Schools across the country are focused on improving standardized test scores as a measure of student achievement and school success. But when it comes to measuring what factors best predict high school graduation and college enrollment, other factors stand out: grades and attendance. Looking Forward to College and High School, a new study by the University of Chicago Consortium of Chicago School Research (CCSR), found that grades and attendance also matter more than race, poverty or other demographic characteristics.

“Test scores are very good at predicting future test scores but not as strongly predictive of other outcomes we care about, like whether students will struggle or succeed in high school coursework or graduate from college,” said UChicago CCSR Lewis-Sebring Director Elaine Allensworth, the lead author of the report, said in a statement.

via In Middle School, Grades and Attendances Matter « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

We know that health issues–whether asthma, dental problems or depression–can contribute to school absenteeism. A new report issued today in Oregon discusses how the converse is true: Absenteeism contributes to lower educational success, which predicts a life time of bad health.

The Connection Between Missing School and Health by Upstream Public Health looks “upstream” at factors in communities, at home, and at schools that lead to chronic absenteeism.

The report reviews data and research on student absences – finding that unexpected factors such as unstable housing, fear of bullying, and punitive school discipline policies as well as health conditions such as hunger, dental pain, respiratory illness, and depression contribute to absenteeism.

via Chronic Absenteeism as a Public Health Issue « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

This guest post by Erik Peterson of the Afterschool Alliance was originally posted on the Afternoon Snack Blog.

A recent study conducted by researchers out of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and published in the journal Pediatrics concluded that elementary school students who exercised for about an hour a day in an afterschool program had better brain function and were more focused than students who did not engage in much physical activity.

Researchers conducting the nine-month study of 7- to 9-year-olds randomly assigned 221 students to either a structured afterschool program with a strong physical activity component, or assigned them to a wait list for the program. Children in both groups were tested before and after the study period on a series of cognitive and executive control tasks such as memory, multitasking, and ability to resist distractions while focusing on a specific task, in addition to physical fitness assessments.

via Afterschool program & activity boost school attendance, cogntive skills « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

California state leaders—including lawmakers and education, human services, law enforcement and judicial chiefs–gathered in Sacramento last Thursday to recognize Attendance Awareness Month and launch an interagency effort to combat chronic absence. A report released Friday underscored the extent of the problem in the nation’s largest state.

In Sacramento, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson, Secretary of Health and Human Services Diana S. Dooley, Assemblymember Shirley Weber, Superior Court Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie and Special Assistant Attorney General Jill E. Habig each committed to address chronic absenteeism in their own arena.

via California leaders, new report call for better tracking of chronic absence « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

This blog post by Attendance Works Director Hedy Chang was originally published on the California School Board Association’s blog.

Do you know why the Local Control Funding Formula holds districts accountable for monitoring chronic absence? It is because investments in improving curriculum and instruction, including adoption of the Common Core – only make a difference if students are in the classroom. Chronic absence, missing 10% or more of school for any reason, as early as prekindergarten and kindergarten is associated with lower third grade reading scores. By sixth grade it becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school. In ninth grade, it’s a stronger indicator of dropout than eighth grade test scores. Low-income students, who don’t have the resources to make up for time lost in classroom instruction, are especially hard hit.

via Reducing Chronic Absence in California « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

Who is helping send the message that going to school every day matters? Beyond educators and administrators, are pediatricians involved? Your Mayor? National Service members? Local community schools initiatives?

Our We Need You! webinar on Wednesday featured a lively discussion about how allies from all sectors of the community can come together to make sure more students attend school every day. You can review the tape or see the Powerpoint deck here.

Dr. Mandy Allison of the American Academy of Pediatrics told participants how family doctors can ask about attendance during regular check ups, help parents decide when their child is too sick for school and coordinate with school personnel to help chronically ill students. Doctors know that healthy children are more engaged in school and perform better academically. And they know that school success lays the foundation for being successful adults who have better health in the long term.

via Who Can Help Improve School Attendance? « Attendance Works Attendance Works.

Do you have a school in your district that is beating the odds, recording higher attendance rates than schools with similar student populations? If so, do you know why?

Chronic absence data not only can reveal the scope of attendance problems but also pinpoint the schools with the practices and leadership that are making a difference.

Our new toolkit, What Works in Our Community, will help you look beyond the numbers and find out how these positive outliers are bringing more kids to school every day.

via New Toolkit Helps Districts Identify What Works « Attendance Works.

During Attendance Awareness Month, we’ll be running several guest blogs from allies who are working to improve school attendance and student achievement. Windy Lopez, Director of Community Affairs for Scholastic, contributed this post about the extraordinary work going on in Gainesville, Georgia. The blog post originally appeared on Scholastic’s blog Frizzle.

How can students benefit from effective classroom teaching if they are chronically late and often not in the classroom at all? Research continues to demonstrate the direct correlation between academic achievement and school attendance as well as how excessive absence in the elementary years leads to truancy and school dropout in middle and high school.

via A Framework for Learning Leads to Better Attendance & Achievement « Attendance Works.

With as many as 7.5 million U.S. students missing nearly a month of school each year, state education leaders have begun mining attendance data to find out how many students and schools are at risk academically and how to turn around absenteeism, according to a report released today by Attendance Works.

For as long as teachers have taken the roll, schools have recorded attendance data. But most schools and districts treat monitoring absenteeism as a matter of compliance with compulsory education laws rather than a key data point that serves as a red flag that a student or school is headed off track academically.

via The Attendance Imperative: State Policy and Chronic Absence « Attendance Works.

Recognizing the importance of good attendance from Day 1, Get Schooled and Viacom will support students and families by encouraging them to get to school “all day every day” during Attendance Awareness Month.

From Sept. 3 – 20, Get Schooled will hold a competition open to all middle and high school students. Students will be required to check-in at their school on https://getschooled.com/about/challenges/check-in-with-your-crew via desktop or phone.

via Attendance Contest Allows Middle, High School Students to “Check In” « Attendance Works.