I've been writing a lot about the Intense Student Support Network (ISSN) in the blog lately and think it's important enough to continue on that track this week, albeit with a slightly different slant.
Hedy Chang, Executive Director of Attendance Works and National political will-builder around the issue of chronic absenteeism defines chronic absence as being when students "miss so much school for any reason that a student is academically at risk." Hedy, and Attendance Works, define chronic absence as a student missing 10% of school or more for any reason. That counts all instruction that's missed including legitimate excused absences, those "other" excused absences, sick days, unverified absences, early withdrawals, and all other absence codes. According to Chang, 15.6% (or 233.582) students were chronically absent in Michigan during the 16-17 school year. TCAPS, for the most part, doesn't have this type of attendance problem, but getting to school and understanding the importance of being school remains a huge battle for some of our students.
Absences should be viewed as a risk factor or a sign that something's going on for that kid. It's an invitation to draw closer, listen more carefully, and ask questions. Without us developing the instinct to ask more and fight the old commentary about how the student doesn't care because they're not here, it'll be tough to move forward in a positive way for kids.
The effects of absenteeism are cumulative. Just because a student hasn't missed a full 10% of available days doesn't mean there's been no negative effect from missing school. Each time a student is late, each hour or day they miss, each time they are not with their teachers and with their peers we should be concerned about the cumulative impact that has on their school experience and on their overall outlook on education. In short, student's don't miss less because they were gone for an approved reason.
Dr. Luke Shaefer of the University of Michigan writes about those in America living in extreme poverty. Shaeffer's research indicates that kids can survive and do relatively okay with poverty, given a stable living situation, but that consistently he has found that being both poor and homeless results in consistently lower outcomes and performance than the poverty group alone. (MDE Attendance Conf. 11/6/17)
Complications related to students not knowing where they are sleeping, sleeping in bad places, or being exposed to a myriad of bad things because of the need for housing, exacerbates an already bad situation.
So it's not hard to understand why we need a solid support network to help. It can seem a little overwhelming to think about how, but we have people working on that and I know many of you are ready to share the strategies you've been using for years to help out. It's not as impossible as it seems. Over the last couple of years, Grand Rapids Public has reduced its chronic absenteeism by over 25% through a partnership with their ISD, along with community based organizations and supports. Much of their resources, videos, and work is documented here. Additionally, there other ideas available through Attendance Works that are free or low cost.
Student supports are about communicating with students to determine the challenges they face, helping to link them with resources, and then continuing to push them to higher levels of social, emotional, behavioral, and academic success. The intensive student support network is about a system and it's about being human. Don't let me scare you off because I have again defaulted into overly jargon-laden prose that makes it sound as though magic space ships are going to come down and provide for the needs of students. Not so! We are already capable and equipped - along with community partners (not space ships!) - to do much of the work needed to make positive changes for our students.
So, check out the tools and resources provided on the links above, as well as the mentoring article linked below. Have conversation with your colleagues at your building about students you are concerned about due to poverty, absenteeism, traumatic experiences, or homelessness. Talk about possible ways you can work together, sharing the responsibility to helping our students successfully navigate their way through the school year and toward a more satisfying life after K-12. Review the SSN survey results for your building from last spring and talk about what your building can do to address those issues and what supports you need. By creating systems of support, we can sustain collective efforts to help students learn and grow through some pretty tough stuff. Hopefully, if we get really good, maybe we can actually start to decrease the likelihood that the tough stuff happens in the first place. While this work is nearly impossible if we go it alone, it is possible to make a huge difference for kids if we work together!
DYK: Lions eat about 18 pounds of meat per day. That would be like a human eating more than 70 hamburgers. Challenge accepted!
Deep Thoughts: "Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much." --Helen Keller
Articles of the Week:
- Ask the PreK Lady: How to Deal with Daylight Savings Time Sleep Routines
- Life Hacks for Principals
- Peers guide 9th Graders through "make or break" year
- Video - Paralyzed coach takes an exhilarating high dive
- Special thanks to Sophie! Sophie fields all sorts of data-related questions and provides me tons of information I need. Plus, she has a great avatar! Thanks Sophie!
- Special thanks to the ISSN (Intensive Student Support Network) team for your continued work to help us develop a system to address the social, emotional, nutritional, and health needs of students to help them be successful in our schools!
- Major appreciation to all students and staff of Les Miserables! Another outstanding display of talent, dedication, and commitment in TCAPS!
- Thank you to our fall sports coaches!
- Webinar November 14, 2pm - ESSA: What You Need to Know About School Accountability, Quality & Absenteeism - If you have the time next week, this sounds like an interesting Webinar. Guest speaker, Executive Director of Attendance Works, Hedy Chang, spoke at the MDE attendance workshop I attended on Monday in Lansing and shared some national data on chronic absenteeism. The webinar will explore different strategies that states, districts, and schools are doing to tackle this widespread problem.
- The first round of performance management meetings begin next week!
Parker's Calendar
This Week:
Monday
- MDE Attendance Workshop in Lansing
Tuesday
- Board Communications Committee
- ET
- Athletics Meeting
- ISD Meeting
- Partnership
- Huddle
Thursday
- Leadership Grand Traverse - Education Day
- Parker/Chandler
Friday
- TBAISD Supes
Next Week:
Monday
- Huddle
- Athletics/Facilities Meeting
- Performance Management
- Silver Lake Visit
- Long Lake Visit
- Board Meeting
Tuesday
- Chamber Breakfast
- STEM Meeting/Skodack
- ET
Wednesday
- Central Grade Visit
- MI-Excel Leadership Meeting/Wacker
- Partnership
- Huddle
- Performance Management
- Curriculum Leaders Meeting
Thursday
- Board Curriculum Committee Meeting
- Huddle
- Curriculum/Technology / Reynolds
- Secondary Principals Meeting
- Elementary Concerns
Friday
- DAN
- Elementary Principals Meeting
- ET
This week in pictures:
#curiousgeorge
#spoileralert
#comingsoontoaschoolnearyou
#alittlemuddy
#canyouhavexcwithoutsnowinnovember
#greatjobtcapsxc
