Absenteeism in schools is an age-long dilemma. Data revealed that ninety eight million (98M) school days are lost each year in the United States to chronic absenteeism with over six million (6.5M) students absent from school or missing ten percent (10%) or more of the year.
Experts in education have come up with new ways of tackling and reducing chronic Absenteeism in schools.
Sam Mouton, the director of research at Panorama Education, explained that absenteeism results in poor academic performance and emotional health of students. He further pointed out that in the long run, Absenteeism impacts negatively on the financial health of every defaulting student.
Sam Mouton research showed that the United States loses ninety-eight (98 million) million school days per year due to Absenteeism. His record also showed that a total of six million and five hundred thousand (6.5 million) students are absenteeism defaulters, missing ten percent (10%) of the school year.
According to Sam Mouton;
District administrators and staff now are taking action to minimize absenteeism through stronger teacher-student relations and measuring student’s perceptions of safety, engagement, and social-emotional skills in addition to monitoring for early warning indicators.
Further, he recommended focusing on three critical areas: obtaining useful data, individual school climate and incorporating social-emotional learning in schools.
Five ways to combat absenteeism in schools
Following up on three critical areas for combating absenteeism in schools, Sam Mouton and some other experts developed five effective means schools can reduce Absenteeism.
Identifying Absenteeism Early warning Signs
Detecting early warning signs of Absenteeism is critical. Warning signs which Sam Mouton pointed out include a swift change in students’ attendance compared to the past. The director of research also identified unexplained and patterned absences as warning signs. Sam Mouton advised schools to take attendance issues seriously as well as other early warning signs to make tremendous improvements.
Data-driven solutions for Absenteeism
The distribution of accurate data to responsible parties for monitoring is a vital step in controlling students absences to schools. Counselors, parents, and teachers are responsible parties that individually have roles to play in developing appropriate responses to data collected.
Evaluate the cause Absenteeism
Every student has reasons for being absent in schools, and evaluating the purposes will bring about desired solutions. Although some students are deliberately lazy, others might have genuine reasons for being absent, such as family issues, a bully in school, or other social concerns. All of which counselors can address.
How does developing feedback mechanisms help Absenteeism?
Feedback mechanism involving students is an effective means of obtaining useful data and identifying areas of improvement. It also engages the students collaboratively to curb Absenteeism in schools.
Teachers and even security officials can also be involved in the feedback mechanism. Anyone who knows enough about improving the problem of Absenteeism in schools is qualified to give feedback.
The parent involvement
As early as possible, parents should be informed about their children’s absences from school and the consequences of not taking precautionary steps. In the past, some parents have arrested schools that didn’t take proactive steps to curb students absences.
Absenteeism is a habit that is developed gradually in students. It must be identified early enough, and adequate data gathered to be able to evaluate and stop absences in schools.
