Consistent school attendance is vital for a student’s performance. However, it is estimated that during the 2015 to 2016 school year, over 7 million students were recorded to have chronic absenteeism. Such chronic absenteeism data on student attendance should worry parents, teachers, and the Department of Education.
Chronically absent students will potentially miss out on opportunities to learn and be at risk of falling behind when others seem to be moving along swiftly. That is not all; irregular school attendance has also been linked to social disengagement, feeling alienated, and sometimes mental health issues https://www.healthcanal.com/coupon/betterhelp-promo-code.
We look more at what it means by chronic absenteeism, its impact, and which strategies can be used to remedy the situation.
What are Chronic Absenteeism and The Impact of it?
Education experts state that chronic absenteeism is when the student absences from school are 10% or more in a school year. There can be other definitions, with some claiming that if a student misses one month of the school year cumulatively or even two weeks consecutively. Whichever the case, there is a need for proper analysis of chronic absenteeism rate in middle school or high school students to understand the issue fully.
As part of measuring the chronic absenteeism rates, there was the introduction of the Every Student Suceeds Act (ESSA) in 2015. This is the successor to the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002.
ESSA requires that states show reports on specific indicators that help measure academic achievement, student success, and school quality in different school districts. The experts recommend adopting chronic absenteeism in the reports to measure student success and school quality.
Being chronically absent often has long-term and short-term effects on the student. Most of the time, the effect is on academic achievement, graduation rates, and future absences. Research shows that students who are chronically absent as early as kindergarten can have problems with reading and mathematics.
Also, students who are chronically absent at the elementary school have a high likelihood of dropping out of school, even if their attendance can improve over time. Another thing is that students from low-income families are most vulnerable to chronic absenteeism.
Well, being chronically absent may also affect the achievement of classmates and not just the student who is missing school. When you see such effects, it becomes clear that chronic absenteeism needs to be taken seriously and recommended solutions applied.
Addressing Chronic Absenteeism: Strategies for Improvement
Missing school once or twice a semester is not the worst thing, as you can always catch up. However, if you miss until it is considered chronically absent, then it becomes a problem. Your academic success likely suffers. In such a case, it is best to see which strategies can work to remedy the situation.
Talk about the importance of school attendance
The school personnel, including teachers, must talk to the students and their families so that they know the importance of consistent school attendance. It could be through face-to-face meetings, the school website, or the student handbook.
If students miss school more often, let the parents know how this affects their grades and may lead to future absenteeism.
Have an attendance tracking system
Let the school devise a way of tracking the students’ attendance. A good example is having student groups, each with a leader. If any student in the student group is missing, they can inform the teacher in charge to track him down. Also, parents should notify the school in advance if a student has to miss school for a particular reason.
Intervene before it gets worse
With such an idea in mind, it is easier to identify students who might be missing a lot and find ways to get them back to school. Home visits can be arranged to determine why the student is chronically absent and if there is anything those in charge can do to help. If tuition is the issue, sometimes schools have mitigation measures in place. If it is a mental health issue, the school counselor can also help the children get back to school.
Have a more positive school culture
Whether it is Asian students, black students, or white students, there is a need for all of them to have a school they are excited to be at. So, if the school environment is a place that appeals to their emotional and physical needs, such students end up performing better in academics and will have no problem attending school.
The school management can try to gather information about what the students would like to see in their school. It can be fun activities such as sports and other events that involve students, making them want to be in school rather than miss it.
Conclusion
Chronic absence can be due to many things, both at home and school. It can be surprising that even those in the first grade can end up with chronic absenteeism. Unless the source of the absenteeism is understood, it becomes hard to help such students. We have looked at the ideas above on how to prevent chronic absenteeism, make sure to follow up on other measures to help keep the students in school.