Statewide Well-Being Team News

Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students.
When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.
Most school districts and states don’t look at all the right data to improve school attendance. They track how many students show up every day and how many are skipping school without an excuse, but not how many are missing so many days in excused and unexcused absence that they are headed off track academically.

Here are a few ideas and resources to promote good attendance this year!

• Learn about attendance strategies from Attendance Works in this helpful document.
• Interact with the Chronic Absenteeism Micro-credentials from Grant Wood Area Education Agency.

**Micro-credentials are asynchronous learning opportunities that allow participants to decide which elements best suit their personal and professional practice. Watch this video to see how a Grant Wood AEA micro-credential might support you and your learning needs.

Here are a few tips to help connect with your school counselors and support staff for local or school-based resources to share with families who request assistance and to welcome students back to school after winter break!

• Partner with a school nurse to ensure families have reminders about illnesses and school attendance during the winter months.
• Health Guidance for Going to School

• Review your Student Handbook language around health related absences and if policy changes are needed for the upcoming school year.

• Policy Recommendations

Learn More: Why Monitoring Chronic Absences, Not Just Unexcused Absences, Matters

Here are a few resources that address chornic absenteeism.

• Establish School-wide attendance Incentives.
  
• Bringing Attendance Home Toolkit - engages informational videos to support schools in engaging parents, interactive exercises, and key elements for reducing chronic absenteeism.
• Problem-Solving Blueprint for Chronic Absenteeism.
  

In the weeks after a break from school, drops in attendance are common! Attendance Works has made this resource to counter that trend!
Iowa Panorama Resources has published a guide on how to utilize two new reports focused on attendance from Student Success.
They have also created this blog post about the several types of 'groups' in Student Success and how to eliminate confusion when trying to communicate about the system and data.

*From the Iowa Panorama Resources page listed above.

Developing incentives for attendance connects with a Continuum of Procedures for Encouraging Expected Social, Emotional Behavior.

A school’s Tier 1 team determines how to acknowledge students positively for prosocial behaviors. Schools might use an acknowledgment system to support offering specific praise when students do what’s expected. No matter the system, it should be:

• Linked to school expectations.

• Used across settings and within classrooms.

• Used by 90% or more of all school personnel.

• Available to all students within the school.

Graduate Funding Opportunities are available from the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. Feel free to review the information or share with interested colleagues and educators.

• UNI’s “Grow Your Own” school psychology program and brochure.

• University of Iowa’s MPath information

• Attendance is the responsibility of ALL.

• A positive approach is the most effective approach.

• Small changes can produce a big impact..

Iowa’s Area Education Agencies are committed to supporting schools in promoting healthy learning environments that address the social, emotional, behavioral, and mental health well-being of students. These resources were compiled by a statewide AEA team dedicated to supporting the well-being of students, families and districts. For more information about these resources or other AEA services, please contact your local Area Education Agency.