Is Chronic Absenteeism our Greatest Threat?
Driving at the root cause to increase attendance and achievement.
The pandemic has taken its toll in countless ways. Perhaps the most consequential is increased chronic absenteeism, which is defined as missing at least 10% of schools days. A recent McKinsey study
from July 2021 reported chronic absenteeism increased 12% in the last year for 8th to 12th grade students. Among those, 42% are not attending ANY school at all.
The reasons range from COVID precautions, disconnected relationships, punitive responses, economic hardship, transportation, and many more. However, without clearly understanding the barriers a student is facing, how does one begin to address the problem? Providing families with an easy way to share the causes behind these absences is the first step to increasing attendance. Capturing this data must be grounded in equity as chronic absenteeism unfairly impacts
students of color, FRPL, and those with IEPs (disabilities).
- Without the fear of having to speak English
- Without having to remember a complicated username or password
- Directly from their phone or any device in their language
Denver Prepares Asylum Seekers to Enter the Workforce Leveraging Inclusive Communications Technology
