November 2008

Letter from the Editor

A picture is worth a thousand words, and no one knows that better than Jessica Hagy, who posts daily to her award-winning website, Indexed. Jessica gave us permission to reproduce this little graph, which you can pretty much use to replace all the thousands of words I have written over the last several years. Foodies and nerds, and foodie-nerds, delight!

Present, Engaged and Accounted For:
The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades

by Hedy Chang with Mariajose Romero
National Center for Children in Proverty

At the core of school improvement and education reform is an assumption so widely understood that it is rarely invoked: students have to be present and engaged in order to learn. That is why the discovery that thousands of our youngest students are at academic risk because of extended absences is as remarkable as it is consequential.

Nationwide, one out of ten kindergarteners and first graders are chronically absent. Levels can be much higher (affecting as many as one out of four students) in particular school districts. Many school districts do not know whether chronic early absence is a problem in their schools. Elementary schools typically track average daily attendance or unexcused absences (truancy), but few monitor the combination of excused and unexcused absence for individual students. High average daily attendance can mask the presence of chronically absent students.

Consistent attendance, starting with the first years of school, is key to academic success. Chronic absence in kindergarten is associated with lower academic performance in first grade for all children. Among poor children, who have the fewest resources with which to make up for lost classroom time, chronic kindergarten absence predicts the lowest levels of fifth grade achievement. The education of regularly attending students can also be adversely affected when teachers divert their attention to meet the learning and social needs of chronically absent peers

What contributes to chronic early absence?

When chronic absence occurs, one or more of the following factors may be at play:

Schools do not:

· communicate the importance of attendance to parents in culturally and linguistically appropriate ways

· monitor absences or reach out to families to identify and address barriers to school attendance when children miss extended periods of time

· effectively involve parents in their children’s education

· offer a high-quality, engaging, and safe educational program

Families:

· are unaware of the adverse impact of chronic early absence and have not yet developed routines that promote consistent school attendance

· are poor and lack the resources (for example, transportation, food, clothing, social supports, support from public agencies and schools) to ensure their children regularly attend school

· are highly mobile

· have difficulty addressing and managing illness, especially chronic disease

· have a history of negative experiences with education and may not feel welcome in schools

· face multiple risks (for example, living in poverty, teen motherhood, single motherhood, low maternal education, unemployment, food insecurity, poor maternal health and multiple siblings.

· are dealing with serious, disruptive problems, such as mental illness, homelessness, child or domestic abuse, or incarceration of a parent, that make school attendance difficult.

Communities:

· do not provide adequate support, such as high-quality preschool programs, to help young children and families make a positive transition into elementary school

· are severely distressed and suffer from a dearth of formal or informal supports to promote the positive development of children, including regular school attendance

· experience high levels of violence that adversely affect family functioning and the ability of children to get to school safely

What helps reduce chronic early absence?

Available research combined with the experience of pioneering programs suggest that schools and communities can significantly reduce chronic early absence by:

· Taking comprehensive approaches involving students, families, and community agencies

· Maintaining a sustained focus on attendance over time

· Paying attention to the importance of attendance starting in kindergarten or even preschool

· Combining strategies to improve attendance among all children, with special interventions targeting those who are chronically absent

· Offering positive supports to promote school attendance instead of—or before resorting to—punitive responses or legal action

For example, in the Savannah-Chatham school district in Georgia, each school has an attendance team. Families are contacted as soon as students miss three days of school. Home visits occur after five days. This district has a strong track record of collaborating with public agencies, healthcare providers, community-based agencies, and when necessary, law enforcement. It also is located in one of the few states that provides universal preschool education. Since 2003, chronic early absence fell from 10 percent to 5 percent among young students living in high-poverty neighborhoods.

Schools and communities have a choice—they can invest early or pay later. For more information see Present, Engaged and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Early Absence, available from the National Center for Children in Poverty, and linked in the Resource section below.

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The Re-Birth of the Fun Stuff

Although No Child Left Behind can be credited with prompting achievement gains in core subjects and with making strides toward narrowing the achievement gap, one of the saddest offshoots of the policy, at least in this author’s opinion, has been the decimation of art and music education, particularly at the middle school level.

The pendulum swings, however, and the New York Times reports that high schools, at least, are adding new and non-traditional elective classes to their credit-earning course offerings.¹ Most high schools have maintained classes in drawing and painting, band or orchestra, and a chorus or two all along. And other electives frequently include standard academic material that falls outside the required subjects – classes such as Economics, Statistics, or Sociology. Some of the new electives, e.g. Accounting or Chinese, fit neatly into this last category. But some do not!

A new breed of electives, as reported in the Times, is designed to add breadth to the resumes of the college bound, but also has the added benefit of boosting GPAs because kids actually enjoy and attend the classes. And yes, the article does say that – school staff reported that kids get better grades in elective classes because they tend not to skip them! Classes referenced in the Times article include The History of Rock and Roll, Java Programming, Military History and Jewelry Making, among others. My brief Internet scan turned up the following goodies, none of which were available in my own home town decades ago – wait, we didn’t have a high school in my home town decades ago!

· Business and Personal Finance

· Event Planning and Catering

· Fundamentals of Screenwriting

· Architectural Design (Up to four years’ worth!)

· Introduction to Hip-Hop and Street Jazz

· Forensic Science and Crime Scene Investigation

· Law Enforcement (This one includes a field trip to Alcatraz!)

· Fashion Merchandizing

· Social Entrepreneurship/Community Leadership

· Computer Animation

· Great Thinkers (This is a review of the great philosophers of modern history.)

· Law and Justice in Society

· Gourmet Cooking I and II (They sneak etiquette into this one.)

· Social Dance (Everything from Broadway musical to ballroom dancing.)

· Sports and Entertainment Marketing

Now don’t you just want to go back to school? I do! The obvious advantage to large high schools is the ability to proffer course selections like these, but some smaller high schools are managing as well. Hopefully all students have access to some of these “fun” offerings. What better way to make a kid want to go to school?

1. Hu, Winnie. “High School Add Electives to Cultivate Interests.” New York Times, October 26, 2008.

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Check out the Education World Grant Center, there are fifteen grant categories you have time to apply for in the 2008-2009 school year.

The School Funding Center has a free newsletter that includes a limited number of grant announcements and grant writing tips. It also advertises a huge database of grants to which you may subscribe for various periods of time for different rates ranging from $99 for two months to $397 for a year. Grants are available for schools and non-profits.

Kids love field trips! Target will award 5,000 Field Trip Grants of up to $800 each during the 2008-2009 school year. Applications are due by November 1, 2008. Check out the rest of the education page on the Target website.

Sign up for education-related e-mail alerts from Grantsalert.com. The website also includes grant-seeking tips, a special page for sources of classroom funding for teachers (called GSFT), and a directory of grant writers to help you. Registering for funding alerts is free, but the grant writers, of course, are not.

Teachers, go to Donors Choose to make requests for classroom supplies.

Find and apply online for competitive grant opportunities from all Federal grant-making agencies.

RGK Foundation - The Foundation's programmatic areas of interest include Health, Education, Human Services, and Community Affairs. The Foundation's primary interests within education include formal K-12 education, literacy, and higher education.

The Dollar General offers annual or bi-annual grants in five literacy areas:
· Adult Literacy Grants
· Back-To-School Grants
· Beyond Words: The Dollar General School Library Relief Program
· Family Literacy Grants
· Youth Literacy Initiatives

Here’s a great webpage that lists endless grant opportunities for K-12 schools, and has a page on grant writing tips! They also offer a subscription to Schoolgrants Biweekly Newsletter for $45 a year.

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21^st Century Schools conducts more workshops and conferences on more topics in more locations that I can possibly include in the Conference section below. Go to their website at www.21stcenturnschools.com and pick your next professional development experience.

Bridgeland, John et al. One Dream, Two Realities: Perspectives of Parents on America’s High Schools. Washington, D.C.: Civic Enterprises. October 2008.

The United States is the only industrialized country in the world in which today’s young people are less likely than their parents to have completed high school. This is a startling turn for our nation, which prides itself on extending educational opportunity to everyone. To sustain the promise of the American education system as a ladder to economic, social, and civic success, high school graduation rates must improve for all young people—especially for the growing numbers of students of color. To meet the challenge of graduating more students from high school, state leaders should focus on…. well, you’ll have to read the report.

Chang, Hedy N., and Mariajosé Romero. (September 2008). Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades. New York: The National Center for Children in Poverty at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. This report describes how one in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent (missing 10% or more of the school year); levels that can be even higher in particular schools and districts. However, it notes, schools and communities working together can significantly reduce chronic early absence by taking comprehensive approaches for ensuring schools and families understand attendance is a key to their children’s future - approaches described in the report. An executive summary is also available, with links at the bottom to other publications stemming from the same study.

Habash, Anna. Counting on Graduation. Washington D.C.: The Education Trust, October 2008.

Among industrialized nations, the United States is the only country in which today’s young people are less likely than their parents to have earned a high school diploma. Reversing this trend could hardly be more urgent. Yet policymakers in many states are setting graduation improvement targets that won’t get our young people—or our nation—ready to compete in the knowledge-driven world of the 21^st century. According to “Counting on Graduation,” a new report released today by The Education Trust, states must ratchet up expectations for high school graduation, substantially and immediately.

K-12 Conference Website: This is an on-line listing for many types of conferences, with K-12 Education Conferences selected as a sub-category.

Nauer, Kim, Andrew White and Rajeev Yerneni, Strengthening School by Strengthening Families, Center for New York City Affairs, The New School, October 2008.

Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families is a report on chronic absenteeism and families in New York City public schools. Last year, more than 90,000 New York City children in grades K through 5 missed at least one month of school, totaling one-fifth of all elementary students. In high poverty neighborhoods the number was far higher, approaching one-third of primary grade students. The first report from the center's new project on public education describes how chronic absenteeism at an early age is often a signal of serious problems at home. It also explains how strong partnerships between public schools, community organizations and other institutions can make a difference.

The New York State Governor’s Summit on Dropout Prevention website offers links to dropout prevention materials and an example of a state-wide effort to address the dropout crisis. Start the ball rolling on such an effort in your state!

Sherman, Dalton, Keynote Speaker.

If you haven't seen this video, please take eight minutes to be amazed and inspired! Dallas fifth grader Dalton Sherman speaks to 20,000 school district employees at the 2008 back-to-school event. He has since been referred to as "Dallas's answer to Barack Obama."

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www.schoolengagement.org

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