State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, in recognition of September as Attendance Awareness Month, encourages Local Control Agencies (LEA) throughout the state to continue efforts to combat chronic absenteeism.

“Students of color, foster youth, homeless youth, students with disabilities and students who are in rural areas have some of the highest chronic absenteeism rates in the state,” said Thurmond. “When these students – who are already facing academic challenges due to poverty, unstable home environment or inequitable resources – miss school that widens the achievement gap, especially for our early learners. Everyone who comes in contact with our students can contribute to their learning success. Parents, teachers, attendance supervisors, caregivers and community groups must work as a cohesive unit and implement positive strategies to ensure that students are in class each day.” 

CAN and Attendance Works take a deeper look at how high quality Expanded Learning programs (before and after school, summer, and intersession learning experiences) help reduce chronic absenteeism in a webinar that can be accessed on the CAN website. For additional information about sample policies to address high chronic absenteeism rates and the state SARB process, visit the School Attendance Improvement Strategies web page