As the end of the school year approaches, students are counting the days until summer vacation officially begins. As a mom of two school-aged children, and a former teacher, I know firsthand that it can be challenging to keep students engaged and in school during these last few weeks.
We know that school attendance matters. Every day counts! Significant performance gaps exist for students who are chronically absent – meaning they miss 18 or more days in a school year – about two a month. These absences add up quickly and have a detrimental impact. Here in Rhode Island, chronically absent students, on average, performed lower than their peers by 20 percentage points, or more.
Here’s the good news: Following the worst of the COVID pandemic, Rhode Island was recently ranked as the top state for academic recovery in New England by an independent study conducted by experts from Harvard, Stanford, and Dartmouth. Nationally, we were ranked 13th in reading recovery and 14th in math recovery. Our progress isn’t accidental. It’s a result of the hard work and collaboration between our students, their families, teachers, and administrators…