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School Attendance: Issues to Consider

Page 2 of 2
By GreatSchools Staff
 

How can schools increase their attendance rate?

According to the National Center for Student Engagement, schools are most effective in achieving high attendance rates when parents, school leaders and community members work together to focus on reducing absences and truancy, and keeping kids in schools. The center's Web site provides 10 tips for schools and communities to improve their attendance rates. Among them:

  • Make the school a place where parents and students feel welcome.
  • Forge a relationship with local law enforcement and make them allies in showing the community, family and students that school is the place to be.
  • Forge a relationship with local businesses so that they cooperate in encouraging students to go to school and not congregate at businesses during school hours.
  • Call parents - not an answering machine - when their children are not in school to let them know the school is concerned.
  • Talk to students about why they were gone and let them know they were missed.

What other factors should you consider when evaluating your school?

The attendance rate is just one factor to consider when sizing up your school. You'll want to look at the test scores, student-teacher ratio, Parent Reviews and other data that you can find on GreatSchools.org. You'll also want to find out more about the school climate, quality of school leadership, parent involvement and other factors that aren't apparent from school data.

Questions Parents Should Ask

If you are concerned about the attendance rate at your school, here are some questions you might ask your principal and your school site council:

  • Does the school provide a welcoming atmosphere for students and parents?
  • Do students feel safe at school?
  • What actions does the school take to follow up on students who are absent?
  • Do teachers call parents when students are frequently absent?
  • Does the school know why students are absent? The school cannot address the problem if administrators don't understand the causes.
  • Has the school taken steps to forge a positive relationship with local law enforcement, business and community members to work together to encourage students to come to school?
  • Does the school reward students for good attendance?
  • What can parents do to help the school encourage all students to attend?
 
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Comments from GreatSchools.org readers

08/18/2009:
"What about students who are absent due to health issues? That is certainly beyond their control,and I somehow doubt it really effects their fellow peers.This does not mean for a fact they will be more prone to jail and crime either. I'am also tired of the school asking for so much money for everything,and most of it is for crap that doesn't even help the kids learn."
03/2/2009:
"I think every child should come to school for a better education and should learn more about there school and environment.They should be able to prticeapate in class work so they would be 1 of those people in the streeth layin on the sidewalk nor sleepin there.This is recastiontime and they want parents to pay for field trips but we can't be payin for it cause prizes are high and people is losin there job and we can not be able to pay for these things any more.so my advis is that u guyz should cut the school time down now."
12/17/2008:
"What is the mobility rate?"
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