School districts across Kent ISD are teaming together to deliver a common message to all students, to their families and the community at large: Strive for Less Than 5 days absent.
You should soon be seeing yard signs, posters and this Strive for Less Than 5 video to spread the message that students who miss five or fewer days of school a year perform better than those who miss school on a regular basis.
The data for students who are chronically absent is clear: Students who miss more than 10 percent of school time, just two days a month, are far less likely to be proficient than their peers who regularly attend school.
Across Kent ISD, approximately 13 percent of students are chronically absent. Like the national studies, the prevalence of chronic absenteeism varies widely from school building to building and district to district but, in virtually every instance, it is greater in buildings and communities serving the economically disadvantaged.
The effects of chronic absenteeism are profound. Kent ISD researcher Sunil Joy found these students are much less likely to become proficient in math or reading. Just one in four are likely to be proficient in math at eighth grade. Worse, low-income students who are chronically absent have just a 10 percent chance of being proficient. Even more startling is the effect on African-American students, with just 3 percent likely to be proficient if they are chronically absent.
While truancy is well known and understood, chronic absenteeism is less familiar, as most absences are excused by parents and, until recently, were rarely challenged by educators. That began to change approximately a decade ago through the work of education researcher Hedy Chang, who is now the executive director of Attendance Works, a national nonprofit seeking to help schools and communities combat chronic absenteeism.
Chang’s research led to the publication in 2008 of “Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades.” This report revealed that one in 10 kindergarten and first-grade students nationwide miss nearly a month of school each year. In some cities, the rate is as high as one in four elementary students. Research across Kent ISD reveals just 40 percent of chronically absent children in kindergarten through second-grade are proficient on third-grade reading tests. Those numbers fall to just 20 percent for low-income students and 10 percent for African Americans.
Our districts are working hard to get at this problem. The 40 school buildings within the Kent School Services Network have a laser focus on addressing the barriers to attendance for students. The value of the Strive for Less Than 5 campaign is its uniform message to all children, families and community partners. Attendance is important, and parents and their children should strive for fewer than five absences a year.
Want to introduce “Strive for Less Than Five” to your school?
Additional data and resources
This blog post was written by Ron Koehler, Assistant Superintendent of Organizational and Community Initiatives and Legislative Affairs at Kent ISD and edited by Amanda Walma, Professional Development Coordinator at Kent ISD.
Leave a Reply