DPS launches plan to fight chronic absenteeism

Dayton Public Schools is launching a program to prevent chronic absenteeism this academic year.

“Miss School, Miss Out: Attendance Matters” is part of a yearlong effort to improve attendance throughout the district. The program includes targeted support, intervention and rewards for good and improved attendance, according to the district.

District data from the 2013-14 school year shows that three in 10 kindergarten students and nearly the same number of first-grade students miss about one month of school every year in excused and unexcused absences.

“Our efforts to narrow the achievement gap or increase our graduation rate will be stalled unless we address the issue of attendance,” Superintendent Lori Ward said in a prepared statement released Monday evening. “All our efforts to improve curriculum and instruction won’t matter much if students aren’t in school.”

National research shows that children who are chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are less likely to master reading by the end of third grade, a critical milestone for later success.

This is particularly true for low-income children who need school the most but often get the least.

DPS students in grades three and six who missed 12 or more days of school for any reason were more likely to score below proficient in reading on the 2014 Ohio Achievement Assessment.

Barriers that may contribute to chronic absenteeism can be academic, social/emotional, health-related, or economic.

Data indicate that 26.7 percent, or 3,543 Dayton Public Schools students were chronically absent in the 2013-14 school year.

Chronic absence is described as missing 10 percent of the school year-or about 18 days-for any reason, excused, unexcused or suspensions.