Plan an end-of-the-month celebration, rewarding students with good or improved attendance. See the resources in the Count Us In! toolkit.

Share Your Story about the Attendance Awareness Campaign on the Attendance Works website!

In Lake County, Illinois, the Regional Office of Education has kicked off the season by issuing a proclamation  declaring September Attendance Awareness Month. To promote the importance of good attendance, they are hosting community events and integrating attendance messaging into back-to-school events. Students can participate in the Lake County Attendance Week Competition for K-12 schools, culminating in the honoring of "attendance champions". Learn more about Lake County's Attendance Week!

Reavis High School in Burbank, Illinois is engaging their community to promote their "Every Student, Every Day!" attendance campaign. Local businesses and medical agencies throughout Burbank are prominently displaying posters encouraging students to stay in school. The school  has individual and grade level attendance rewards for students with incentives such as an end-of-year celebration. Learn more.

William James Middle School in Statesboro, Georgia is taking Attendance Awareness Month to new heights with a schoolwide attendance challenge. After 30 days of encouragement to come to school, the grade with the highest percentage of attendance during the month of September will win an award. 

Elm Street School of Mechanic Falls, Maine, is gearing up for their "Super Attendance Spirit Week," to promote attendance during September. Classes with excellent attendance get to place their photo on the "Attendance Shout Out Board." 

With so many states using chronic absenteeism in their accountability rubrics required by ESSA it's important to understand how to use the federal law's funding mechanisms to improve attendance. A blog post from FutureEd, with an accompanying table, lays out some of the options.

• Title I supports schools educating low-income students and school improvement efforts.
• Title II specifically mentions chronic absenteeism as a topic for in-service training.
• Title IV includes grants that can pay for improvements to health services, family engagement and school climate, as well as 21st Century Learning Centers and, Community Schools.

If improving attendance is a priority, join Get Schooled's 2018 Fall Attendance Challenge! Get Schooled has seen the Fall Attendance Challenge initiate a change in school culture and increase attendance as much as 10 percent. Schools can use the Challenge as a creative way to tackle issues around attendance, learn about the importance of setting goals and gain exposure to the free college access resources online. Schools can earn up to $2,000 in grants to use on special events and students can earn individual incentives through our rewards store. Check out Get Schooled's video.

Today is the day! You can still register for the final AAM webinar, Team Up for Attendance: Data Matters on 9/12, 11-12:30 pm (PT) / 2-3:30 pm (ET). Learn how to use chronic absence data to take action to identify and interrupt attendance barriers before students fall behind! Speakers will discuss the key findings of our September Brief, Data Matters: Using Chronic Absence to Accelerate Action for Student Success. Speakers will provide tips on using the interactive map created by The Hamilton Project at The Brookings Institution, and discuss the implications of this data for state legislators, community school initiatives and health providers.  Register Now!

We've posted the PowerPoint presentation and recordings of Leadership Matters, (3/28), working Together Matters (5/8), Community Matters (8/15). Find them on our website .

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Under #ESSA the vast majority of states (36 plus D.C.) adopted a chronic absence school accountability metric in their state plans. How can schools reduce chronic absence? Find out: bit.ly/1oqfID7 #SchoolEveryDay