School Attendance Matters
This page explains why daily attendance is the key to a student’s success in education.
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It is OK for a child to be absent from school when they are sick. However, too many absences can harm a child’s education. Building good habits in the early years is a major contributor to a child’s success.
Attendance Matters Facts:
- Parents, especially in the early years of a child’s life, are best positioned to ensure children attend school and to build expectation around attendance.
- Too many absences – excused or unexcused – can keep students from succeeding in school and in life.
- A student who is chronically absent in high school is 7.4 times more likely to drop out.
- Missing 10% of school days, just 2 days each month, can put children at risk of academic failure.
When Your Child is Absent, Please Do the Following:
- Call the school to report the absence.
- Send a note to the teacher explaining the reason for the absence.
- If you take your child to the doctor because of illness, get a note and provide the note to the school. The doctor’s note will explain the absence, but it will not excuse the absence.
- Check to see if there is any work your son/daughter could do at home to make up any time that was missed.
- Ask your school if there are any other steps you must take.
How to Help Your Child Develop Routines to Get to School On Time:
- Set a regular bed time and morning.
- Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
- Breakfast is served at school everyday. If children eat a good breakfast, they are ready to learn.
- Talk to children about the importance of school.
- Ask children what they did at school each day and make it a positive detailed conversation.
- Don’t let your child stay home unless he/she is truly sick.
- If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school adjustment counselors or other parents for advice on how to make him/her feel comfortable and excited about learning.
- Develop back-up plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor or another parent.
- Avoid medical appointments and extended trips when school is in session.
School Attendance Guidelines:
Here is a summary of the Worcester Public Schools’ attendance guidelines, which are based on Massachusetts law.
- State law REQUIRES students between the ages of 6 -16 attend school.
- At seven absences, a court complaint can be filed against a parent/guardian for failing to send a child to school.
- At eight absences in a quarter, a court complaint can be filed on the child for
- At fourteen absences, a student can lose credit in a class and risk retention.
Why Attendance Is So Important:
- Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school – and themselves.
- Research shows that the earlier a child learns that school is his or her job and that he or she has important work to do, the more successful children will be in their education.
- Good attendance will help children do well in high school, college and at work.
- Being late to school may lead to poor attendance and missed learning opportunities.
- Learning begins the moment children settle into their morning routines. When a child is late for school, even by a few minutes, learning is interrupted.
- Students can still fall behind if they miss just a day or two every few weeks.
- Being chronically absent (missing 10 percent of school) can make it harder to learn to read.
- Two absences a month equals 20 absences a year.
- If a child has 18 absences per year, by the time they finish Grade 9, they have missed one full year of school!