and also to build the universal positive conditions for learning (using the 3 tiers of intervention) that motivate all students to attend school.
Browse the links below and click on what interests you. Some of these links will take you to the Attendance Works website. To return, click on Attendance Awareness Campaign at the top of the AW website.*
- How to Use This Toolkit
- Why Addressing Chronic Absence Matters for Recovery
- Who Should Use This Toolkit
- How Can We Deliver the Message
- How Can Educators Improve Attendance
- How Can We Identify and Help Students with Poor Attendance
- How Can We Engage the Community
- What to Do When A calendar of activities and actions.
For this year’s 11th annual Attendance Awareness Campaign, our theme is Showing Up Together! It speaks to the importance of joining together to address the devastating impacts from interrupted learning and increased economic stress. We will highlight the value of creating partnerships between communities, schools, students and families to build and implement long-term plans to address today’s unusually high levels of absenteeism. And we will share strategies that research and practice show can improve attendance and engagement.
Local action is essential. States also can play a leadership role. The Connecticut State Department of Education is an example of how a state leverages the Attendance Awareness Campaign to inform local action. Connecticut also invested in relationship building through its Learner Engagement and Attendance Program (LEAP).
Since 2013, the Attendance Awareness Campaign has engaged thousands of schools and communities. Over 100 national and state organizations are now working together to ensure everyone can participate, from a single school to a citywide coalition to a national or state organization. Sign up here to receive regular updates and tips for improving attendance.
A special thank you to our Attendance Awareness Campaign corporate sponsors for their commitment to help ensure that every child is in school every day. Their generous investment makes it possible for us to provide you with free strategies and materials. Thank you EveryDay Labs, RaaWee, School Technology, and Kaiser Permanente!
*With each webinar we will release new Count Us In! toolkit pages.