Reply to Chronic absenteeism and truancy in DC

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[quote=Anonymous]They should treat it differently depending on grade.

We are at a T1 elementary and chronic absences (and tardies) are a major issue. But at the elementary level it has little to anything to do with the kids. It's parents who don't prioritize it. And think about what it means for a parent to not prioritize getting their 3-10 year old to school for free childcare during working hours. You're talking about parents who aren't employed, generally. May have substance abuse issues or just be absentee generally (my kids have had classmates who relied on an extensive network of extended family, neighbors, and friends to get them to school because parents are simply not present). So at that level it's really about CPS and social interventions to address parental neglect and housing issues. It is not about the 7 yr old just not being sufficiently motivated to come to school.

I am not familiar enough with MS and HS to understand what is going on there but I'm guessing a combo of parental neglect AND motivational issues for kids (including potentially not feeling safe at school for a variety of reasons). At the HS level, providing supports and consequences directly to students makes more sense though.

Also, out if the box idea: based on experiences with chronically absent kids and their families I think DC has a teen pregnancy problem. So many kids having kids. This seems like a no brainer to me-- one of the best possible things you can do to improve outcomes both for women generally and for all kids is to reduce the rate of teen pregnancy. Teenagers are no prepared to raise children in the vast majority of cases and for women, having a child in your teens is one of the fastest ways to reduce your overall education and earnings potential.[/quote]

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