Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/attendance/)
About a dozen pieces of important education-related legislation — spanning topics such as school discipline, high school graduation requirements, student health and teacher licenses — await action from Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The spike in chronic truancy and absenteeism that CPS elementary schools experienced in the 2012-2013 school year was somewhat reversed last year, new preliminary data show. But welcoming schools that took in most of the children displaced by school closings on average saw a slight increase in chronic truancy and held steady when it came to chronic absences.
Like many recent CPS strategies, data plays a big part in the district’s draft plan to reduce chronic absenteeism and absences. School administrators now receive monthly data reports that allow them to flag students who are off track early.
One of the most important factors that’s keeping many of Chicago’s youngest children from learning is poor attendance. On Wednesday, educators, parents and community organizers talked about how to address the problem during a special forum that’s part of our Catalyst Conversations series.
More children were chronically truant or absent at three of every four elementary schools in the 2012-2013 school year, compared to just two years earlier, according to district data obtained by Catalyst Chicago.
The city has a stake in improving education as well as a responsibility to heal broken communities. The locus and hiring responsibility for community outreach workers should be the alderman’s office. Aldermen know their communities, their schools, their community organizations–and what city services are available.
Even as CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has pledged to find ways to reduce chronic truancy and absenteeism in Chicago Public Schools, her administration is quietly grappling with the fact that the problem is getting worse in the elementary grades.
Minor improvements in attendance, on-track rates and grade-point averages among students from closed schools were touted Wednesday and proved enough to please CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and board members.
Schools, social service agencies, government agencies and other outside institutions can “get on the same page” to help children succeed in school by focusing on tracking key indicators that lead to higher achievement such as attendance and grades. Speakers at this year’s first Chicago School Policy Forum on Feb.
A large number of children in Chicago Public Schools preschools are chronically absent, a new study by the University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research has found.
Nearly half of 3-year-olds and more than a third of 4-year-olds missed at least 15 days during the school year. African-American students were almost twice as likely as others to be chronically absent.