Supporting School Attendance

Showing up on time every day is important to your child’s success and learning from preschool forward.

Missing 10% of school (1 or 2 days every few weeks) can make it harder to:

• Gain early reading and math skills.
• Build relationships.
• Develop good attendance habits.

High-quality preschool and kindergarten has many benefits!

• The routines your child develops will continue throughout school.
• Make the most of early grades by encouraging your child to attend every day.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Work with your child and his/her teacher to develop your child’s strong attendance.

Talk about it – sing about it – make it an adventure!

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before.
• Share ideas with other parents for getting to school on time.

Before the school year starts

• Find out what day school starts and begin a countdown!
• Keep your child healthy and make sure your child has the required shots.
• Attend orientation with your child to meet teachers and classmates and find out about health and safety procedures.

Ready, Set, GO!

• Ask family members or neighbors for assistance if you need help.
• Try to schedule medical appointments and extended trips when school is not in session.
• If your child seems anxious about preschool or kindergarten, talk to the program director, teacher, your doctor or other parents for advice.

School will be starting soon. These tips can help your children look forward to attending school every day.

Did you know that missing just one or two days of preschool or kindergarten every few weeks can make it harder for children to develop reading skills, and to be prepared for kindergarten or first grade?

Adventure Time!

• Take your child to visit the school to see the building
• If possible, meet their teacher and visit their classroom!
• Visit with neighbors to see who is going to the same school. It’s always fun to have a buddy.
• Explore a pick-up and drop off sharing plan with neighbors, or a “Walking School Bus.”
• Respond right away to outreach from your child’s teacher. Ask any questions you have!

Story Time!

Tell your child positive stories from when you were a young student

• Make up silly songs about everyday routines: getting up, eating breakfast and going to school.
• Read to your child each night in your home language.
• Books can address children’s concerns in playful ways and support conversations

Habit Time!

Set a standard bed and wake-up time a few weeks in advance.

• Let children choose what clothes they’d like to wear the next day.
• Routines make everyone feel in control, and that’s a good feeling

Good Health Time!

Make sure your child has the right shots to attend school

• Ask your child’s teacher about health and safety procedures.
• Schedule medical appointments and extended trips when school is not in session

Preschool through first grade establishes the foundation for relationship building and life-long learning. Help your child gain comfort, self-confidence and delight in these milestone events.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Starting in preschool and kindergarten, too many absences can cause children to fall behind in school.
• Missing 10%, or about 2 days each month over the course of a school year, can make it harder to learn to read.
• Students can still fall behind if they miss just 1 or 2 days every few weeks.
• Being late to school may lead to poor attendance.
• Absences and tardiness can affect the whole classroom if the teacher has to slow down learning to help children catch up.

Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school—and themselves. Start building this habit in preschool so they learn right away that going to school on time, every day is important. Eventually good attendance will be a skill that will help them succeed in high school and college.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Set a regular bedtime and morning routine.
• Lay out clothes and pack backpacks the night before. • Keep your child healthy and make sure your child has the required shots.
• Introduce your children to their teachers and classmates before school starts.
• Develop backup plans for getting to school if something comes up. Call on a family member, a neighbor or another parent.
• Try to schedule medical appointments and extended trips when school isn't in session.
• If your child seems anxious about going to school, talk to teachers, school counselors and other parents for advice on how to make your child feel comfortable and excited about learning.
• If your child must stay home due to illness, ask the teacher for resources and ideas to continue learning at home.

When Do Absences Become a Problem?

• CHRONIC ABSENCE 18 or more days
• WARNING SIGNS 10 to 17 days
• SATISFACTORY 9 or fewer absences

Definition of anxiety: feeling of fear and uneasiness about everyday situations.

If your child is suffering from anxiety, you are not alone. The good news is that in most situations, anxiety is normal and temporary. Anxiety becomes a concern if it persists — it can affect relationships with family, peers and teachers, contribute to academic challenges, and lead to school avoidance/refusal. Addressing anxiety is important for a child’s overall well-being, not just attendance.

In addition, if your child starts to complain of symptoms like a headache or stomachache, it is important to quickly determine whether this is related to anxiety or a physical illness that might require missing school. If the challenge is anxiety, staying home may worsen the situation.

What are the symptoms of anxiety?

Persistent anxiety can present in many ways, making it difficult to recognize. Symptoms may vary depending on the age of the child, and some children may keep worries to themselves or have difficulty explaining their feelings making it hard to identify symptoms.

Anxiety symptoms can include, but aren’t limited to, the following:

• Feeling tired, irritable or easily tearful
• Having trouble separating from parents
• Experiencing difficulty sleeping or frequent nightmares
• Having trouble getting out of bed or dressed for school    
• Lacking appetite
• Having trouble concentrating, which may lead to difficulty starting tasks, problems with homework and falling behind in school
• Experiencing physical symptoms, including stomachaches and headaches
• Avoiding activities they previously enjoyed
• Having negative or continuous thoughts that something bad is going to happen

What can families do?

Here are some tips that you can use to help your child get through these  challenges, by intervening as quickly as possible, and return to school:

• Do not punish your child for refusing to go to school, as this can worsen things. 
• If possible, avoid letting your child stay home. Though staying home from school may provide short-term relief for your child, continued absence from school will lead to the feeling of being disconnected from classmates and teachers, cause your child to fall behind academically and only make it harder to return.
• Speak with your child. Try to understand what’s bothering them and why they are avoiding school. If you are feeling a similar anxiety, it may help to share this with your child and to explain what you are doing to get through it.
• Make it clear that you are there to help your child and that you believe they can face their fears and get through this problem.

Take advantage of school resources.

Working through your child’s anxiety issues can be difficult and scary, and you shouldn’t have to do it alone. Take advantage of the resources at your child’s school:

• Talk with the school nurse, counselor, social worker and/or psychologist to discuss the student’s challenges, identify what can help your child and develop a return-to-school plan.
• For some students, this may need to happen gradually (one or two classes initially and eventually a full day). 
• In certain situations, a 504 plan or Individualized Education Program may be needed to ensure your child receives appropriate support and resources.

If symptoms persist or are very severe, your child’s anxiety may be due to an underlying behavioral health disorder (i.e., anxiety disorder, panic disorder), an undiagnosed learning disability or the result of a physical or chronic health condition and should be evaluated by your child’s medical provider.

Finally, remember to take care of your own physical and emotional well-being!

Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students access learning opportunities and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and on the job.

Families can also advocate for resources to help students learn if they cannot attend in-person.  

DID YOU KNOW?

• Students should miss no more than 9 days of school each year to stay engaged, successful and on track to graduation.

• Frequent absences can be a sign that a student is losing interest in school, struggling with school work, dealing with a bully or facing some other difficulty.
• By 6th grade, absenteeism is one of three signs that a student may drop out of high school.
• By 9th grade, attendance is a better predictor of graduation rates than 8th-grade test scores.
• Missing 10%, or 2 days a month, over the course of the school year, can affect a student’s academic success.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Make school attendance a priority

• Talk about the importance of showing up to school every day.
• Help your teen maintain daily routines, such as finishing homework and getting a good night’s sleep.
• Try not to schedule dental and related medical appointments during the school day.
• Keep your student healthy.
• If your teens must stay home because they are sick, make sure they have asked teachers for resources and materials to make up for the missed learning time in the classroom.

Help your teen stay engaged

• Find out if your children feel engaged by their classes, and feel safe from bullies and other threats.
• Make sure your teens are not missing class because of challenges with behavioral issues or school discipline policies. If any of these are problems, contact the school and work with them to find a solution. Communicate with the school
• Monitor you teen’s academic progress and seek help from teachers or tutors when necessary. Make sure teachers know how to contact you.
• Stay on top of your child’s social contacts. Peer pressure can lead to skipping school, while students without many friends can feel isolated.
• Encourage your teen to join meaningful after-school activities, including sports and clubs.
• Notice and support your students if they are showing signs of anxiety.
• Know the school’s attendance policy – incentives and penalties.
• Check on your teen’s attendance to be sure absences are not adding up.
• Seek help from school staff, other parents or community agencies if you need support.