Attendance Awareness Campaign Update
A project led by Attendance Works
October 8, 2021
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Attendance is a Year-Round Effort
Thank you to everyone who celebrated Attendance Awareness Month! Although September has come to an end, we urge everyone to remember that engaging with families and students to address barriers to accessing learning opportunities is a year-round effort.
How can we support strong attendance and engagement in learning when students (and sometimes full classrooms) must stay home due to quarantine or illness? Ensure access to instruction and other learning opportunities for students who must stay home. Consider designating a staff person or finding community partners who can help make sure that students who must miss in-person instruction can keep up with their lessons and courses, especially those who were struggling during the prior school year.
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Our work with schools, districts and states is helping educators and their partners think strategically about how they can effectively support students and families as we continue to adapt to Covid-19, and what they should have in place over time to improve student attendance and achievement. Donate today!
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In our last Attendance Awareness Campaign webinar, Maribel Childress, Superintendent of Gravette School District, AR described how she designated a Director of Academic Success that is supporting building administrators, teachers, students and families when a child is quarantined at home. Charlene Russell-Tucker, Commissioner of Education for Connecticut, shared how the Connecticut State Department of Education is using data to inform allocation of resources and expanding investments in home visiting, social-emotional well-being and family engagement. Todd Rogers with Harvard University shared best practices for communicating with families so they can support their child’s attendance and learning. Listen to the recording.
Our Year-Round Attendance Calendars offer actions for every month. Use them to help plan activities and events that will keep a focus on improving attendance. We also have blank ones. Find calendars for all grade levels.
We’re planning new monthly updates with resources, tools, policy news and inspiration to help you continue addressing attendance barriers all year long. Watch your email inbox for this new outreach, or sign up here if you aren’t getting our newsletters. |
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Recognizing Attendance Awareness Month! |
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We saw teachers, counselors and social workers, schools, districts, states, national and local nonprofit groups and more celebrating Attendance Awareness Month this year. Here are a few items shared on social media: |
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We’ve updated for Covid-19 a sample letter that can be used to alert parents and caregivers when a student is chronically absent. Download the letter.
In addition to monitoring chronic absence, the shift to distance learning in many places makes it essential to look at additional key metrics. We offer a definition and rationale for our recommended metrics to monitor during the 2021-22 school year. Learn more. Schools and districts can examine their strengths and areas of growth in areas such as social-emotional health, food access and staff well-being using Thriving Schools’ new Integrated Assessment. These issues can affect a child’s attendance and learning. Find the assessment. |
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Events
Attendance Works and the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) are delighted to invite Todd Rogers of Harvard University to share the science of writing so busy families and educators read, understand and take action based on our messages. Join us on October 22, 2021, at 1 pm ET. Register.
We collaborated with the National Association of Elementary School Principals on a webinar, Reducing Chronic Absence: Insights from Successful Principals. Register for this event scheduled for October 27, 2021, at 3pm ET. |
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Join the Alliance for Excellent Education, America’s Promise Alliance, Civic, and the Everyone Graduates Center, education leaders, and young people on October 6th at 2 pm ET, for a discussion about high school graduation trends across the nation. Learn about the 2021 Building A Grad Nation report. Register.
Missed an Attendance Awareness Campaign webinar? Find the webinar recording, presentation slides and discussion guide for webinars #1, #2, #3 and #4 on our website. |
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Did you know that 100 national nonprofit groups, state-level groups and agencies support the 2021 Attendance Awareness Campaign? Their efforts to spread the message that regular school attendance is key to helping students thrive and achieve helps to expand the presence of the campaign. We send our sincere thanks to our campaign partners! See the full list of Attendance Awareness Partners. |
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Spread the Word!
Sample Tweets
Reminding students and families of the connection between attendance, learning and achieving their hopes and dreams helps them get to school even when it’s not easy. Let’s keep attendance awareness going all year long! http://bit.ly/1oqfID7 #SchoolEveryDay
Some families and educators don’t realize that attendance can make a difference in a child’s ability to read by the end of 3rd grade. Check out @attendanceworks 1 minute video that explains why: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAksIBBpMWc #SchoolEveryDay @readingby3rd |
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Campaign Convening Partners
See the full list of Attendance Awareness Partners here.
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Attendance Works is a non-profit, national and state initiative. Our mission is to advance student success and reduce equity gaps by addressing chronic absence. Find free downloadable resources, research, consulting services and more on our website: www.attendanceworks.org
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Copyright © 2021 Attendance Works, All rights reserved |
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