At Grand Rapids Public Schools, we want to help each scholar be present in class every day, engaged, and ready to learn. Regular attendance is important to your child’s academic and social success. Absences can add up quickly and have negative impacts on scholars’ learning and connection to school. Chronic absence (defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year), or just 2-3 days every month, can translate into third graders being less likely to read at grade level, sixth graders falling behind and ninth graders dropping out of high school.
One Time, Every Day, Every Scholar Matters
Good attendance in early grades - including preschool and kindergarten – lays a strong foundation for attendance and learning in later grades. Showing up regularly is a positive habit to develop for success throughout life.
- Every day absent is a day of instruction missed, a day of classroom interaction with scholars and teachers that can’t be recovered.
- Attendance matters as early as kindergarten. Studies show that children who miss too many days in kindergarten and first grade can struggle academically in later years. They often have trouble mastering reading by the end of third grade.
- Scholars do better in school when they miss less than 5 days a semester or 9 days during the school year.
- Missing occasional days each month do matter. Before you know it – just two or three days a month can add up to 10 percent or more of the school year lost (about 18 days over the entire school year).
- Preschool is a great time to start building a habit of good attendance. Young children with poor attendance in preschool also lose out on valuable learning time; if chronic absence continues into kindergarten, it can pull down academic achievement
What Parents Can Do
Parents and caregivers are partners in your scholar’s success. Good attendance will help your children do well in high school, in college and at work.
To successfully recover from the impact of the Pandemic and nearly three years of disrupted schooling, families, caregivers, and schools can work together to recognize that attendance is a critical factor in each scholar’s success.
- Avoid unnecessary absences. Some absences are unavoidable. Children get sick and need to stay home. What is important is getting children to school as often as possible.
- Avoid extended vacations that require your children to miss school. Try to line up vacations with the school’s schedule.
- Try to schedule doctor’s appointments outside of school hours.
- For younger scholars, set a regular bedtime and morning routine. Help settle them in for a good 9 to 11 hours of sleep. Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
- For older scholars, help them develop homework and bedtime routines that allow for 8 ½ to 9 ½ hours of sleep. Make sure that when the lights go out, so do the cell phones, video games and computers. Consider making bedrooms at nighttime a technology-free zone.
- Get to know the teachers and administrators. With younger scholars, make sure you introduce your child to teachers before school starts and keep in touch with the teachers. For older scholars, school officials can help you stay on top of academic progress and social contacts to make sure your child is staying on track.
- Show your child that attendance matters to you and that you won’t allow an absence unless someone is truly sick. Avoid asking older scholars to help with daycare and household errands during school hours.
- Seek help from your school or community if you are facing tough challenges: such as access to health care, housing, transportation, or food. Each school offers services and resources for scholars and the whole family.
- Monitor your scholar’s attendance and assignments through ParentVUE or Seesaw.
- If you need help with supporting your scholar’s attendance and engagement with school, contact your school to request an attendance conference.
- Complete an Attendance Plan with your scholar and school.
- Meet with your scholar’s teacher to develop a plan to get your scholar back on track academically.
What Scholars Can Do
School is your first and most important job.
Showing up every day ready to learn is key to your success. Attendance is the cornerstone to your connection to your teachers, school community, and friends. Learning happens every day and showing up is a habit of success in school.
- School only gets harder when you stay home too much. Sometimes it’s tempting to stay home because you’ve got too much work, or you don’t understand what’s going on in class. But missing a day only makes that worse.
- Communicate concerns that may affect your school attendance to parents or school staff. Work with them to develop an attendance plan identifying things you can do, your parents or caregivers can do, and your school can do to help improve your attendance.
- Scholars who attend school regularly are more likely to graduate and find good jobs. In fact, a high school graduate makes, on average, a million dollars more than a dropout over a lifetime.
- Scholars can access their class assignments and attendance through ScholarVUE.
Good Attendance Strategies
Scholars that have positive attendance are sure to do the following:
- Get plenty of sleep, eat a balanced diet, wash hands regularly, and have up to date immunizations.
- Plan for good attendance. Keep a copy of your school calendar accessible.
- Ask parents or caregivers to make appointments outside of the school day or on non- school days.
- Know the time you need to arrive at your bus stop.
- Have good homework practices and communicate with teachers and other school staff when experiencing academic or social difficulty.
- If you are not attending school because someone is intimidating or bullying you, this is a serious issue, and it is time to ask an adult for help.
Parent/Caregiver Strategies to Promote Positive Attendance
- Only keep your child home if they are truly sick, such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea, or a contagious rash.
- Avoid travel, family vacations, and appointments when school is in session.
- Keep track of your child’s attendance. Missing more than nine (9) days, either excused or unexcused, could put your child at risk of falling behind academically.
- Set a regular bedtime and morning routine, check on your scholar’s homework, check and pack a backpack the night before.
- Have a back-up plan in place for getting your child to school.
- If your child has a chronic medical condition or illness that causes your child to miss school frequently, please contact your school nurse to discuss accommodations or support that your child’s school can offer.
