Attendance Awareness Campaign Update for September 12

Attendance Awareness Campaign Update

A project led by Attendance Works

September 12, 2019

Improving Conditions for Learning and Attendance!

We are pleased to announce the release of our September Brief, Using Chronic Absence Data to Improve Conditions for Learning. Drawing on the expertise of Attendance Works and American Institutes for Research (AIR), the new report underscores how education leaders, community partners and policymakers can use chronic absence data to create positive conditions for learning for students and teachers, and at the same time address educational inequities.

Case studies from the state of Georgia and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District help to illustrate how chronic absence and conditions for learning can be addressed through comprehensive, data informed actions.

A special five-point school action framework outlines how chronic absence data can be used by schools to identify when to invest resources in diagnosing and addressing factors in a school and community that affect attendance and conditions for learning. Districts, states and community partners are urged to support implementation of the action framework. Find the brief.

Sample Tweet

Reducing absence goes hand in hand with cultivating positive conditions for learning. A new @attendanceworks & @AIRInforms brief discusses how educators & policymakers can use chronic absence data to address inequities & improve student outcomes https://www.attendanceworks.org/using-chronic-absence-data-to-improve-conditions-for-learning/

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Attendance Tools

A new interactive map produced by The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution is an invaluable resource for those working to improve conditions for learning. Using the most recently available national absence data, the map shows rates of chronic absence along with community factors and proxies for conditions for learning --- including the frequency of exclusionary disciplinary incidents and student achievement information --- across the country. It is designed to prompt discussion and analysis. Use this information to get an initial sense of what is happening in your local school and community! Explore Chronic Absence: School and Community Factors.

During the September 10th AAC webinar, A Place Where We Belong, David Osher with American Institutes for Research (AIR) describes four conditions for learning that help create a conducive learning environment and positively affect attendance, achievement and student well-being. Osher explains how what happens in school can help buffer against or reduce the impact of adversity students and their families may face in the community.

The webinar includes speakers from the state of Georgia and Cleveland, Ohio who share where this work is already being done, with promising results. Lauren Bauer from The Hamilton Project explains how to use the interactive map. Download the presentation slides.

Working with a School Team?

Attendance Works has revamped its self-assessment tool to promote schools taking a more integrated approach to improving attendance. The tool is designed to help school teams examine their operations. Let us know what you think of new self-assessment! Download the tool.

State Action

NC Early Childhood Foundation's new report finds that respondents feel that their schools are welcoming, engaging, and that they collect accurate attendance data. They also feel their schools need some support in encouraging attendance, engaging families, and ensuring staff capacity around chronic absence. AttendaNCe Counts: How Schools and Local Communities are Reducing Chronic Absence in North Carolina is based on survey that received 1,500 responses from across the state from parents, teachers and administrators. Find the report.

We Belong in School!

Seven education leaders working in schools across the country that experience high rates of chronic absenteeism discuss their work to turn toward equity to increase attendance. "In order to dramatically improve attendance, we must create more equitable and welcoming learning environments where each student can build on their strengths, take ownership of their learning and thrive," the authors write. Read How a Focus on Equity Can Help Address Chronic Absenteeism in Schools, a new blog post from AAC partner City Year.

Share Your Story

Do you have your cameras ready? We are looking for your Attendance Awareness Campaign stories and images that show how you engaged people around school attendance with the start of the new school year. Please send us your photos or graphics and a brief description of your activities using the form on our Attendance Awareness Campaign website, and we will post it! Learn more.

Events

Join Reframing the Conversation Around Family Engagement, a webinar on September 17 co-sponsored by The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading and National Association for Family, School, and Community Engagement. Learn about ground-breaking research on how the public thinks about family engagement and what can help expand that understanding. Join in on Tuesday, September 17, from 3-4:30 p.m. ET. Register today!

AAC Webinars

Find the webinar recording, presentation slides, discussion guides and other resources from all four AAC 2019 webinars on our website.

September 10: A Place Where We Belong: Improving Conditions for Learning
August 8: Open Doors: Create a Healthy School Climate
May 16: Nurture Dreams: Ensure Students Feel Safe, Supported, Connected and Engaged
March 21: Lay a Foundation: Engage Families to Address Chronic Absence in the Early Years

Twitter Chat

Join our last two Twitter chats this month!

Thursday, September 12, 3-4pm ET, Attendance Awareness Month #PromiseChat cosponsored by America's Promise Alliance, FutureEd, and Attendance Works.
Thursday, September 19, 2-3pm ET, #MentorIRL Attendance Chat cosponsored by MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, SchoolHouse Connection, and Attendance Works.

Thanks to all who joined our chat co-sponsored by the Campaign for Grade-Level Reading, and Foundations, Inc. We tweeted about plans to reduce chronic absence at the start of the school year. Read our blog post about the chat.

New Partners!

This week we welcome our new AAC State Partner: Read On Arizona

Partner Spotlight

Since 1964, the Institute for Educational Leadership (IEL) --- a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization --- has been at the forefront of innovative efforts that bring together leaders across the various sectors of education (P-20), workforce development and child- and youth-serving systems. IEL builds partnerships across institutional boundaries, helping tackle leadership challenges and leverage the resources of multiple partners to foster reform.

IEL's new report, Taking It To the Next Level: Strengthening and Sustaining Family Engagement through Integrated, Systemic Practice takes a hard look at the ways in which districts are moving from disjointed activities to involving parents, to systemically integrated strategies designed to engage families and strengthen family-school partnerships. Learn more.

Corporate Attendance Sponsors

We want to send a big thank you to this year's Attendance Awareness Corporate Sponsors. Find out more on our webpage.

Attendance in the News

Millions of Students Are Chronically Absent Each Year. Improve School Conditions and More Kids Will Show Up, Report Argues , The74, September 10, 2019

'Conditions for learning' impact chronic absenteeism, Education Dive, September 10, 2019

Report shows role of classroom, community factors in improving student attendance, The Day, September 10, 2019

Spread the Word!

The new September Brief from @attendanceworks w. partners @AIRInforms @hamiltonproj @BrookingsInst demonstrates how chronic absence data can help schools develop a conducive learning environment for youth & teachers that encourages all students to come to #SchoolEveryDay https://www.attendanceworks.org/using-chronic-absence-data-to-improve-conditions-for-learning/

Join us today, September 12 for this month's #PromiseChat as we discuss how safe and supportive learning environments can improve attendance. #SchoolEveryDay
@AttendanceWorks @FutureEdGU #HowLearningHappens #EverySchoolHealthy

We'll be chatting on 9/19 about how a quality mentoring program can be a key component of district school efforts to improve #ChronicAbsenteeism for all youth, including those experiencing homelessness Join us @MENTORnational @SchoolHouseConn #MentorIRL #SchoolEveryDay

Campaign Convening Partners

See the full list of Attendance Awareness Campaign partners here.