School Leader's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges

School Leader's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges
Author: Jessica Sprick
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 250
Release: 2018-10-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416626832

"For students to be successful in school, they first have to be in school." With that simple statement, Jessica Sprick and Randy Sprick launch a compelling case for prioritizing student attendance. This comprehensive guide provides school and district-level administrators and teams with the background information, strategies, and tools needed to implement a multitiered approach to improving attendance and preventing chronic absence. The authors use the results of their work in schools throughout the United States to dispel the myth that educators have little control over student attendance and provide success stories from elementary and secondary schools that have reversed longstanding patterns of absenteeism. Citing extensive research, Sprick and Sprick share details about the shocking prevalence of chronic absence in U.S. schools and its effects on students, teachers, families, and the school community. They explain how to replace punitive approaches to absenteeism with effective methods that begin with universal supports and continue through Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions for students with more persistent problems. Specifically, they explain how to Build an effective school team to address absenteeism . Create systems to collect accurate data and set priorities. Develop an attendance initiative that generates student enthusiasm as well as staff, parent, and community support. Design and implement strategies that are tailored to specific schoolwide concerns and demographics that reach all students. Equipped with the information and tools presented in this book, educators can ensure wise use of staff and other resources—and create a culture of attendance that is the foundation of successful schools. This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

Teacher's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges

Teacher's Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges
Author: Jessica Sprick
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 162
Release: 2019-02-19
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416627154

Students can succeed in school—but they must be in school to do so. Addressing absenteeism is as important as addressing problematic behavior and academic difficulties in the classroom. To address the pervasive issue of chronic absenteeism—that is, missing 10 percent of school days for any reason—educators must begin to move away from a model of reliance on reactive and punitive approaches and toward one that is preventive and positive, and that uses proven principles of behavioral change. Teacher’s Guide to Tackling Attendance Challenges, by nationally known educators Jessica Sprick and Tricia Berg, provides teachers with the information and resources they need to build a strong classroom-based initiative to improve the attendance of all students, creating a classroom culture of attendance with easy-to-implement strategies. Sprick and Berg provide concrete and practical strategies for teachers to implement in their own classrooms to address chronic absence and improve the attendance of all students, including: A framework for implementation Sample lesson plans Examples and reproducibles for reinforcement systems Talking points for use with students and families Real-world examples of successful classroom-based approaches Handouts for parents on establishing routines, dealing with technology and more When teachers apply the easy-to-implement and minimally invasive presented, they will see significant improvements in student attendance. This book is a copublication of ASCD and Ancora Publishing.

An Essential Guide to Improving Attendance in your School

An Essential Guide to Improving Attendance in your School
Author: Ken Reid
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 242
Release: 2013-11-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134661878

In this engaging book Professor Ken Reid focuses on the needs of school professionals and leaders, providing them with workable, achievable solutions to radically reducing their truancy rates. As well as discussing the importance of regular attendance and the importance of sound leadership, Professor Reid provides: A highly effective whole school strategy for use in both primary and secondary schools Checklists on good practice Early intervention strategies Advice on using attendance panels Guidance on effective monitoring schemes Supporting throughout with case-studies, sample letters, reports, attendance calendars and action plans, this book will be an essential staff-room resource for head teachers, deputy head teachers, teachers and any educational professional eager to raise standards for all.

Absent from School

Absent from School
Author: Michael A. Gottfried
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
Total Pages: 310
Release: 2021-03-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1682532798

In Absent from School, Gottfried and Hutt offer a comprehensive and timely resource for educators and policy makers seeking to understand the scope, impact, and causes of chronic student absenteeism. The editors present a series of studies by leading researchers from a variety of disciplines that address which students are missing school and why, what roles schools themselves play in contributing to or offsetting patterns of absenteeism, and ways to assess student attendance for purposes of school accountability. The contributors examine school-based initiatives that focus on a range of issues, including transportation, student health, discipline policies, and protections for immigrant students, as well as interventions intended to improve student attendance. Only in the past two or three years has chronic absenteeism become the focus of attention among policy makers, civil rights advocates, and educators. Absent from School provides the first critical, systematic look at research that can inform and guide those who are working to ensure that every child is in school and learning every day.

Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers

Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers
Author: Christopher A. Kearney
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2016
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0199985294

School absenteeism is a pervasive and difficult problem faced by mental health and school-based professionals. Even in mild forms, school absenteeism has been shown to be a significant risk factor for social, behavioral, and academic problems in middle childhood and adolescence, as well as psychiatric, economic, and occupational difficulties in adulthood. Problematic absenteeism has been examined for decades by professionals of many different disciplines, leading to a considerably fractured literature. Managing School Absenteeism at Multiple Tiers provides an integrative strategy for preventing, assessing, and addressing cases of youth with school absenteeism at multiple levels of severity and complexity. Dr. Christopher Kearney presents a multi-tiered framework based on prevention (Tier 1), early intervention for emerging cases (Tier 2), and more extensive intervention and systemic strategies for severe cases (Tier 3). Each tier is based on empirically supported strategies from the literature, and emphasis is placed on specific, implementable recommendations. This approach is based on a Response to Intervention model that has emerged as a powerful guide to prevention, assessment, and treatment of social and academic problems in schools. Response to Intervention is based upon tenets that parallel developments in the school absenteeism literature: (1) a proactive focus on early identification of learning and behavior problems and immediate, effective intervention, (2) universal, targeted, and intensive interventions, (3) frequent progress monitoring, (4) functional behavioral assessment, (5) empirically supported treatment procedures and protocols to reduce obstacles to academic achievement (including absenteeism), and (6) a team-based approach for implementation. This user-friendly, practical guide will be useful to mental health professionals, school administrators, guidance counselors, social workers and psychologists, as well as others who address kids with problematic absenteeism such as pediatricians and probation officers.

Tackling Truancy in Schools

Tackling Truancy in Schools
Author: Ken Reid
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 549
Release: 2003-09-02
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134628145

First Published in 2004. This pack on tackling truancy in schools is specifically written for use by teachers and for other caring professionals in the field, such as, education welfare officers, education social workers and educational psychologists. It brings together in twenty-four concise units the latest knowledge and good practice in the prevention and combating of truancy and other forms of non-attendance at school. Some units focus on understanding the causes and issues involved in truancy while others focus on the Government’s latest initiatives. The ideas contained in the units are specifically designed to help schools, LEAs and other caring professionals meet the Government’s new targets for reducing truancy. In order to help readers make the best use of the pack and its materials: each unit begins by providing a summary of its contents; each unit ends with a range of professional development questions or tasks which can be undertaken during training events. The pack can be read alongside Ken Reid’s book Truancy and Schools, also published by Routledge.

Stop Leading, Start Building!

Stop Leading, Start Building!
Author: Robyn R. Jackson
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 212
Release: 2021-02-16
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416629866

You are a school administrator—a principal or maybe a district leader. You're doing everything "right"—poring over data, trying new strategies, launching annual initiatives, bringing in outside trainers. So why do the outcomes you seek still seem so far away? The problem isn't you; it's that you were trained in school leadership, and school leadership just isn’t up to the challenge. Each year, Robyn R. Jackson helps thousands of administrators stop wasting time and energy on flawed leadership approaches that succeed only with the right staff, students, parents, budget, and boss. As they have discovered, it's possible to transform your school with the people and resources you already have. The secret? Stop leading and start building! In this book, you'll learn to use Jackson's breakthrough Buildership Model™ to escape the "school improvement hamster wheel" and finally create the school your students and teachers deserve. The work involves a handful of simple shifts in how you approach . . . • Purpose: Instead of chasing tiny gains or the "next new thing" every year, you'll establish and use an ambitious vision, mission, and set of core values to galvanize your staff, keep everyone focused, and create true accountability for achieving your goals. • People: You’ll discover new ways to help every teacher grow one level in one domain in one year or less and, ultimately, develop high levels of both will and skill. • Pathway: Instead of trying to tackle every problem at once, you'll identify the biggest obstacle standing in your way right now and figure out exactly how to remove it once and for all. • Plan: You'll learn a new process for solution implementation that is iterative, cyclical, and capable of powering both short-term wins and ongoing transformation, year over year. When you stop leading and start building, you let go of the idea that you need to work harder to make your school "work better." You no longer settle for incremental improvement when what you really want is dramatic change and better learning outcomes for all. It's time to make the shift from leadership to buildership. Get ready to turn your school into a success story.

Solving Academic and Behavior Problems

Solving Academic and Behavior Problems
Author: Margaret Searle
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2020-09-18
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416629645

"If you are a teacher looking for a proven way to help and inspire more students, a coach searching for more effective practices to support teachers, or a school leader working to create positive, systemwide change, then this book is for you. It is a book of wish craft—a way to craft, or to make real, our most important wishes for our students." —From the foreword by Harvey F. Silver How many times have you been stumped by a student's failure to learn? You tried everything in your tool kit, but nothing worked. Now what if there were a process that would help you pinpoint the student's specific need and design an action plan to swiftly remedy the problem? In Solving Academic and Behavior Problems, Margaret Searle and Marilyn Swartz offer just that. This process, based on the positive psychology of appreciative inquiry, builds on what is working with students to address what is not working. It's a system of support that helps general education teachers partner with specialists and parents to learn new ways to enrich academic, social-emotional, and behavioral growth through structured conversations and a series of productive meetings of 30 minutes or less. Using more than 25 video clips, Searle and Swartz walk you through the six basic steps of the appreciative inquiry problem-solving process: 1. Connect with team members and stakeholders. 2. Review the meeting focus/concern. 3. Share a story that details when you successfully addressed the concern. 4. Establish a goal using a concise "DATA" framework. 5. Design an action plan. 6. Commit to an action. The authors also outline how to use five whys to uncover hidden barriers to student achievement when learning isn't improving. Each chapter contains links to online video examples, activities, reflection questions, scenarios, handy tools, and tips from practitioners. A great resource to strengthen RTI and MTSS plans and invaluable to teachers, support staff, and administrators alike, Solving Academic and Behavior Problems provides the kind of insights and guidance that expand and sharpen educators' capacity to help all students learn.

The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports

The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports
Author: Howard S. Adelman
Publisher: Corwin Press
Total Pages: 409
Release: 2006
Genre: Education
ISBN: 141290966X

"Emphasizing an intervention framework that is comprehensive, multifaceted, and cohesive, and offering a sophisticated approach to rethinking and facilitating systemic changes to infrastructure and policy at school and community levels, The School Leader's Guide to Student Learning Supports covers strategies built on decades of research. The authors provide case studies, resources, quizzes, cartoons, and more than 75 figures, tables, and tools for analysis and capacity building to help school leaders understand, assess, and remedy the gap between the learning supports students need and the learning supports they are currently receiving."--BOOK JACKET.

Chronic Absenteeism: Prevention & Intervention Strategies for Schools, Families, & Communities

Chronic Absenteeism: Prevention & Intervention Strategies for Schools, Families, & Communities
Author: Sharon Bradley
Publisher: National Professional Resources, Inc.
Total Pages: 6
Release: 2022-07-05
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1949961680

This quick-reference laminated guide by Sharon Bradley examines the widespread problem of chronic absenteeism in schools, from why students fail to show up to school, to how to prevent excessive absences, to how to find missing students and re-engage them so that they are able to get back on track and ultimately graduate and reach their full potential. Topics covered include implications and impact of chronic absenteeism; essential practices for building a positive school climate; tiered intervention strategies for teachers, school counselors, nurses, and administrators; absenteeism prevention strategies for families; engaging the community to prevent chronic absenteeism; student recovery and re-engagement strategies; intensive school-based interventions: small restorative learning environments; intensive district-level interventions: the attendance review board; individualized family support plans.