Attendance Awareness Month takes place all through September and is an incredible opportunity to build awareness in our schools and community about how critical attendance is to the academic development and success of our students.
“Study after study has shown that there are direct and substantive links between a student’s attendance and their literacy and graduation rates. Missing only a handful of days in a school year can cause huge academic problems for our students. Starting as early as kindergarten or even preschool, chronic absence predicts lower 3rd grade reading scores. By middle school, it’s a warning sign that students will fail key classes and drop out of high school,” said Dr. Noris Price, Superintendent of the Baldwin County School District.
Chronic absence is described as missing 10 percent of the school year—or about 18 days – for any reason, excused or unexcused. Research shows this is the point at which absenteeism begins to affect student performance. Student attendance should matter to all of us, not just those with school-age children. When more of our students graduate on time, our communities and our economy are stronger. We also have more people who are prepared for the workplace and more engaged in our community’s civic life.