{"id":1592,"date":"2014-09-02T08:08:21","date_gmt":"2014-09-02T12:08:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/?p=1592"},"modified":"2015-12-23T08:10:57","modified_gmt":"2015-12-23T13:10:57","slug":"maryland-launches-campaign-to-improve-school-attendance-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/maryland-launches-campaign-to-improve-school-attendance-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Launches Campaign To Improve School Attendance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Call To Action Urges District, School, Community Leaders To Join In Reducing Chronic Absenteeism<\/em><\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Immediate Release \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Contact: William Reinhard, 410.767.0486<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) today launched a multi-faceted campaign to combat chronic absenteeism in public schools.<\/p>\n

MDSE is partnering with Attendance Works, a national nonprofit, to declare September as \u201cAttendance Awareness Month.\u201d\u00a0 MSDE will work with local school systems and leaders to get students in school, keep them there, and move them along the track to college and career.<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents can\u2019t succeed if they aren\u2019t in class.\u00a0 With the support of our local systems and the tools available through Attendance Works, we can strengthen student success and boost student graduation rates,\u201d said State Superintendent of Schools Lillian Lowery.\u00a0 \u201cMaryland attendance rates have improved, and we have more work to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, praised Maryland\u2019s action.\u00a0 \u201cAttendance Works applauds the Maryland State Department of Education for its leadership and deep commitment to ensuring schools and communities work together to reduce chronic absence,\u201d Chang said.\u00a0 \u201cMSDE exemplifies how a state department of education can use its data and its influence to ensure all students are in school so they have the opportunity to learn and succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chronic absenteeism in Maryland means missing more than 20 days during the school year for any reason.\u00a0 Research shows that being chronically absent in the early grades affects whether a low-income child learns to read.\u00a0 By middle school, attendance is a key indicator of a student\u2019s potential to drop out. A study by the Baltimore Education Research Consortium shows that the majority of dropouts enter the 9th grade with a pattern of chronic absence that dates back several years.\u00a0 In Maryland last year, more than 80,000 students had 20 or more absences both excused and unexcused.\u00a0 Research also indicates that kindergartners have similar rates of absenteeism as 9th graders.\u00a0 Attendance Works today released a report detailing the correlation between attendance and achievement. It can be found atwww.attendanceworks.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The good news is that educators and community leaders, working together can, make a difference.\u00a0 In partnership with Attendance Works, MSDE is making available a wealth of tools and strategies that can be used to fight chronic absenteeism.\u00a0 For district leaders<\/strong>, it is important to provide data and offer support, including the development of a plan to prioritize district needs.\u00a0 School leaders<\/strong> must make attendance a priority and provide resources to implement effective attendance plans.\u00a0 Community leaders and partners<\/strong>\u00a0can support district and school efforts by linking community resources\u2014including afterschool, health, mentoring, family support, and food and nutrition programs\u2014to meet student needs.<\/p>\n

September has been selected as Attendance Awareness Month because attendance patterns in September offer a strong indicator of expected trends for the rest of the school year.\u00a0 Using the month
\nof September for the campaign will raise awareness about chronic absenteeism, and the State will launch the Maryland Attendance Matters Campaign, with tools, resources and ongoing support to districts, schools, and communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that when students are in school and engaged in the learning process, they are much more likely to graduate college and career-ready,\u201d Dr. Lowery said.\u00a0 \u201cTo reach that goal, we need the commitment of the entire community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendance Works includes on its website a variety of tools that can be used to help strengthen attendance.\u00a0 Information can be found at http:\/\/www.attendanceworks.org\/what-works<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Call To Action Urges District, School, Community Leaders To Join In Reducing Chronic Absenteeism
\n 
\nFor Immediate Release \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Contact: William Reinhard, 410.767.0486
\n 
\nThe Maryland State Department of   …Learn more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-newsreleases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1593,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1592\/revisions\/1593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/msde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}