Nationwide, schools have been struggling to get students in the classroom, an issue that experts say was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In fact, data from several states, including Virginia, indicate that rates of chronic absenteeism have jumped to an estimated 16 million for the 2021-22 school year—that’s one out of every three students nationwide. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason, which differs from truancy.
Recommended Videos
Right here at home, local school leaders are working to address the academic challenge. Alleghany Highlands Public Schools has released a new survey for parents about school attendance practices in an effort to help ensure that students are coming to school on a more consistent basis.
“When students are chronically absent — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason — excused, unexcused absences and suspensions — can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school,” said Cindy Fox, supervisor of customized learning and AHPS’ champion for attendance.
“We have established an attendance task force at AHPS and we want to send this survey so we can see what parents understand about their child’s attendance,” Fox said.
The survey is designed to help them decide what support might help students attend school more regularly, like encouraging student engagement, helping them prepare for their adult lives and focusing on communication with the community.
“The good news is that our work throughout the country shows us that chronic absence is a solvable problem. What works is taking a data-driven, comprehensive approach that begins with engaging students and families as well as preventing absences from adding up before they fall behind academically. The key is using chronic absence data as a diagnostic tool to identify where prevention and early intervention are needed,” she said.
You can find the survey on the Alleghany Highlands Public Schools website under “Important Information” on the main page.
It’ll be open until June 1.
