September is Attendance Awareness Month

Click here for RISD attendance information

Academic growth, better test scores, and higher graduation rates all hinge on attendance, especially in the early grades. There is a direct correlation between attendance and graduation. By freshman year, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than eighth-grade test scores. Students who miss between five and nine days a semester are 25% less likely to graduate in four years.

Possible Strategies to Help Your Child Reach Attendance Goals

  • Make school attendance a priority.
  • Set a time for your student to go to bed, wake up, have a healthy breakfast and get to school on time.
  • When your student is absent, upload a note into your FOCUS parent portal or send a note or an email to your school attendance clerk.
  • Visit your student’s school and get involved and volunteer.
  • Get to know the principal, teachers, attendance clerks and your student’s friends.
  • Attend parent conferences, meet the teacher night and open house.
  • Understand the difference between an excused and unexcused absences.
  • Contact your student’s teachers and inquire about the ABC’s of school:  Attendance, Behavior and Classes.
  • Ensure students have the supplies, uniforms and equipment needed for the school day.

All of these anti-truancy parent tips can help your child have a positive school attendance year.

absences add up

Missing a day of school here and there may not seem like much, but absences add up.

When a student misses two days each month, they will miss 20 days a year. That means the student missed 30 hours of math instruction over the year; 60 hours of reading and writing; and may miss up to a full year worth of class time over the course of a K-12 academic career. When a student misses four days each month, they will miss 40 days a year. That means the student missed 60 hours of math instruction over the year; 120 hours of reading and writing; and may miss up to two full years worth of class time by graduation.

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