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Absenteeism in the Early Years
December 30, 2010
When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace and seeds of hope. We also secure the future for our children.
-Wangari Maathai, The Green Belt Movement
-Wangari Maathai, The Green Belt Movement
"...Rates of absenteeism in kindergarten and 1st grade can rival those in high school. An average of 1 in 10 pupils in grades K-12 nationwide is considered chronically absent, defined as missing 10 percent or more of school.... According to the Casey Foundation... the problem is especially acute among students from low-income families. The foundation reports that, in 2009, more than 1 in 5 poor kindergartners was chronically absent, compared with 8 percent of youngsters living around the poverty level....
"...Missing school early, when pupils are learning the most basic skills, can hamstring them later in grades and contribute to poor attendance throughout their academic career. The National Center for Children in Poverty found in 2008 that on average, pupils who missed 10 percent or more of school in kindergarten scored significantly lower in reading, math, and general knowledge tests at the end of 1st grade than those who missed 3 percent or fewer days. Moreover, researchers found chronic absenteeism in kindergarten predicted continuing absences in later grades."
The Top Ten Preschool Parenting Problems and What to Do about Them!
Put your staff and parents all on the same page! The Top Ten Preschool Parenting Problems and What to Do about Them! The title says it all: Here you have the perfect way to put staff and parents all on the same page—working together in harmony on the most common challenges of preschool parenting. From long-time contributing author to Exchange magazine, Roslyn Duffy!
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Comments (1)
Displaying 1 CommentBloomfield College
United States
Chronic absenteeism does hamstring academic development in later grades. I would venture to say that missing critical formative learning in the preschool follows a child throughout their academic career, creating academic problems all the way through high school, which then prevents these children from going to or completing college.
The real issue is how do we overcome this academic lag due to absenteeism. Can we overcome this without enforceable school attendance requirements for young children? Should we have programs where educators go into homes during the early years before most children are in preschool and provide parents with tips and strategies for promoting their children's development and learning?
Who should be held accountable for these academic shortfalls? Teachers? Parents? It would seem to me that unless we figure out a way to address in the first grade why children miss so many days and the importance of starting where the child is when they are in first grade, not where we know they should be or wish they were - in other words, beginning with the skills and understandings they missed and need to learn in order to move forward. If we do not do this, the "lacks" resulting from chronic absenteeism will persist and affect later learning, no matter how much "hammering" of the basics we do later.
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