Attendance: The most Important Support for Your Child's Education

• Chronic absenteeism is missing 10% or more of school for ANY reason – excused or unexcused. This equates with negative social and academic outcomes. It is one of the strongest indicators of dropout. ( 17+ days absent for the year= chronically absent)

• K and 1st students that are chronically absent have a 17% chance of meeting reading expectations by the end of 3rd grade

• Negative effects on the student (in and outside of school) – disrupted learning, missed experiences, conversations with peers, feeling of disconnectedness, don’t know school routines, work ethic impacted, grades drop, they begin to feel ‘stupid’ and like they don’t belong

• Negative effects on the class (other students and the teacher) – teacher difficulty meeting the learning needs due to missed instruction, group activities where the absent student can't participate effectively with their group because they don't know the content or context previously taught

• Negative effects on the parents and community – long term – they don't graduate, have lower self-esteem and end up not being able to contribute to society in a meaningful way, learned helplessness, dependency on the system to