We developed the Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Program to empower schools and districts with the low-cost tools they need to encourage school attendance and reduce the number of chronically absent students.
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (PRWEB) October 18, 2017
Chronic absenteeism – missing 15 or more days or 10 percent of the school year – affects more than 10 percent of U.S. students, with the number increasing in high school. Students who are chronically absent struggle academically, are more likely to drop out and often struggle later in life. Recognizing its impact on student success, 36 states and the District of Columbia plan to use “chronic absenteeism” as an indicator of school performance for their federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) accountability reports.
To help schools combat chronic absenteeism, West’s SchoolMessenger solutions today launched its Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Program (CAIP). CAIP combines the proven elements of SchoolMessenger Communicate, the most-trusted K-12 notification service, and SafeArrival, a unique student attendance management tool, with a set of professional services that support schools as they plan and implement a program to reduce chronic absenteeism.
The impact of chronic absenteeism is well documented. A U.S. Department of Education study, “Chronic Absenteeism in the Nation’s Schools,” revealed that students who are chronically absent in preK-1 grades are much less likely to read at grade level by the third grade, and a study of Utah public high school students found that even one year of chronic absenteeism was associated with a 7X increase in school dropout.
However, research and experience demonstrate that a tiered intervention approach can reduce chronic absenteeism, including by building awareness, encouraging families, providing support and engaging students. A recent Teachers College, Columbia University, experimental study of 22 West Virginia middle and high schools sent automated text-message alerts to parents about their child’s class absences, increasing attendance by 17 percent.
Building on this evidence, the components of CAIP are uniquely designed to help schools develop and deploy a customized, preventive family messaging program to reduce absenteeism that meets their local needs.
“Research supports what common sense tells us: regular school attendance is a crucial component of student success. Yet, with 6.5 million U.S. students chronically absent each school year, we have nothing short of an epidemic in our schools,” said Robert Iskander, executive vice president and general manager of West’s Education group. “We developed the Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Program to empower schools and districts with the low-cost tools they need to encourage school attendance and reduce the number of chronically absent students.”
West also partnered with nonprofit Attendance Works to host a webinar in late September on “Preventing and Reducing Chronic Student Absences,” to educate school districts about the new ESSA accountability guidance and share resources to help reduce absenteeism. The webinar will be archived with other attendance-related resources at https://www.schoolmessenger.com/resources/.
For more information about the Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Program, visit https://www.schoolmessenger.com/chronic-absenteeism-overview/.
About West’s SchoolMessenger Solutions
West Corporation is the trusted provider of SchoolMessenger solutions. More than 63,000 schools and other educational institutions in all 50 states and Canada depend on SchoolMessenger products and services from notifications and websites to custom mobile apps and social media. School leaders have relied on the SchoolMessenger platform since 1999 to engage with their communities in multiple languages and on any device. To learn more about SchoolMessenger products, visit http://www.schoolmessenger.com or call 888.527.5225
