In the November 10th issue, the Des Moines Register wrote several articles on school attendance. The articles hi-lighted several schools who have turned around their student attendance problems, and they also shared students' stories who are now making attendance to school a priority. I am sharing several pieces of information/research from the articles, and also including CMS's attendance data from the 1st semester.
Hi-lights from the article:
1. Absenteeism appears most prevalent in high poverty Iowa schools;
2. The Des Moines Register found 1 in 5 Des Moines high school students were chronically absent, missing 10% or more of the 2012-13 school year;
3. According to the Des Moines Register, in the Waterloo School District, 17% of all students missed 10% or more days of school;
4. Research shows that students who miss more than 10% days of school are more likely to struggle academically and have more potential to drop out;
5. Other research shows students who miss more than 10% of their kindergarten year are not likely to be proficient readers by the end of 3rd grade;
6. Poor attendance is a community matter because students who drop out of school can impact the amount of taxes the taxpayer pays.
CMS's 1st semester attendance data (Note: Students with 10 absences or fewer meet our attendance criteria):
1. 25% of our students had perfect attendance (93 students);
2. 97% of our students met our attendance policy of missing 10 days or fewer;
3. Class attendance percentages:
6th grade: 97.16% attendance rate;
7th grade: 97.21% attendance rate;
8th grade: 96.75% attendance rate.
As you can see from our attendance data, we are fortunate that our students and families make attending school a priority. We encourage you to continue making your child's attendance to school a priority as it is an important life-skill that will pay dividends not only for your child's education, but also beyond school.
Source: November 10, 2013, Des Moines Register.
