September is School Attendance Awareness Month!

Regular attendance in the early grades boosts children’s learning, achievement and motivation.

Attendance is so important that North Carolina just adopted a standard definition of chronic absence to ensure we have good data to drive policy and practice. Chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent of enrolled school days within one academic year for any reason. 

When communities come together, they can reduce chronic absence.

National Attendance Awareness Month in September is the perfect time to shine a spotlight on the importance of regular school attendance, especially its relationship to third grade reading success, and work cooperatively with school districts and schools to improve school attendance. School Attendance Awareness Month is habit forming! Preschoolers seated on a rug, raising their hands.

The new AttendaNCe Counts Community Toolkit from the NC Early Childhood Foundation (NCECF) can get you started. It includes:

  • Chronic Absence in North Carolina Fact Sheet
  • AttendaNCe Counts Issue Brief Updated 2018
  • An Attendance Awareness Month Proclamation for Superintendents
  • Social media tools to get the word out about Attendance Awareness Month and why attendance counts.

By signing the proclamation, superintendents are showing their commitment to reducing chronic absence in their districts. Superintendents across the country are increasing attendance by recognizing good and improved attendance, engaging students and families, monitoring attendance data and practice, providing personalized early outreach as needed, and developing systemic responses to attendance barriers.

In September, NCECF will release a new report that analyzes district policies on regular attendance. The report is based on self-assessment survey responses from North Carolina school districts. NCECF will also highlight bright spots in new case studies of NC school districts and schools focused on increasing school attendance.

Remember, AttendaNCe Counts – show your support this School Attendance Awareness Month!

#schooleveryday  #AttendaNCeCounts  #bthru8pathways

DOWNLOADS:

Courtesy of NC Early Childhood Foundation. Read more at www.buildthefoundation.org.

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