It makes sense: children learn more effectively when they attend school regularly. Chronic absenteeism is recognized as missing 10% or more of school, a trend that increased significantly following the pandemic. Last year, Alaska saw its chronic absenteeism rate decrease to 45%, down from 49% the previous year. However, students in Alaska still experience the highest rates of absenteeism in the country.
As school leaders look for ways to improve attendance, one of the first steps they can take is to seek input from the true experts: our students and their families.
At the Association of Alaska School Boards Annual Conference earlier this month, families joined school board members and district leaders in a community cafe to explore three questions:
- What makes students want to go to school?
- What are barriers to students attending school?
- What are solutions to reduce chronic absenteeism?
Click here to read the ideas generated by the group (and clustered with an assist from ChatGPT.) Contact Claudia Plesa, cplesa@aasb.org to learn more about hosting community cafes and dialogues.