You don't learn much if you are not in school

 You don’t learn much if you are not in school

 

Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has increased from 1 in every 6 students to 1 in every 3 students.   And overall absentee rates remain higher than before the pandemic.  Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more that 10% of the school year regardless of the reason.

How many of us would keep our jobs if we missed 10% of the work year in addition to holidays.

Fact: students with higher absentee rates have lower achievement.   So it doesn’t matter if you missed school because you were ill, went on a family vacation, needed a mental health day or just didn’t feel like coming to school.

According to reports 16% of Asian students, 24% of white students, 36% of Hispanic students and 39% of African American students were chronically absent.  Reverse this list and you have rankings of the lowest achieving students in our schools. 

School is a kid’s job.  So besides not learning we are teaching our children that it’s perfectly ok to miss one’s job for whatever reason that comes up.  

Fourteen states have joined an effort to cut down on absenteeism.  

The plan is going to begin with a worksheet given to teachers to try to figure out why a child is chronically absent so that the root causes of the absence can be addressed. 

The worksheet includes these questions:  Has the child been struggling academically? Does the student have language or communication issues?  Have there been any reports of bullying? Do parents and/or guardians recognize the importance of school attendance and do they support getting their children to school?

The Maryland State Board of Education is on the cusp of enacting a policy that will put into place some serious interventions to get students to read on grade level by the time the students finish 3^rd grade.   Interventions include grade retention, intensive after school and summer tutoring.  

Here’s the deal.   If a child is not in school, all the interventions in the world aren’t going to work.  School matters, now and in the future when the child is an adult and trying to get and keep a job.