{"id":3717,"date":"2023-12-06T09:08:34","date_gmt":"2023-12-06T09:08:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolstatus18.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=3717"},"modified":"2024-10-16T23:29:59","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T23:29:59","slug":"the-new-normal-in-school-attendance-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.schoolstatus.com\/blog\/the-new-normal-in-school-attendance-part-3","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cNew Normal\u201d in School Attendance: Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Real Cost of Excessive Absences<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It is time for Local Education Agencies (LEAs) to take action to address the attendance crisis and improve academic achievement. With the number of staffing shortages and declining resources\u2014coupled with increased student social and emotional learning needs\u2014most LEAs are strapped to provide the support needed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In school districts with large percentages of Emergent Bilingual students, we quickly learned that we had to do more to maintain family engagement, as many families struggled to meet daily needs and were unavailable during the times that schools schedule events for families. To address this disjoint and work to level the playing field, it became evident that we need to communicate more directly to families in their primary language with materials that are engaging to both the adult and student.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SchoolStatus Connect<\/a><\/strong> helps schools encourage stronger engagements with families via a centralized communication hub for all channels\u2014SMS, portal, email, and phone. 2-way conversations are automatically translated into the family\u2019s preferred language. Plus, it\u2019s easy to see communication history throughout each student\u2019s time in the district. SchoolStatus Connect also offers alternatives on the portal so families can choose how<\/em>, where, and in what language<\/em> they want to receive messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Title I (“Title One”)<\/a>, which is a provision of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed in 1965 under President Lyndon Baines Johnson, is a program created by the U.S. Department of Education to distribute funding to schools and school districts with a high percentage of students from low-income families. The intention is to create programs that better serve children who, without funding, could not be properly supported. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billions of dollars are provided through Title I with the goal of equitably providing resources to all students and families. In Title I, there is a requirement that 10% of the funds be spent on family education and engagement. This specification was enacted because it was clear that the school alone cannot change the course for a student. The family needs to be involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Families and teachers alike consider communications between home and school<\/a> to be the number one factor in building mutual trust and investment in a student’s ongoing progress. By fostering relationships between schools and families, we can encourage engagement and inclusion in the larger community. When educators and families work together, students benefit exponentially.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Involvement does not have to be physical for families to be trained and provided support, which is a foundation of why the SchoolStatus approach is reaching the home and working to restore attendance habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once we build more equitable communication habits, we can think about tackling absenteeism together. To plan for school years in the future, we can think about these facts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n