In the October 6th issue of Ed.Week the article "Districts begin looking harder at absenteeism" brings to mind something that I have often thought was a big issue in how well students do in school already. I have often said that I believe one of the reasons I did not do well in math, as well as other subjects, was due to absenteeism. Math, because it builds upon itself is one subject that you can't miss too many days or you will quickly get behind...and I did. Going back to school as an adult, I ended up having to start at the bottom level in math and I am grateful because there were concepts that I had never understood fully and I believe it was due to missing school. In the article Miss Sparks said, "one of the strongest and most often overlooked indicators of a student's rick of becoming disengaged, failing courses and eventually dropping out of school is absenteeism". The article states that some of the causes of chronic absenteeism is illness due to asthma, missed buses, parents/students not realizing the importance/link between attendance and grades, and teachers who make learning boring (especially in high school). A report out of a Baltimore school district showed that students who were chronically absent scored 15 to 20 percentage points lower than those who attended on a regular basis. One high school student stressed to her peers that graduating from high school and college will give students a million more dollars than a student who does not...and that may make kids choose to attend more often.
Because I feel so strong about this issue I will be trying my very best to understand why any of the kids I teach might be missing school and do my best to help make it easier for them to come to school...legalities aside.
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