Disconnect

   It has been almost two weeks since I have seen my student. We are in the midst of public school break, and we will only have one day to meet before my spring break starts too. It feels as if there is some disconnect. My student, whom Im supposed to be tutoring and learning from seems farther away than normal. I feel like I have missed so much, in the span of two weeks. And when we meet again this Friday, I know I'm going to be so lost, because projects and assignments are ever changing.
   If I feel lost, and I don't even have assignments to do, I can only imagine how the absence of a high school student affects their learning. What is absence doing to our students?
   Growing up, I NEVER missed school. Actually, I was the rare type who hated missing school, for fear of missing something important. Do our students have this same outlook? or was I just an odd one.
      I am not sure how many days out of the week, my student attends school, but every Tuesday and Friday morning when I am there, he is there. While absence might not affect my student directly, it's a topic that I feel I should make an effort to know a little more about.
     John Hopkins School of Education in partnership with Center for Social Organization of Schools, did a case study on Chronic Absenteeism in the United States. This study focused on 6 key states including, Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska and Rhode Island as key points of data.
     The case study defines Chronic Absenteeism as missing 10% of the entire school year; or 18 or more days. "The six states reported chronic absentee rates from 6 percent to 23 percent, with high poverty urban areas reporting up to one-third of students chronically absent."
     This study suggests that high Chronic Absenteeism is most prominently found with low-income students; and is not based on gender or race, but simply socio-economic status. The students who need school the most are the ones who absent. The case sums this up perfectly by saying,
       "Because students reared in poverty benefit the most from being in school, one of the most effective strategies for providing pathways out of poverty is to do what it takes to get these students in school every day. This alone, even without improvements in the American education system, will drive up achievement, high school graduation, and college attainment rates." 
     Missing school matters because school is an opportunity for students to thrive despite the odds that have been put against them, no one can take away your knowledge and that is why school is so important. 
       The study suggests that 5-7.5 million American students enrolled in public schools are not attending school regularly each year. The study concludes by reiterating that there is a strong correlation between absenteeism and academic achievement. To tie into this, poverty is also a huge factor in chronic absenteeism. The study ends with saying that the most effective way to close the achievement gap, "will be a concerted effort to enable and ensure that high-poverty students  attend school regularly from pre-k to grade 12."
     While this does sound like a lot to ask, I know it is not entirely impossible. The study suggest a few ways that schools have done this, but on that struck me was the simple idea of rewarding good attendance. It sounds silly, and it may not have a initial affect,  but rather one over time, but doesn't that makes sense. Students like to be recognized for their successes, and attendance should be one of these because it is something that is very important and crucial to our students overall achievement.
    I'm not sure if this is a problem that can be solved right away but with engaged teachers and administrators it can be a problem that is easily  fixed. I am eager to see how the future education system changes and whether or not absenteeism will be taken seriously in our schools that are struggling with chronic absenteeism.


Link to the study:  http://new.every1graduates.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/FINALChronicAbsenteeismReport_May16.pdf