We’re just about halfway through the school year and it’s easy with the colder, drearier weather to let our attendance slip but attendance to school is an important part of our success in school.
Student attendance is impacted by many factors and have different strains on student achievements. Students and faculty at Kenwood are equally affected by the decline in attendance. We have seen these impacts over the past few years. “It is a consistent goal for the school’s community to find ways to encourage daily attendance for all students,” shares Kenwood’s attendance administrator, Ms. Lee.
Chronic absenteeism in school is a problem across the country. “As schools battle heightened levels of chronic absenteeism, researchers say the way they talk about attendance can affect students’ and families’ efforts to turn around patterns of missed school days,” states Evie Blad of Education Week.
Sometimes lack of attendance isn’t just for the school day but for a particular class. Students may not show up to classes they feel aren’t important for their intended future. One student mentions, “people want to be cool and do what everyone else does.” However, skipping classes can result in disciplinary action that requires students to stay after school or come to Saturday school.
Not attending class often equals not succeeding in class which in turn at the high school level puts students are risk of not being on track to graduate on time. Ms. Lee adds, “There is a correlation between attendance and student achievement. The more instructional time a student engages in, the more likely they engage in opportunities to achieve mastery.”
A way Kenwood has tried to motivate students to be present in their classes is by offering opportunities to get prizes. “…students achieving perfect attendance or improvement earn opportunities to participate in positive incentives, such as tickets to sporting events donated by community partners, special school events, or even Kenwood Swag!” shares Ms. Lee.
At the start of second quarter students with a 95% or higher attendance rate have received a free Kenwood t-shirt. In which many students have happily worn in the weeks following. This strategy of offering prizes to win can encourage students to be a part of the school community just by simply showing up and being present at school.
Some students feel some of their peers are too negatively influenced in believing school is not important whether that’s from their peers, family, or social media. “Some realize too late that they should have cared about school and attended from the beginning before they ended up trying to recover their credits to graduate by attending night school and sitting in freshmen classes as a senior,” shared one student.
An increase in school attendance at Kenwood High does not only positively impact the student but everyone in the community. “Increased school attendance will benefit the entire school community. Lower chronic absenteeism will boost academic achievement, leading to a higher graduation rate and ultimately improving our school community. It will have a domino effect on everything around us!” shares Ms. Lee
With a new year upon us to make positive changes and a new semester on the horizon, there’s no better time than now to make the goal to attend school more consistently to raise those academic achievements.
