School Attendance Programs – How to Reduce Absenteeism

The attendance rate of a student is a prime determinant of how well a school can influence a student’s learning. This is why school attendance programs are essential to producing students of the highest standards. This article will talk about ways on how to further reduce student absenteeism and ensure that they have a bright secure future after graduation.

The first step to learn in school is obviously to be in school in the first place. This is however not the case as chronic absenteeism is still seen as a prevalent threat. Students who have poor attendance rate which is gauged as having missed at least ten percent of a school year are at grave risk of being left behind by his or her peers. It has been seen that chronic absenteeism is indeed affecting at a rate among high school students, however what is less known is that the problem encroaches more widely among the earlier stages as in grade school. This is extremely unfortunate since in these years, the learning can be quite vital especially in promoting a child’s ability to mature socially and emotionally. Absenteeism can also become the reason why children will not be able to reach some key milestones in their academics. This milestones can include important abilities such as reading, which should be mastered by the end of third grade. These events are important and will be a powerful indicator for how the student does in more advanced classes. And most importantly absenteeism is the prime reason why students achieve low academic grades which is evident on every year level. And finally, the same strong indication will cause these students to drop out or at the very least put them at a higher risk of doing so.

According to state authorities, many studies have concluded that the primary causes of chronic absenteeism are, in fact, as varied as most of the challenges that the students and their families would have to face. Even though the school administrations have not been able to adequately address these factors that causes the plummeting of student attendance, there are signs where we see some support to these students. This is absolutely vital because these students have become at risk of, not just missing out on classes, but as well as missing out on vital social interactions.

There are some ways that educators can assist in preventing chronic absences all the while making the school a place where students can become what they want to be.

Provide School Attendance Programs

Some students, especially those considered as troubled, may require additional an additional support system. The school has to designate a person or form a team whose task will be to greet the students as they come to school. This will make it easier for the students to be able to ask any of the school staff for assistance whenever they arrive to school in a terrible predicament. Create a team that will help recommend identified students that require interventions. These are the ones who are chronically absent and may also have lagged behind in instructional time because of an out-of-school or in-school suspension. Have extra set of uniforms and enough school supplies to be made available to these students. Because they this might be the reason that they are missing school in the first place. You should also be in deep conversation with the immediate guardians so as to ensure that you understand their situation.

A proactive mindset have to be adapted, so schools will be able to identify specific student needs and find a way to address them at an earlier time so as to avoid any chronic absenteeism onset. When the students begin to show signs of improvement in attendance rates, they will have more free time to spend on learning. All these efforts are intended to improve the chances of students to graduate and in future success when they go to college and further in their careers. School attendance programs are geared towards creating a viable system that can be tackled one day at a time.

Celebrate School Attendance Program Successes

When the school attendance program is put in place, it is vital to keep telling the school’s constituents about the progress that the program has been able to achieve towards the reduction of absenteeism. This means keeping an open communication line to the teachers of the school, the school staff and, of course, the students and their families. These celebrations should be done in a timely manner wherein ceremonies such as those that will celebrate an individual student’s achievement, a whole class’s, and even a school-wide success. This will ensure that the momentum will keep on going.

Monitor the Progress of the Program

To ensure that the program will make most of the time of the school leaders and teachers time, a single system has to be provided which is intended for tracking tardies, daily attendance, school behavior, and most importantly the culture data exhibited by the school. By having, for instance, an app installed on the phones of key personnel or a browser-based platform, which deviates from the old paper-based norm or having disjointed systems, the teachers will be afforded extra  time which they would otherwise have to splurge on the extra program. For instance, by using specific apps that can track culture systems of schools, these teachers will be able to easily get the attendance rates, and they will be able to record and ensure that the behaviors they envision will be monitored. With having the information put in a single place, it also becomes much more easier for them to analyze and react accordingly according to the data that the app has gathered from an individual to the entire school level. Given that the immediate data is available to the , educational leaders, they can decide to conduct any maneuvers geared towards culture reviews which will ideally reveal any of the underlying reasons for the chronic absenteeism problem.

Ensure a Positive Environment

Quite simply, the simplest reason or even the best way for schools to curb the chronic absenteeism problem is by ensuring that the school is, in fact, a place wherein students will be excited to come to everyday. In an environment where a student will be happy and feel safe, both in a physical and emotional way, they will be able to engage the school’s activities in a positive manner. Such actions will not only lead to a better attendance rate but also a better academic achievement. You have to create an engaging culture that features events meant to motivate the students that arrive in school. And they should be able to be part of the educational experiences  and fun. A consistent school and even a district wide cultural expectation should be implemented in order to assist the teachers in keeping the students up to task and to make sure that they are acting in a positive way. School attendance programs, emotional and social learning, and some other programs oriented to culture are some ways to achieve this. The ultimate goal will then be to create incentives that are based on goals that are set by both the students and the school administration. This will motivate them to come to school and display student behavior that will affect their demeanor in a positive way. The bottom line will cause students in achieving the positive emotional and social character that they are trying to develop. And, ultimately, they should be able to create their own environment where they will be able to feel that they are engaged to the activities and feel a connection to the other students that they can learn with.

Track the Progress

A lot of schools established systems so they can input any discipline infractions. This usually means that they will be using these behaviors to track negative behaviors. When negative reinforcement is used, for instance a reprimand of verbal nature for each problem behavior, then it can stick longer. As with students, it may take a lot more of reinforcement in a positive way to make sure to get the child on track. A three to one ratio where negative behavior reinforcement is done more often is said to be the standard in applying both incentives and incentives. For instance, the school can choose to establish school-wide expectations where a teacher will be able to acknowledge or give recognition to some students behaviors before the school decides to point out a single negative behavior. This way, it can help the school to ensure that the focus is will be largely positive. It can then assist them in making stronger bonds with the students.

Establishing school attendance programs is not always easy given the scope of factors that can affect a student’s ability to go to school. To make sure that the effort will not go in vain, it is important to keep reminding the students about the benefits of staying in school. No program does better to keep students in school than when the students themselves know exactly what is at stake.