Former principal Sean Aker has a simple message to convey in his new job: Every Day Matters.
It sounds like it could be a catchy slogan to sell Gatorade or Nike workout gear, but it’s a far more important message directed to students and their parents.
Aker works at the Willamette Educational Service District as a Regional Coordinator for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism. His mission is to increase awareness of the importance of regular, consistent school attendance and help schools develop strategies to combat chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absenteeism is defined by the State of Oregon as missing 10 percent or more of school days. That amounts to 18 days during the school year, or two days a month. It may not sound like a lot, but Aker noted that a student missing 10 percent of school days from kindergarten through eighth grade will have missed the equivalent of a full year of school time before entering high school.
“If the student misses time in the classroom that’s a day they can never get back,” Aker said. “If you are missing two days or more in the first month of the school year, that is probably going to be the pattern for the year. And if you have chronic absenteeism in elementary school, that is likely going to be the pattern throughout your school years.”
In 2016 House Bill 4022 became law in an effort to address the problem statewide. Initially, about $6.7 million was allocated by the state for the 2017-2019 budget cycle. A slice of those funds went to the 30 schools with the highest rate of absenteeism. Another slice went to assist the next 60 schools through support services through the regional Economic Service Districts.
According to Department of Education statistics, chronic absenteeism is higher in kindergarten and first grade, but drops in grades two to six. It starts to rise again in middle school and continues at problematic levels in high school. The average student missed 12.5 days in the last school year, but those who are chronically absent often miss far more.
Aker is excited about the early success several schools have had. While schools chart their own path in improving attendance, the approach utilizes the same framework.
Building awareness of the impact of being absent is the first step. Studies show that it takes three days for students to “catch up” from one day of absence. Parents and students often don’t realize how quickly they can fall behind from a short illness, a family vacation, or appointments.
A second component is building capacity in the school to address attendance issues, whether that is dealing with students who need assistance, eliminating bullying or simply creating a more welcoming school environment.
The third key component is intervention. The North Santiam School District’s “Pledge to Attend” program focused on securing commitments from students whose attendance was less than stellar. Aker said the approach had some surprising results.
“Show up for school for 20 (straight) days and win great prizes and enjoy a pizza party was our pitch,” Aker said. Sixty-seven students participated over three phases of 20 days. Parents were informed and students were rewarded. By the end of the year, two-thirds were regular attendees.
North Santiam School District Superintendent Andy Gardner praised the Pledge to Attend initiative and believes the effort to improve attendance is money well spent.
“We always work on our attendance data and our rate (of attendance) is always in the 90 percentile, so there’s a lot of comfort there, but when we began to look at the number of kids who missed two days or more a month it really allowed us to focus on individual students,” Gardner said.
“The Pledge to Attend program paid great dividends. For those kids to know that people are rooting for them to just be there is very powerful. Those kids were able to improve their rate of attendance and it gave them a feeling of accomplishment… The challenge now is to take Sean’s methods into our everyday working culture so it just becomes what we do moving forward.”
