Attendance: A Key to Your Student’s Success

Your child’s success in school depends on having a solid educational background — one that can only be gained through regular school attendance.

Studies show that kids who are absent more often achieve less.  Being late for school hurts a child’s learning, too. A student who is 10 minutes late every day will miss 30 hours of instruction during the year.

Children can copy notes or make up an assignment, but they can never get back what’s most important: the activities, the questions, the explanations by the teacher and the thinking that makes learning come alive.

Poor attendance not only affects your child’s academic performance, but your school’s funding as well.  The State of California provides funding for schools based on how many children are actually in school each day, NOT based on how many are enrolled.  That means that every day your child is out of school, the school loses funding, whether the absence is excused or not.

Make good attendance a priority:

• Talk with your child about the importance of attending school regularly.
• Avoid scheduling family trips or doctor appointments during school hours.
• Make sure your child stays healthy by eating nutritious food and getting enough sleep and exercise.
• Don’t accept excuses for why your child “must” miss or be late for school.
• Support school rules and consequences for skipping class and being tardy.
• Lead by example. If children see parents taking off work for no real reason, they may expect to be able to do the same thing.

Research shows that attendance is the single most important factor in school success.

Adapted from The Parent Institute (2002)

For the Week Beginning 3/1/2010:

Yearly Summary: