Attendance Matters

Attendance is key to school success!

Students need to attend school to achieve in school. Families need to send their children to school on time every day. Staff and community members also play a role in ensuring that students attend school – every student, every day. We want all students to attend school at least 95% of the time – missing no more than nine days a year for any reason.

Lucia Mar wants to support students, their families, and our community in ensuring every student can attend school every day.

Missing School Can be a Signal that Students Need Support

We care about each one of our students, and when they are at school each day, we know they are healthy, safe, and learning. However, when students are not in school, they are falling behind. Chronic absenteeism impacts all students—no matter their age. Students who miss just two days a month for any reason are more likely to not read at grade level, and more likely to not graduate.

• Chronic absenteeism may prevent children from reaching early learning milestones.
  Children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the third grade. Students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school.
  
  
• Irregular attendance can be a better predictor of whether students will drop out before graduation than test scores.
  A study of public school students found that an incidence of chronic absenteeism in even a single year between 8th and 12th grade was associated with a seven-fold increase in the likelihood of dropping out.
  
  
• Frequent absences from school can shape adulthood.
  High school dropout, which chronically absent students are more likely to experience, has been linked to poor outcomes later in life, from poverty and diminished health to involvement in the criminal justice system.