As we close out calendar year 2023 and embark on a new year, school officials need to be aware of their obligations in the area of school attendance and truancy. Student attendance is critical for positive outcomes, and the law is clear that school officials cannot remain passive when a student is excessively absent from school.
The Ohio Attendance Taskforce announced its recommendations to improve school attendance and reduce chronic absence. These recommendations are intended to help schools and districts implement effective prevention and early intervention strategies to improve attendance and decrease chronic absenteeism. Chronic absence is defined in Ohio as a student missing 10% or more of school hours. In the 2022-2023 school year, Ohio’s chronic absence rate was 26.8%, meaning more than 615,000 students in the state were chronically absent.
Ohio is a compulsory attendance state with laws governing how districts should work with students and families to improve attendance. School attendance and engagement in learning are critical to success in school. Attendance and absentee prevention laws had a major overhaul a few years ago in the General Assembly and the Ohio Department of Education (ODE) continues to provide resources to school district leaders about how to comply with those laws and encourage attendance.
September is almost here! School buses are back on the road, lunch bags are back on the kitchen counter and educators are in that exciting back-to-school mood. As the new school year begins, it’s a good time for a reminder of upcoming school deadlines required by state law and resources available to districts.
September deadlines
September is Attendance Awareness Month, which is a nationwide recognition of the connection between regular school attendance and academic achievement. This month recognizes the importance of mobilizing schools, partners and communities to promote regular attendance by developing tiered strategies and personalized interventions to reduce chronic absence.
In just a few weeks, schools across the state will open their doors and officially kick off the 2022-23 school year. As they prepare for the arrival of their students, we see a significant uptick in the calls we receive about Ohio’s attendance, tuition and custody laws.
Attendance Works and its national partners are launching the 10th annual Attendance Awareness Campaign webinar series for 2022. The free, four-part series will emphasize the power of using chronic absence data to recover from challenges heightened by the pandemic.
Students who are absent from school miss important learning opportunities that can be difficult, or impossible to make up. Engaging students is the key to getting them focused and ready to learn.
Attendance Works is offering a three-session virtual training for elementary and secondary school leaders and staff to provide proven, evidence-based tiered strategies to engage students and promote attendance using a team approach. The series cost is $300 per person. Group sessions will meet every two weeks on assigned dates.
Participants will learn:
September is Attendance Awareness Month.
In January, the ESC of Lake Erie West (ESC), which was the sponsor of the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow (ECOT), voted to suspend the operation of the community (charter) school. ECOT suspended operations and closed shortly afterward.
