Students, staff, and families all play a critical role in building and maintaining a safe and supportive learning environment.
A strong connection between staff, students, families, and the school setting creates a positive climate as demonstrated by participation in school activities and governance, as well as the inclusion of the community at large into school activities.
Presents findings from a study that tested four versions of an adaptive text messaging strategy to see which, if any, would reduce chronic absence and improve achievement among 26,000 elementary school students. All four versions of the adaptive text messaging strategy reduced chronic absence but did not improve achievement after one school year.
Provides the theory, research, and practical examples for working with students to improve schools. Includes a five step cycle of listening, validating, authorizing, mobilizing, and reflecting on student voice along with tools to measure student voice quality.
Presents an interactive website which disaggregates national data on chronic absenteeism by geography, ethnicity, disability status, and school level. The data reveal a striking picture of how many students missed three weeks or more during the 2013-14 school year.
Promotes better policy and practice around school attendance, including tracking chronic absence data for each student beginning in kindergarten, or ideally earlier, and partnering with families and community agencies to intervene when poor attendance is a problem for students or schools.
Includes an overview of research on truancy, including extent of the problem, consequences, contributing factors, and programs that have improved school attendance; addresses legal and economic issues of truancy and addressing the problem; and provides a list of references and resources to aid in engaging parents and communities and finding alternatives to juvenile court, among other issues.
