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Item(s) found: 274

Access Controls Over Student Information Systems

Date Captured	Tuesday August 19 2014, 1:28 PM
Final report - March 2014 -Employees in six upstate New York school districts had inappropriate computer access to sensitive student data and were able to change student grades and attendance records without proper authorization, according to an audit released by New York State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

US Education Department Model Notice for Directory Information

Date Captured

Monday September 05 2011, 12:21 PM

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a Federal law, requires that [School District], with certain exceptions, obtain your written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from your child's education records. However, [School District] may disclose appropriately designated "directory information" without written consent, unless you have advised the District to the contrary in accordance with District procedures. Directory information may include: Student's name; Address; Telephone listing; Electronic mail address; Photograph; Date and place of birth; Major field of study; Dates of attendance; Grade level; Participation in officially recognized activities and sports; Weight and height of members of athletic teams; Degrees, honors, and awards received; The most recent educational agency or institution attended; Student ID number, user ID, or other unique personal identifier used to communicate in electronic systems that cannot be used to access education records without a PIN, password, etc. (A student's SSN, in whole or in part, cannot be used for this purpose.)

NYS Assembly Bill A8474 same as Senate Bill 2357b

Date Captured

Monday September 05 2011, 10:16 AM

BILL NO A08474 Same as S 2357-B (Sponsor: Sen. Suzi Oppenheimer - passed Senate 62-0) ASSEMBLY SPONSOR Rosenthal (MS) COSPONSOR Nolan: A SCHOOL MAY NOT, EVEN WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE, DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO USE FOR: (I) MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (II) SELLING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR USE IN MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (III) CREATING OR CORRECTING AN INDIVIDUAL OR HOUSEHOLD PROFILE; (IV) COMPILATION OF A STUDENT LIST. DISCLOSABLE DIRECTORY INFORMATION (DDI) HEREAFTER REFERRED TO IN THIS SECTION AS "DIRECTORY INFORMATION", MEANS WITH RESPECT TO A STUDENT, THE STUDENT'S NAME; PHOTOGRAPH; AGE; MAJOR FIELD OF STUDY; GRADE LEVEL; ENROLLMENT STATUS (E.G., UNDERGRADUATE OR GRADUATE, FULL-TIME OR PART-TIME); DATES OF ATTENDANCE; PARTICIPATION IN OFFICIALLY RECOGNIZED ACTIVITIES AND SPORTS; WEIGHT AND HEIGHT OF MEMBERS OF ATHLETIC TEAMS; DEGREES, HONORS AND AWARDS RECEIVED; AND THE MOST RECENT EDUCATIONAL AGENCY OR INSTITUTION ATTENDED. (D) "PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION (PISI)" SHALL INCLUDE DISCLOSABLE DIRECTORY INFORMATION, AND A STUDENT'S OR PARENT'S ADDRESS, TELEPHONE NUMBER, AND E-MAIL ADDRESS. A SCHOOL MAY DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION ONLY WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCEDURE PROVIDED IN SUBDIVISION THREE OF THIS SECTION IF:

NYS Sen. Oppenheimer and Sen. Montgomery on S.2357

Date Captured

Tuesday June 21 2011, 4:25 PM

Sen. Oppenheimer and Sen. Montgomery on S.2357 @ 36:30 minutes. Senators demonstrate responsible data stewardship. S.2357 excerpt: [(C) UNLESS OTHERWISE ALLOWED BY LAW, A SCHOOL MAY NOT, EVEN WITH THE AFFIRMATIVE CONSENT OF THE PARENT OF THE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE OR THE ELIGIBLE STUDENT IN ATTENDANCE, DISCLOSE PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO USE FOR: (I) MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (II) SELLING PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE STUDENT INFORMATION FOR USE IN MARKETING PRODUCTS OR SERVICES; (III) CREATING OR CORRECTING AN INDIVIDUAL OR HOUSEHOLD PROFILE; (IV) COMPILATION OF A STUDENT LIST; (V) SALE OF THE INFORMATION FOR ANY COMMERCIAL PURPOSE; OR (VI) ANY OTHER PURPOSE CONSIDERED BY THE SCHOOL AS LIKELY TO BE A COMMERCIAL, FOR-PROFIT ACTIVITY. (D) IN MAKING AN ALLOWABLE DISCLOSURE UNDER THIS SUBDIVISION, A SCHOOL MAY ONLY DISCLOSE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF INFORMATION NECESSARY TO ACCOM PLISH THE PURPOSE OF THE DISCLOSURE.]

TITLE 20 > CHAPTER 31 > SUBCHAPTER III > Part 4 > § 1232g

Date Captured

Tuesday March 15 2011, 12:47 PM

FERPA statute regarding directory information - note PICTURE and E-MAIL NOT in statute. US ED added through regulations -- they were not added by Congress: 5)(A) For the purposes of this section the term “directory information” relating to a student includes the following: the student’s name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, major field of study, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, weight and height of members of athletic teams, dates of attendance, degrees and awards received, and the most recent previous educational agency or institution attended by the student.

Sunguard

Date Captured

Saturday November 21 2009, 1:02 PM

[Student Information Management -- eSchoolPLUS is a student management system that helps educators and parents by providing them direct, real-time access to the most relevant student information available. Teachers and administrators can easily manage day-to-day student information and data such as demographics, scheduling, attendance, discipline, standardized tests, report cards and transcripts. With eSchoolPLUS, parents gain the ability to be more informed as to their child’s grades, attendance, assignments and discipline information. Superintendents, principals and other district administrators and school board members can track daily school status, student performance and progress.]

U Alabama at Birmingham Student Records Policy, Photo as Directory Information

Date Captured

Thursday December 04 2008, 8:41 PM

UAB’s Student Records Policy, derived from the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), lists the following items of a student record as “directory information:” Name, Telephone number, E-mail address, Date and place of birth, Major field of study, Participation in officially recognized activities and sports, Dates of attendance, Degrees and awards received, Institution most recently previously attended These items are considered public information which may be made available by the university without prior consent of the student and are considered part of the public record of the student’s attendance. Effective Spring 2009, the photo used on the CampusCard will become an item of directory information. Under the provisions of FERPA, students have the right to withhold the disclosure of directory information.

Frequently Asked Questions

Date Captured

Sunday June 01 2008, 4:41 PM

What is "Directory Information"? FERPA defines "directory information" as information contained in the education records of a student that would not generally be considered harmful or an invasion of privacy if disclosed. Typically, "directory information" includes information such as name, address, telephone listing, date and place of birth, participation in officially recognized activities and sports, and dates of attendance. A school may disclose "directory information" to third parties without consent if it has given public notice of the types of information which it has designated as "directory information," the parent's or eligible student's right to restrict the disclosure of such information, and the period of time within which a parent or eligible student has to notify the school in writing that he or she does not want any or all of those types of information designated as "directory information." The means of notification could include publication in various sources, including a newsletter, in a local newspaper, or in the student handbook. The school could also include the "directory information" notification as part of the general notification of rights under FERPA. The school does not have to notify a parent or eligible student individually. (34 CFR § 99.37.)

Privacy issues curb teen-driver rules

Date Captured

Wednesday August 29 2007, 8:24 PM

Chicago Tribune reports, "The law would have required school districts to submit information to the State Board of Education, detailing whether a student had been expelled, truant or who had dropped out of school. That information would then have been passed to Secretary of State Jesse White's office, which would have flagged the affected students and barred them from driving privileges. State education officials said they decided to delay enforcing the law after the U.S. Department of Education notified them that it violated the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, said Matthew Vanover, a spokesman for the state board. 'They told us it would be a violation ... for that information to be shared with the secretary of state's office,' he added."

Truancy could result in tickets

Date Captured

Saturday August 18 2007, 7:59 PM

Farmington Press reports, "The absence policy is on a semester basis. After three absences, a letter is sent to the parents about the school attendance policy. This letter is sent out automatically to those students who have missed that number of days, even if they have a doctor’s excuse. 'There is a contact number to call on the letter. Many times, parents who have received this first letter will call and say they have sent doctor’s excuses,' said Swinarski. 'They should not worry — if they’ve called, then that means they’re doing what they should do.' She explained this also gives parents an opportunity to perhaps let the district know about a certain health issue a child may have that can keep them from attending school. 'We can help them in whatever way they may need (after reviewing the case),' she said. A letter is also sent when a student has six absences in a semester. At seven absences, more steps are put into place. 'When a student reaches that seventh day, a letter is sent to the parents saying that anymore absences over that number would not allow the student to make up the work. We send out a date and time for a meeting that we would like to discuss this with them,' said Burch."

A Letter from Selected Civil Rights Groups on Multiple Measures

Date Captured

Thursday August 09 2007, 11:26 AM

EXCERPT: To counter the narrowing of the curriculum and exclusion of important subjects that has been extensively documented as a consequence of NCLB, the new law should also allow states to include other subjects, using multiple forms of assessment, in an index of school indicators. To ensure strong attention is given to reading and math, these subjects can be weighted more heavily. Graduation rates and grade promotion rates should be given substantial weight in any accountability system. Other relevant indicators of school progress, such as attendance and college admission rates, could be included.

Student-tracking system launches

Date Captured

Sunday August 05 2007, 5:38 PM

Tulsa World reports "It will also provide a more accurate assessment of dropout and graduation rates and student mobility, said State Superintendent Sandy Garrett. 'Mobility is a huge issue in today's world,' she said 'People move quite frequently.' For some children, that can mean transferring to two, three or even four different schools during the school year, she said. 'With this system, records can be instantly transferred to new schools,' Garrett said."

Teachers Unhappy With Revised Attendance Practice

Date Captured	Monday July 30 2007, 8:49 PM
Norwalk Citizen-News reports, "A recent survey of teachers at Norwalk and Brien McMahon high schools revealed that the majority are dissatisfied with the revised administrative practice for penalizing students who are tardy or skip class."

THE CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE COMPTROLLER BUREAU OF MANAGEMENT AUDIT : AUDIT REPORT ON THE MONITORING AND TRACKING OF SPECIAL EDUCATION SERVICES FOR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS BY THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Date Captured

Thursday July 26 2007, 9:55 AM

MD06-073A -- June 29, 2007. "Based on our findings, we make nine recommendations, five of which are listed below. DOE should: Develop and enforce written formal policies and procedures to ensure that services are provided according to the provisions of each student’s IEP. Develop policies to ensure that all attendance forms and summaries are maintained as evidence of services provided. Ensure that providers fill in all required information on the special education attendance forms and sign the forms as certification of the delivery of services. Ensure that supervisory review of attendance records is performed and documented. Institute a control (e.g., periodically reconcile special education attendance forms with general education attendance forms) to help ensure that the days that services are provided are accurately recorded."

Law aims to keep teen drivers in school

Date Captured	Monday July 23 2007, 9:16 AM
UPI reports, " A law that took effect in Illinois this month will revoke the drivers' licenses of high school students who have bad attendance records."

Grant aids districts to keep kids in school

Date Captured

Monday July 23 2007, 8:50 AM

Troy Record reports, "Goodwin [superintendent of the Lansingburgh School District] said the effort began as a look at issues affecting youth, which touched on the correlation between crime and young people, and then gradually narrowed its focus to keeping kids in school. 'There's a lot of issues that go into truancy - sometimes it's family structure, sometimes it's the child's education level, sometimes it's substance abuse or mental health issues that aren't being addressed,' Riegert said. 'Sometimes there's a perception by the child that there's no one who really cares if they go to school." Mary Capabianca, who is in her third year as assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in the Troy district, concurred. She says reasons for truancy can include a lack of hope on the part of a student, or alternately a sense of obligation to help out their families during tough times.'"

Busing to continue for Dayton high school students

Date Captured	Saturday July 21 2007, 6:56 AM
Dayton Business Journal (Ohio) reports, "Superintendent Percy Mack said continuing busing will help the district avoid losing traction in its improvements in attendance and graduation rates. Attendance has risen to 91 percent from 85 percent in 2001; graduation rates rose from to 79.5 percent in 2006 from 51 percent in 2001."

Utica schools to re-examine racial balance -- Utica schools to re-examine racial balance

Date Captured

Monday July 16 2007, 9:20 AM

uticaOD.com reports, "A recent Supreme Court decision could affect policies governing the Utica City School District's magnet program and its plans to redraw school attendance boundaries, school officials said. While school leaders say they will stay committed to creating diverse schools, the court's decision to strike down two other districts' integration plans worries some community members who wonder if the district will keep pushing to achieve racial balance in schools."

Smaller schools work well in NYC

Date Captured

Sunday July 15 2007, 12:33 PM

Murray B. Light, former editor of The Buffalo News opines, "Truancy, discipline problems, substance abuse and gang involvement show great improvement. The level of student activity in extracurricular school also is much higher and more varied in the small schools than in the larger ones. The report also shows that student attendance was better in the smaller schools and that a smaller percentage of students dropped out of the smaller schools than the larger ones."

New Hampshire Governor Lynch Signs Law Aimed at Increasing New Hampshire’s High School Graduation Rate

Date Captured	Wednesday June 27 2007, 8:54 AM
AllAmericanPatriots.com reports, "New Hampshire Governor John Lynch today signed into law legislation raising the compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18, as part of an overall statewide effort to increase New Hampshire’s high school graduation rate. The legislation is one of Gov. Lynch’s top priorities."

SEC intends to scrutinize class attendance

Date Captured

Tuesday June 26 2007, 9:11 AM

Orlando Sentinel reports, "Georgia's attendance policy penalizes athletes with suspensions for missing classes and $10 fines and suspensions for missing academic appointments. Yes, you read that correctly: Georgia is fining its athletes. And the concept might spread. This coming academic year, the Southeastern Conference will require its 12 member schools to have some sort of attendance policy in place -- and ways to enforce those policies."

NYS Dept. of Labor to Inspect Employers for Compliance with Child Labor Laws

Date Captured

Monday June 25 2007, 9:02 PM

With the end of the school year, the employment of minors rises dramatically, particularly in the restaurant, retail, construction, and recreational industries, among others. In order to ensure that this summer employment is in compliance with the law, inspectors will visit employers unannounced. Businesses and municipalities that violate the laws are subject to civil penalties, which can be as high as $1,000 per violation for the first offense. During 2006, the NYS Department of Labor cited 252 businesses for child labor violations and collected $120,800 in civil penalties. The NYS child labor laws apply to the employment of all minors under 18 years of age. These laws prohibit particularly dangerous types of employment, such as working with certain kinds of machinery. Child labor laws also set work time limitations for children to prevent them from working excessive hours during the day, or working too late at night. There are also requirements regarding school attendance rules, employment certificates and permits.

Laws Governing the Employment of Minors

Date Captured	Monday June 25 2007, 8:57 PM
New York State Department of Labor

Workplace Rules for Students

Date Captured	Monday June 25 2007, 8:50 PM
New York State Department of Labor

Schools call roll at a border crossing

Date Captured	Monday June 25 2007, 8:42 AM
LA Times reports, "Children who are U.S. citizens or legal immigrants but live in Mexico cross every morning to get a better education for free in Arizona, breaking the law that requires them to live within the boundaries of the district. To many of their parents, who have ties in both countries, not living in the district is the educational equivalent of jaywalking."

Principals respond to truant sweep

Date Captured	Wednesday June 20 2007, 3:11 PM
Maryland Gazette reports, "The law states that starting in October, students will have to present their school attendance records to the Motor Vehicle Administration to get a driver's permit. Students under the age of 16 with more than 10 unexcused absences in the prior school semester will not be allowed to get a permit."

School is fine - for teachers

Date Captured	Wednesday June 20 2007, 9:20 AM
Denver Post columnist Al Knight opines, "Skepticism is the only appropriate response to news that the Denver Public Schools will hold principals and teachers more accountable for low student attendance."

New Illinois truancy law clashes with federal law

Date Captured

Sunday June 17 2007, 11:41 PM

"Another new law is coming that could further drive down truancy rates in Rockford schools. It threatens something that many teenagers hold dear: their driver’s licenses." "Starting July 1, the new state law requires Illinois school districts to report chronic and habitual truants to Secretary of State Jesse White. Students on the list will not be allowed to obtain a learner’s permit or driver’s license until they are 18, unless the School District certifies that the applicant has resumed regular school attendance. Rockford School District attorney Stephen Katz raises one concern with the new law — another law, called the Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act, prohibits sharing student records without parental permission to all but a select group of agencies."

Kids don't drop out all of the sudden

Date Captured

Sunday June 17 2007, 11:51 AM

Roanoke Times opines, "Addison's reward system proves that dangling carrots does work by giving students an incentive to learn beyond the satisfaction of earning good grades. But so too must schools, starting in the primary grades, use sticks to compel attendance. This means diligently tracking down absentees, talking with the parents, hounding them and, if necessary, taking enforcement action. If Roanoke can get kids coming to school, it stands a better chance of keeping them in school."

State toughens its penalties for school truancy

Date Captured	Sunday June 17 2007, 10:41 AM
Mainetoday.com reports, "Parents of [Maine] elementary schoolchildren will face larger fines and more intervention from the state if their children miss a lot of school, under a bill passed by the House and Senate this week."

Center helps students examine behavior, consequences

Date Captured

Saturday June 16 2007, 12:53 PM

SanDiego.com reports, "Since the program began, ALC has achieved an 83 percent to 85 percent nonreturn rate. Four in five kids who go through Rincon's ALC don't come back. The first part of the packet involves writing a three-paragraph essay recounting the incident that got the student in trouble and examining the consequences. Other sections of the packet include exercises such as word searches, crossword puzzles and self-evaluations, all designed to help students think critically about their actions. But Coogan seems to make the strongest impression during her discussions with students. She's straightforward, doesn't talk down to them and listens to their concerns."

Anti-truancy efforts begin to pay off for Rockford

Date Captured

Tuesday June 12 2007, 9:41 AM

Rockford Register opines, "Truancy court may seem harsh, but it is not nearly as harsh as life without a good education. Kids who go to school regularly get better grades. Students who enjoy success at school are more likely to graduate. Teens who graduate are more likely to get better jobs and earn more money to support themselves and their families. Truant students are three times more likely to turn to crime than those who attend school regularly. We have a new jail for those students, but would rather see them turn their lives around than become guests at the criminal justice complex."

Truants dent Texas wallet

Date Captured

Tuesday June 12 2007, 9:11 AM

Galveston Daily News reports, "Truant students will cost Galveston public school district thousands of dollars in state money this year, a Region IV consultant told trustees last week. School districts receive funding based on average daily attendance. Records show that Galveston Independent School District’s absenteeism rate was so high in 2006-07 that, on average, each student missed 9.9 days during the year, said Jim Vinson, who conducted an audit on the district’s public education information management system (PEIMS) reports."

Schools call 4-day week a success

Date Captured

Monday June 11 2007, 1:42 PM

Deseret Morning News reports, "Student absences are down. Learning time is up. And people are happy. The four-day school week Rich School District started this past school year is going well, Superintendent Dale Lamborn and Rich Board of Education members told the [Utah] State Board of Education on Thursday. Students go to school Monday through Thursday. Fridays are typically set aside for athletic events under the three-year program approved by the State Board of Education last year."

Plan to pay kids for grades sees success, and suspicion

Date Captured	Monday June 11 2007, 1:36 PM
STATEN ISLAND ADVANCE reports, "The cash-for-kids incentives that Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Education officials are considering in a bid to boost attendance and marks are similar to what the 2,000-student district in Coshocton, Ohio, has tried for three years. And so far, so good, according to Conshocton's School Superintendent Wade Lucas."

Four simple steps can boost grad rate Reworking Rochester: Schools

Date Captured

Thursday June 07 2007, 6:41 AM

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Michael Christman, president of the New York State Institute of Educational Excellence opines, "An examination of district data provides us with four simple steps that can be accomplished now: Ensure that all students attend school regularly; ensure that all students are safe while at school; ensure that all students take the coursework necessary to graduate; and ensure that everyone is held accountable for the outcome."

Computer hacked --- 45,000 students' personal records accessed

Date Captured	Tuesday June 05 2007, 2:25 PM
Bytecrusher reports, "Recently, a hacker broke into the network of the University of Colorado and accessed the personal details of over 45,000 students."

Texas school ready for handheld computers

Date Captured	Monday June 04 2007, 11:23 AM
Baytown Sun reports, "Each of the 350 students will receive a specially designed handheld computer on which they can type notes, exchange e-mails with teachers and fellow students, create and view customized graphic animations and multimedia presentations, present their projects to the class and research topics on the Internet."

‘Failing’ schools to get axe - DOE decides to reshuffle the deck once more

Date Captured

Monday June 04 2007, 11:08 AM

Bay Ridge Courier reports, "Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced plans to revamp 'failing' alternative schools and programs due to poor attendance and success rates. To be eliminated are schools for pregnant girls, New Beginnings centers, which take in disruptive students, and many schools operated by Offsite Educational Services (OES), the alternative high school system that helps students earn General Equivalency Diplomas (GED) and offers small learning environments."

Local schools make radical changes to battle dropout rate

Date Captured

Sunday June 03 2007, 10:10 AM

The Journal News reports, "From creating evening and weekend classes to instituting formal programs that allow students five years to graduate, the schools have made radical changes in an effort to boost achievement and keep kids in school. But officials say there are more complex reasons behind this life-changing decision made by too many teens. Often, schools are blamed for a student's choice to leave, but educators say many drop out for myriad reasons, including incarceration, drug abuse, problems at home or other reasons outside the purview of the classroom."

Florida Attendance Law

Date Captured	Saturday June 02 2007, 10:50 AM

Driving privilege linked to attendance helps keep students in school

Date Captured	Saturday June 02 2007, 10:42 AM
Jackson County Floridan reports, "When high school graduation ceremonies took place across Florida recently, it's probable a state attendance law passed in 2004 kept at least some of the students from dropping out."

Auburn schools fight poor attendance

Date Captured

Saturday June 02 2007, 10:35 AM

Post-Standard reports, "He [Auburn schools Superintendent John Plume] addressed the problem in this month's district newsletter and said the district will take these steps in 2007-08: *Attempt to list attendance records on student transcripts that are reviewed by colleges and businesses. *Make more calls to parents and dole out more consequences for unexcused tardiness and absences. *Give students with the best attendance first crack at taking driving classes in the summer. 'However, little will change unless students want to be in school and parents and community members help boost the importance of improved attendance,' he said in the newsletter."

Computers hacked at Hilton Head Island High

Date Captured	Friday June 01 2007, 7:03 PM
The Island Packet reports, "It’s unclear how a hacker could have penetrated the computer network to get access to the students’ attendance records, both Ryan and Hudson said. 'We thought we had put in as many stop-gaps as we could,' Ryan said. She said the records are maintained on a 'statewide database — it’s not a local system they hacked into.'”

Institute for Student Achievement Receives $18,000 Investment From the Long Island Community Foundation

Date Captured

Wednesday May 30 2007, 10:09 AM

This grant will support ISA's partnership with Hempstead High School, where ISA is working to transform the school into four small, personalized and academically small learning communities that graduate students on time and college ready. The conversion of Hempstead High School brings together three institutions, ISA, Adelphi University and the Hempstead School District, that share a vision for the development of Hempstead High School into a school of academic excellence. This transformation represents a critical "first" for Long Island, as it is the most ambitious conversion of a large, comprehensive high school ever to be undertaken in the region. The conversion of the school, which serves approximately 1,800 students, will not be merely the downsizing of a large school. It will be a culture shift -- from a community characterized by low expectations, impersonal relationships and poor instruction -- to a school characterized by high expectations, high student academic achievement and a personalized learning environment that welcomes students and parents. This shift will result in an increased student attendance rate, an increased course passing rate and an increased graduation rate.

Ottumwa, IOWA school parents peeved over policy

Date Captured

Thursday May 24 2007, 8:19 AM

The Ottumwa Courier reports, "The district’s attendance policy, which went district-wide the first day of this school year, allows a virtually unlimited amount of 'excused' absences approved by a doctor or school nurse. Parents can only keep a child out six days without proof. After six 'unexcused' absences, the district starts sending letters stressing the importance of attendance. Successive letters contain stronger, more insistent language. If those do not work, the district orders an attendance hearing with the parents. If ignored, they can bring in the county attorney. 'These are threats and strong-arm tactics that are going to alienate parents,' Runkle claims."

Mike gives high marks for rising scores

Date Captured

Tuesday May 22 2007, 7:23 AM

NY Daily News reports, "State officials are expected today to release lackluster reading scores for city elementary schoolers, but that didn't stop Mayor Bloomberg yesterday from touting near-perfect success in improving the schools. 'By virtually every objective measure - attendance, promotion rates, test scores, you name it - student achievement is on the rise,' the mayor said as he released City Hall's version of the 2006 graduation rate. City officials put the graduation rate at a record-breaking 60% because they include kids who graduate in August after summer school, kids who drop out and earn GEDs and special education students who earn individualized diplomas."

Baltimore school officials at risk of firing

Date Captured	Saturday May 19 2007, 8:52 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "At a recent school board meeting, Gittings [president of the administrative union of Baltimore City public schools] said principals have trouble updating records because of high student turnover in city schools. He said that other systems do not have the same issues and that it can take up to a day to update just one student file."

New Mexico Youth Task Force assesses student needs

Date Captured

Friday May 18 2007, 8:44 PM

Cibola County Bureau reports, "The meeting of the new Community Task Force, formed to deal with the growing problems of truancy and violence in the schools, got underway Wednesday morning at the Coyote del Malpais Golf Course. The purpose of the task force, which includes representatives from different agencies in the community, is to formulate programs to help keep kids in school, and to deal with the problems they have in society."

Georgia Department of Education Attendance Policy

Date Captured	Friday May 18 2007, 1:10 PM

Orange-Ulster BOCES Attendance Policy

Date Captured	Friday May 18 2007, 9:17 AM

New Hampshire dropout bill passes House

Date Captured

Thursday May 17 2007, 8:48 AM

Concord Monitor reports, "The bill would do more than simply raise the attendance age or require 16- to 18-year-olds to remain in the classroom against their will. An at-risk student 16 or older could leave the traditional school setting if the student worked with a parent or guardian and the school principal and guidance counselor to develop an 'alternative learning plan' as a route to a diploma or GED certificate. The alternative plans could include internships, community service, apprenticeships, online courses or other programming."

When the schoolhouse feels like a jailhouse: Relationships between attendance, school environment and violence in New York city public schools

Date Captured	Tuesday May 15 2007, 1:04 AM
By: Sharon Balmer [2006] -- This quasi-experimental study was conducted to examine whether the implementation of a punitive discipline policy, known as the Impact Schools intervention, in ten New York City high schools was successful in increasing attendance rate.

NYSSBA Sample Attendance Policy

Date Captured	Tuesday May 15 2007, 12:45 AM

Section 3213 - Chapter 16, Title IV, Article 65, Part I -- Supervisors of attendance; attendance teachers; attendance officers; appointment, compensation, powers and duties

Date Captured	Monday May 14 2007, 9:39 PM

Section 104.1(i) of Commissioner’s Regulations

Date Captured

Monday May 14 2007, 9:18 PM

EXCERPT: (vi) a description of the incentives to be employed to encourage pupil attendance and any disciplinary sanctions to be used to discourage unexcused pupil absences, tardiness and early departures; (vii) a description of the notice to be provided to the parent(s) of or person(s) in parental relation to pupils who are absent, tardy or depart early without proper excuse. (viii) a description of the process to develop specific intervention strategies to be employed by teachers and other school employees to address identified patterns of unexcused pupil absence, tardiness or early departure; (ix) identification of the person(s) designated in each school building who will be responsible for reviewing pupil attendance records and initiating appropriate action to address unexcused pupil absence, tardiness and early departure consistent with the comprehensive attendance policy. (3) The board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board and governing body of a nonpublic school shall annually review the building level pupil attendance records and if such records show a decline in pupil attendance the board or governing body shall revise the comprehensive pupil attendance policy and make any revisions to the plan deemed necessary to improve pupil attendance. (4) Each board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board, and nonpublic school shall promote necessary community awareness of its comprehensive attendance policy by: (i) providing a plain language summary of the policy to the parents or persons in parental relation to students at the beginning of each school year and taking such other steps deemed necessary to promote the understanding of such policy by students and their parents or persons in parental relation; (ii) providing each teacher with a copy of the policy and any amendments thereto as soon as practicable following initial adoption or amendment of the policy, and providing new teachers with a copy of the policy upon their employment; and (iii) making copies of the policy available to any other member of the community upon request.

Section 3211 - Title IV, Article 65, Part I -- Records of attendance upon instruction

Date Captured

Monday May 14 2007, 9:00 PM

Sec. 3211. Records of attendance upon instruction. 1. Who shall keep such record. The teacher of every minor required by the provisions of part one of this article to attend upon instruction, or any other school district employee as may be designated by the commissioner of education under section three thousand twenty-four of this chapter, shall keep an accurate record of the attendance and absence of such minor. Such record shall be in such form as may be prescribed by the commissioner of education. 2. Certificates of attendance to be presumptive evidence. A duly certified transcript of the record of attendance and absence of a child which has been kept, as provided in this section, shall be accepted as presumptive evidence of the attendance of such child in any proceeding brought under the provisions of part one of this article. 3. Inspection of records of attendance. An attendance officer, or any other duly authorized representative of the school authorities, may at any time during school hours, demand the production of the records of attendance of minors required to be kept by the provisions of part one of this article, and may inspect or copy the same and make all proper inquiries of a teacher or principal concerning the records and the attendance of such minors. 4. Duties of principal or person in charge of the instruction of a minor. The principal of a school, or other person in charge of the instruction upon which a minor attends, as provided by part one of this article, shall cause the record of his attendance to be kept and produced and all appropriate inquiries in relation thereto answered as hereinbefore required. He shall give prompt notification in writing to the school authorities of the city or district of the discharge or transfer of any such minor from attendance upon instruction, stating the date of the discharge, its cause, the name of the minor, his date of birth, his place of residence prior to and following discharge, if such place of residence be known, and the name of the person in parental relation to the minor.

The Virtual Y: A Ray of Sunshine for Urban Public Elementary School Children

Date Captured

Monday May 14 2007, 2:51 PM

(See page 30 of document for chart of factors impacting attendance). The National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University report presenting the results of seven years of evaluation for the YMCA of Greater New York’s Virtual Y after school program finding, "Third and fourth grade Virtual Y participants outperformed the comparison group in school attendance. We controlled for students’ gender, race, age, and prior school attendance in our analyses. • The average school attendance of third grade children (94.4 percent) and fourth grade children (94.9 percent) participating in the Virtual Y exceeded the average attendance of children in the comparison group (93.9 percent and 94.2 percent respectively) taking into account initial differences in student attendance and demographic background. • The difference between the mean school attendance of second grade Virtual Y students (93.7 percent) and comparison group students (93.4 percent) was positive but not significant.

104.l Pupil attendance recordkeeping

Date Captured

Monday May 14 2007, 10:43 AM

EXCERPT (FULL TEXT AT LINK) (ix) identification of the person(s) designated in each school building who will be responsible for reviewing pupil attendance records and initiating appropriate action to address unexcused pupil absence, tardiness and early departure consistent with the comprehensive attendance policy. (3) The board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board and governing body of a nonpublic school shall annually review the building level pupil attendance records and if such records show a decline in pupil attendance the board or governing body shall revise the comprehensive pupil attendance policy and make any revisions to the plan deemed necessary to improve pupil attendance. (4) Each board of education, board of cooperative educational services, charter school board, county vocational education and extension board, and nonpublic school shall promote necessary community awareness of its comprehensive attendance policy by: (i) providing a plain language summary of the policy to the parents or persons in parental relation to students at the beginning of each school year and taking such other steps deemed necessary to promote the understanding of such policy by students and their parents or persons in parental relation; (ii) providing each teacher with a copy of the policy and any amendments thereto as soon as practicable following initial adoption or amendment of the policy, and providing new teachers with a copy of the policy upon their employment; and (iii) making copies of the policy available to any other member of the community upon request.

Key Laws and Regulations Regarding Attendance

Date Captured	Monday May 14 2007, 10:20 AM

ATTENDANCE INCENTIVES

Date Captured

Monday May 14 2007, 10:16 AM

Attendance policy and programming, coupled with school climate and increased academic performance, offers a unique opportunity to engage the entire school community – parents, staff, students, and community members – in a process that will build upon the strengths of all concerned. Maintenance of high attendance rates depends upon incentives that range from climate/culture to district-wide and building programs to recognition for accomplishments to individual sanctions (disincentives). Each category has distinct functions. Although districts will differ in the incentives employed depending upon the philosophies and needs of family and community, programs are quite likely to span the entire spectrum. The specific strategies developed and implemented by a district will reflect the diversity and creativity that exists within schools and their communities.

Attendance -- What States Are Doing

Date Captured	Sunday May 13 2007, 9:24 AM
Education Commission of the States

Recent State Policies/Activities: Attendance

Date Captured	Sunday May 13 2007, 9:08 AM
Education Commission of the States -- The following summary includes policies enacted since 2000.

Habitual Truancy: Examples of State Definitions

Date Captured	Sunday May 13 2007, 9:01 AM
For the most part, compulsory attendance laws do not specify the number of times a student must be truant before sanctions (also part of the compulsory attendance laws) are enforced. This ECS StateNote provides examples of states where truancy and habitual truancy are defined at the state level. (Kyle Zinth, Education Commission of the States, April 2005)

National Compulsory School Age Requirements

Date Captured	Sunday May 13 2007, 8:55 AM
Education Commission of the States -- Compulsory school attendance refers to the minimum and maximum age required by each state in which a student must be enrolled in and attending public school or some equivalent education program defined by the law.

Pilot program helps students overcome absenteeism

Date Captured	Sunday May 13 2007, 8:25 AM
Kalamazoo Gazette reports, "The student had been chronically absent through the fall semester, and the official reason was illness. But when a social work student from Western Michigan University dug deeper, the real issue was uncovered."

New Study Says NYC Small High School Reforms Boost Student Performance

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 10:52 PM

A report examining the first group of the new small high schools in New York City that opened four years ago finds that those schools are making significant progress with impressive graduation rates. According to “Rethinking High School: Inaugural Graduations at New York City’s New High Schools,” these small schools are beating the odds with graduation rates that are 20 percentage points higher than the citywide rate. The schools surveyed also had higher attendance and ninth-grade promotion rates, two predictors of graduation rates, according to WestEd. The most recent data available indicate that the average attendance rate at the 14 new schools was 89% in 2004-05. The ninth-grade promotion rate across the featured schools was 92% in the same year and 91% in 2005-2006, according to the report.

Matching Foster Care and School Records: How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM

Vera Institute of Justice researchers Dylan Conger and Alison Rebeck find, "In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs."

How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM

Matching Foster Care and School Records In comparison to children in the general student population, foster children have very low attendance rates. Yet, many foster children’s attendance rates improved from before to after entry into care. Younger children, those who remain in care for at least the entire semester after placement, children with stable placements, children in foster boarding homes or kinship homes, and those who entered care on charges of abuse or neglect show greater gains than other children. This finding indicates that these foster care experiences may improve an important aspect of school stability. Other foster care experiences contributed to declines or smaller gains in attendance. Children with short stays in foster care do not progress as well as children who stay longer, suggesting room for improvement during discharge planning conferences. These discussions could place greater importance on the consequences of educational disruptions and ensure that aftercare services are sufficient to help families provide for their children’s educational needs.

How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM

How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM

How Children's Foster Care Experiences Affect Their Education

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 9:30 PM

Why Students Don't Attend School

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 8:10 PM

Excerpts from "Increasing Student Attendance: Strategies from Research and Practice," Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory , written by Jennifer Railsback -- "Corville-Smith et al. (1998) found six variables that were statistically significant predictors for distinguishing absentee high school students from regularly attending students: Students' school perceptions: Absentees are less likely to perceive school favorably; Perception of parental discipline: Absentees perceive discipline as lax or inconsistent; Parents' control: Absentees believe parents are attempting to exert more control over them; Students' academic self-concept: Absentees feel inferior academically; Perceived family conflict: Absentees experience family conflict; Social competence in class: Absentees are less likely to feel socially competent in class;" ADDITIONALLY -- "Below are other commonly cited reasons that students have given for not attending school (Clement, Gwynne, & Younkin, 2001;Wagstaff, Combs, & Jarvis, 2000): Viewed classes as boring, irrelevant, and a waste of time; Did not have positive relationships with teachers; Did not have positive relationships with other students; Was suspended too often; Did not feel safe at school; Could not keep up with schoolwork or was failing (and there were no timely interventions); Found classes not challenging enough (worksheets and reading with lectures were the predominant activities), and students can miss class days and still receive credit; Couldn't work and go to school at the same time.

Re-Engaging Youth in School: Evaluation of the Truancy Reduction Demonstration Project

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 5:46 PM

National Center for School Engagement, August 10, 2006. "The following data reflect all seven demonstration sites in the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Truancy Prevention project. These sites are located in Suffolk County, New York; Contra Costa, California: Tacoma and Seattle, Washington; Houston, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; and Jacksonville, Florida. The purpose of collecting these data was to identify the intervention population and track truant students’ progress. The first set of tables is the aggregate of these seven sites from the projects inception to July 21, 2006. Following these data are the individual site reports. This report includes the following information: • Students Served • Ethnicity of Students • Grades of Students • Age of Students • Gender of Students • IEP status • Discipline Problems • Involvement with Juvenile Justice • Primary Care Giver • Income Eligibility Status • Students who live in home with only one adult • Students who have no working adult in the home • Average Number of children in the home • Unexcused Absences over Time • Excused Absences over Time • Tardies over Time • Days of In-School Suspensions • Days of Out-of-School Suspensions • Overall Academic Performance (over time)" "The overarching goal of truancy prevention is obviously to improve attendance and this effort was successful. In general, while excused daily absences did not change appreciably, unexcused daily absences fell dramatically and tardies declined. Period absences did not change linearly and therefore a meaningful trend isn’t apparent. Of the sites that reported enough update data, the most successful sites were Jacksonville and Honolulu. These sites primarily targeted parents because the target student population were elementary students. All sites had less information for students across time. One reason for this may be that students who no longer needed intervention were no longer tracked. Thus, reported improvements may actually be smaller than what actually occurred." " In general, the elementary-level truancy issues may be easier to deal with because the children are not 'deep-end' yet and the parents are the primary focus. Older truants are likely to have more challenges and thus may require more intensive services."

Schools Discover Automated Calling And Go Wild

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 4:38 PM

Wall Street Journal reports, "But snafus in some systems across the country have resulted in parents' being bombarded by calls five nights a week. Schools send endless repeats of the same messages, or place calls at 2 a.m., or send updates about kids who don't even go there anymore. At Whittier High School, the system hasn't been fine-tuned to differentiate between absences and lateness. [Name deleted] says she gets calls saying her grandson [name deleted], a 10th grader at Whittier, skipped class, so she goes with him to the school office to clear his record. 'He has water-polo practice and he's sometimes a little late to class,' she says. But 'there's no talking to this recording.' The school district says if a student arrives in class after the teacher submits the day's attendance list, that can register as a skipped class and trigger a call home."

STATE FORMULA AIDS AND ENTITLEMENTS FOR SCHOOLS IN NEW YORK STATE (AS AMENDED BY CHAPTERS OF THE LAWS OF 2006)

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 3:40 PM

The University of the State of New York -- THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT -- State Aid Unit -- October, 2006. Some definitions -- A. Total Aidable Pupil Units (TAPU): The total aidable pupil unit is the sum of several pupil counts, each count being assigned a distinct weighting. Weightings are used as a means of reflecting the assumed average cost of educating a particular pupil category. These categories and weightings are further explained by the following: 1. Full Day K-12 Adjusted Average Daily Attendance (Adjusted ADA) (Weighting = 1.00): The Adjusted ADA includes the average number of pupils present on each regular school day, the full-time-equivalent enrollment of resident pupils attending a charter school, the enrollment of pupils with disabilities in full time BOCES programs, and the equivalent attendance of students under the age of 21 not on a regular day school register in programs leading to a high school diploma or high school equivalency diploma. This average is determined by dividing the total number of attendance days of all pupils by the number of days school was in session and attendance was recorded. 2. 1/2-Day K Adjusted Average Daily Attendance (Weighting = 0.50): A 0.50 weighting adjustment to the average daily attendance for half-day kindergarten attendance. 3. Pupils in Dual Enrollment with a Nonpublic School (Weighting = 1.00 * Fraction of Day in Public School Programs): The attendance of nonpublic school pupils in career education, gifted and talented, or special education programs of the public school district as authorized by Section 3602-c of the Education Law. Attendance is weighted by the fraction of the school day that the student is enrolled in the public school programs. 4. Pupils with Special Educational Needs (PSEN)(Additional Weighting = 0.25): The number of pupils with special educational needs attending the public schools of the district is determined by the percentage of pupils below minimum competence as measured by the third and sixth grade pupil evaluation program (PEP) tests in reading and mathematics. The average of the percentage of pupils in a district who scored below the State reference point on these third and sixth grade PEP Tests in 1984 85 and 1985 86 continues to be used to determine the number of pupils with special educational needs. This percentage is multiplied by the district's adjusted ADA to produce the number of pupils for weighting. The PSEN pupil count is equal to the number of eligible pupils multiplied by the 0.25 additional weighting. Since this is an additional weighting, these pupils also would have been counted under average daily attendance. 5. Secondary School Pupils (Additional Weighting = 0.25): Eligible pupils in grades seven through twelve receive an additional weighting of 0.25. Eligible pupils for this weighting are defined as the number of students in average daily attendance in grades seven through twelve excluding any such students whose enrollment generates Public Excess Cost Aid. The eligible pupils are multiplied by 0.25 to produce the additional secondary school weighting. 6. Summer Session Pupils (Weighting = 0.12): Summer session pupils are those pupils who attend Approved programs of instruction operated by the district during the months of July and August, other than pupils with disabilities in twelve month programs. The full weighting of 0.12 is applicable if the student attends a total of 90 hours of class sessions during the summer. B. Adjustment in Computing Total Aidable Pupil Units Based on Enrollment Growth: For TAPU aids payable during 2006-07, attendance in the year prior to the base year is multiplied by the ratio of base year enrollment to year prior to the base year enrollment. Base year is the school year prior to the current year. (Example: For the 2006-07 aid year, 2005-06 is the base year and 2004-05 is the year prior to the base year.) C. Selected TAPU: For the purposes of computing Formula Operating Aid, districts may use the total aidable pupil units as described above or the average of such number and the total aidable pupil units calculated for aid payable in the base year. The higher of these two figures is usually referred to as Selected TAPU.

Perfect Attendance?

Date Captured	Saturday May 12 2007, 12:42 PM
Education Week reports on Ohio online charter schools, where "Twenty of the state’s 41 online charters reported perfect attendance last year [2005]."

As Studies Stress Link to Scores, Districts Get Tough on Attendance

Date Captured

Saturday May 12 2007, 12:20 PM

Education Week reports, "Student attendance also has been a big focus in Buffalo and Rochester, N.Y. When officials of the 37,000-student Rochester district looked at attendance and achievement patterns, researchers found that students who had scored between 85 and 100 on the state English tests had attended school an average of 93 percent of the time. Students who scored below the 54th percentile had an 85 percent attendance rate. The district is now phasing in new minimum attendance requirements, shooting to hit 93 percent districtwide by 2004. Students are now required to attend school 85 percent of the time, or 153 days a year. The new policy would add the equivalent of 14 days of school. Rochester also is getting the community to help with its efforts. Attendance information is shared with community organizations such as the YMCA, city recreation programs, and churches so that they can help reinforce the commitment to school attendance. In addition, the city has coordinated a summer-jobs program for students who maintain at least C averages and who attend school at least 90 percent of the time. 'We must deconstruct the policies that encourage kids to miss or leave school, and construct the incentives to get them to stay,' said Clifford B. Janey, the superintendent of the Rochester schools. 'Attendance should be linked to achievement.' Meanwhile, Buffalo is already seeing gains that officials attribute to relatively simple adjustments in the district's attendance policy this fall. By stating a new minimum attendance rate—85 percent—and making it clear, for the first time, that students who fall short cannot take final exams, the district seems to be raising attendance. In report covering the first five weeks of the school year, one Buffalo high school's attendance rate went from 81 percent in the same period last year to 88 percent. The yearlong average-attendance rate for the school last year was 76 percent, which mean that one in every four students was absent. The 47,000-student Buffalo district is providing home visits for students who have health problems, and automated phone calls to homes for every absence. 'Children and families are making better choices,' said Susan Doyle, the principal of the Buffalo Traditional School and the chairwoman of the district's attendance committee. 'They're changing doctor's appointments, and students are coming to see me before and after school, not during classes.'"

Yonkers Code of Conduct

Date Captured	Friday May 11 2007, 9:50 AM
Attendance policy begins on page 31 of document.

Board tables vote on expanding Indiana pilot attendance plan

Date Captured

Tuesday May 08 2007, 9:41 AM

South Bend Tribune reports, "According to the proposed policy, students are allowed to accumulate nine absences per semester. A 10th absence puts a student in a no-credit status. After a ninth absence, the student would be referred to a credit redemption program after school. The student, the policy states, would have the opportunity to make up class work and class time to regain credit status. One hour of after-school work would make up for one hour of absence from a class. While students wouldn't necessarily be making up the work, they would be making up the time. They would, however, be required to do homework or read during that time."

California k-12 school funding reform

Date Captured

Friday May 04 2007, 8:14 AM

Contra Costa Times opines, "At the top of any K-12 funding reform should be greater local control, meaning fewer state mandates and less categorical spending. Let school districts decide how they can best spend the money. The state also should put an end to ADA funding and use enrollment figures instead, updating them once or twice a year. The time and money spent compiling the daily attendance of every student in California is wasteful and unnecessary. Fluctuations in ADA have no relationship to the costs of running a school. Total enrollment does. School districts also need to take a closer look at just how much of the revenue they get goes directly into the classroom -- the higher the percentage the better."

School truancy bill moving forward

Date Captured	Thursday May 03 2007, 10:26 PM
MaineCoastNow.com reports, "Under the federal No Child Left Behind Act, attendance is one of the markers measuring how well a school is doing overall. Some Augusta schools have been cited for not meeting that standard."

ACLU Urges Rhode Island Supreme Court to Review Truancy Courts

Date Captured

Thursday May 03 2007, 9:32 AM

The American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today asked the state Supreme Court to review a case that raises fundamental questions about the procedures used by so-called “truancy courts” that prosecute students who are absent from school. The ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case arguing that essential due process safeguards are absent from the operation of these courts, which have become increasingly prevalent in public schools across the state. “The ACLU is very concerned about the increasing numbers of parents and children pulled into the truancy court system,” said Amy Tabor, an ACLU cooperating attorney and author of today’s brief. “Some school districts treat children as truant whenever they arrive at school a few minutes late, even though their lateness has resulted in only a few minutes of missed homeroom.”

Officials to revisit truancy program

Date Captured	Wednesday May 02 2007, 8:46 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Deputy Mayor Patty Malgieri said Tuesday that city and school officials will begin work next week to retool a truancy program that has struggled in its first year. 'Kids can't learn if they're not in their seats,' she said. Truancy feeds the city's dropout and unemployment rates, officials say, which connect to crime, poverty and other issues."

Keeping Kids in the Classroom

Date Captured

Tuesday May 01 2007, 10:52 AM

Washington Post reports, "The problem of truancy has drawn widespread attention this year, prompting some area lawmakers to call for tough measures to keep track of the most habitual offenders and leading school officials to crack down on those who constantly skip class. In its recently concluded session, the Maryland General Assembly passed a measure that would make it possible to deny driver's licenses to students who have too many unexcused absences. Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) is expected to sign it. During the same session, some lawmakers in Prince George's proposed strapping ankle bracelets on students to electronically monitor the whereabouts of those who constantly skip school. That bill did not advance. But the county's police announced April 11 that they had caught 425 truants in a crackdown that began in February."

Editorial: Where are you now?

Date Captured

Tuesday May 01 2007, 8:58 AM

The Post (Ohio) reports, "Big Brother is watching, and he wants to know why you didn’t show up for your math class all last week. Ohio University’s Student Help Center has paired up with Residence Life to keep track of student class attendance. Using swipe-card technology — used in some science, math and art classes in Morton and Walter Halls — resident assistants are notified when one of their residents misses two consecutive classes (a not-so-uncommon occurrence) in the same course. The resident assistants are then required to check on the students."

Charter school for at-risk youth announces layoffs

Date Captured	Saturday April 28 2007, 5:39 PM
Austin American-Stateman reports, "Schell [director of development for the school] said several factors, including having a high percentage of economically disadvantaged and homeless students, make it difficult to accurately predict attendance."

Houston school district says charter school falsified records

Date Captured	Saturday April 28 2007, 3:41 PM
AP reports, "A charter school for at-risk teens inflated attendance by more than 200 students last year and must repay $358,000 in state funding it received for the students, school district officials say."

North Carolina district unveils warning system

Date Captured	Friday April 27 2007, 8:47 AM
Rocky Mountain Telegram reports, "The system, which is used at more than 8,500 sites nationwide, allows schools to send four types of messages: community outreach, emergency communication, attendance notification and school surveys."

If you pay 'em, they will come!

Date Captured	Wednesday April 25 2007, 10:20 AM
NY Daily News reports on Mayor Bloomberg's trip to Mexico, "The Mexican government says the payments, which were created 10 years ago, have helped lower school dropout rates, boost school attendance and reduce health problems among children."

We can stem truancy with community effort

Date Captured	Wednesday April 25 2007, 9:53 AM
Indianapolis Star opines, "Gaylon Nettles, the state [Indiana] Department of Education's chief attendance officer, is right in noting that neither parents nor schools can stem truancy on their own. It will take a strong community effort to keep children on the path to improving their educational and economic destinies.

A battle with absentees

Date Captured

Monday April 23 2007, 11:08 AM

Indianapolis Tribune opines, "Changing the pattern of poor attendance must start with parents, who must take the time to ensure that their children are in school each day. But school districts, police and the community as a whole also have vital roles to play in holding students and their parents accountable. At a time when a good education has never been more important for economic stability, the high truancy rates that plague Wayne Township and other school districts are intolerable. Missing school may well translate into young people missing opportunities to graduate, land good jobs and secure their future."

TUNED-IN SCHOOLS SPUR LESS DROPOUTS

Date Captured	Sunday April 22 2007, 9:29 AM
NY Post reports, "The DOE [NYC] has implemented several new programs to deal with the problem, including Multiple Pathways, which offers a job readiness program, Young Adult Borough Centers, transfer schools and General Equivalency Diploma programs. Since it launched in 2005, 2,176 students have met graduation requirements through Multiple Pathways; 2,104 earned diplomas, 72 earned GEDs."

PRINCIPALS CRAM FOR BIG CHANGES

Date Captured

Sunday April 22 2007, 9:26 AM

NY Post reports, "City principals will flock to a Manhattan hotel tomorrow for a crash course in the school system's latest reorganization, scrambling to learn details about a newly revealed program they must implement by the fall. The symposium at the Grand Hyatt will attempt to explain three 'support organization models,' which all schools must choose from in the next month. The support organizations are designed to help schools hit accountability targets, provide professional development, attract high-quality teachers and design programs to help scores and attendance, according to the Department of Education."

California Senate OKs bill banning student monitoring devices

Date Captured	Tuesday April 17 2007, 8:08 PM
AP reports, "Legislation approved Monday by the [California] state Senate would ban public schools from using radio-wave devices containing personal information about students to take attendance and monitor students' movement around campus."

Santa Ana Unified School District board affirms school attendance inquiry

Date Captured

Monday April 16 2007, 6:37 PM

LA Times reports, "Santa Ana Unified School District trustees voted unanimously Tuesday to spend as much as $25,000 to audit their class-size-reduction program, an investigation prompted by reports that teachers were asked to sign falsified class rosters and that the district misused substitute teachers in an attempt to qualify for $16 million in state funds. The board also questioned why administrators failed to come to them two months ago when they realized classes were not shrinking as expected after the winter break and instituted the strategy to use long-term substitute teachers to reduce class densities."

Sunday, April 15, 2007: Open thread: Should school attendance be mandatory?

Date Captured	Sunday April 15 2007, 8:17 PM

California Attendance Improvement

Date Captured	Sunday April 15 2007, 9:23 AM
Involves three elements to reinforce regular school attendance: prevention, early identification, and intervention.

Should teen mothers be held to truancy standards?

Date Captured

Saturday April 14 2007, 8:49 PM

A Shrewdness of Apes blog: "Well, here's an interesting dilemma: Well, here's an interesting dilemma: A 16-year-old student who claims in a lawsuit that her school district discriminated against her because she is a teen mother has missed 211 days of school over the last four years, according to officials in the Harrisburg area school district. A 16-year-old student who claims in a lawsuit that her school district discriminated against her because she is a teen mother has missed 211 days of school over the last four years, according to officials in the Harrisburg area school district."

Rochester city schools release records

Date Captured

Saturday April 14 2007, 5:55 PM

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "An initial look at the other data finds: Total state aid to the City School District has increased from $293.7 million in 2003-04 to a projected $366.6 million for the coming year. Average attendance among secondary school students was 84.4 percent during the last school year. The goal is to achieve 93 percent by 2009-10. An earlier district policy required students to achieve that mark in 2003-04 to get a passing grade. Sixty-five percent of students who started kindergarten in the district in 1993-94 graduated in 2005-06, accounting for students who legally transferred out of the district."

Poor need housing, not handouts

Date Captured	Thursday April 12 2007, 6:50 PM
NY Daily News reports, "The program, 'Opportunity NYC,' will pay 2,500 families up to $5,000 a year each in stipends ranging from $50 to $300 for everything from exemplary attendance in elementary school, to scoring high on a crucial exam, to keeping a doctor's appointment for a checkup."

Who Cares About Truancy in Seattle Public High Schools?

Date Captured	Wednesday April 11 2007, 8:15 PM
Truancy is not exactly a new problem, and the literature abounds with approaches to increasing school attendance.

High school attendance, discipline, grades available to parents online

Date Captured	Sunday April 08 2007, 4:40 PM
Eagle Tribune (MA) reports, "The program also includes student biographical information, some of which, Hill admitted, is incorrect. He's hoping making that information available to parents will help clear up those errors."

Student claims school discriminates against her as a teen mom

Date Captured

Saturday April 07 2007, 9:14 AM

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "According to the complaint, A.C. has missed a number of school days to care for her child. Some of those absences are because she had to take the boy to doctor's appointments, she claims. Other times, if her mother cannot watch her son, she has no other available child care. But the school district has ruled that those absences are unexcused and, therefore, its officials believe A.C. and her mother are guilty of violating state truancy laws. The school district has filed charges against A.C. four times and against her mother five times, according to the lawsuit."

North Carolina local county students with good attendance could skip exam

Date Captured

Wednesday April 04 2007, 3:45 PM

Lexington (North Carolina) Dispatch reports, "The policy would allow students to exempt one final exam per semester if they have good class attendance. However, the exemption could not be applied to any course for which there is a required state end-of-course examination, VoCATS examination or transfer or college course examination. VoCATS are state assessments used for career and technical education classes."

P-16 Education: A Plan for Action

Date Captured

Wednesday April 04 2007, 9:10 AM

Improve high school attendance and graduation rates by setting performance targets, promoting promising practices that remove barriers to graduation, and holding schools accountable for dramatic improvements. Problem: Since higher standards were adopted in 1996, the number of high school graduates each year has increased. However, only 64% of students who entered 9th grade in 2001 graduated in four years; 18% were still enrolled and 11% had dropped out. Rates for Black and Hispanic students were below 45%. Data show that graduation rates are closely tied to attendance rates. As attendance declines below 95%, graduation rates decline significantly. And both attendance and graduation rates decline with poverty. New York’s current graduation rate standard is only 55%, one of the lowest in the nation. Schools need to focus on the least served students, such as Black males, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities. Actions: ¦ Set a State graduation rate standard, publish four- and five-year graduation rates by school, and specify a schedule of improvement targets for schools to close the gap between their graduation rate and State standard. Set targets now for the students who entered 9th grade in 2004 and will graduate in 2008. This action is especially important to ensure that more schools intervene to help the most underserved students, such as Black males, English Language Learners, and students with disabilities Research and benchmark other states for effective, innovative strategies that improve high school graduation and attendance rates. Include strategies that begin in middle school and focus on the transition from middle to high school. Emphasize a meaningful curriculum that includes the arts, music, physical education and career and technical programs. Provide effective strategies to schools to enable them to achieve the State targets through regional networks

MIKE'S MILLIONS TO BE 'REWARD' $$ FOR POOR

Date Captured	Friday March 30 2007, 8:06 AM
NY Post reports, "Regular attendance at elementary school would be worth $25 every two months. At the high-school level, the payoff doubles to $50. Students who get high grades on major exams could earn $200 to $300 a pop for their struggling households. Similar payoffs would be available for 20 to 25 other activities deemed beneficial to society and the family."

New York mayor announces antipoverty experiment

Date Captured

Thursday March 29 2007, 5:46 PM

International Herald Tribune reports, "Under the program, which is based on a similar effort in Mexico but is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation, families would receive payments every two months for meeting any of 20 or so criteria per individual. The payments would range from perhaps $25 for an elementary school student's attendance to $300 for greatly improved performance on a standardized test, officials said."

Absent students miss out on invaluable classroom learning experiences

Date Captured

Thursday March 29 2007, 8:00 AM

Norwich Bulletin contributor Elizabeth Osga, superintendent of schools in Griswold writes, "Aside from illness and valid emergencies, there are few defensible reasons for school absence. A strong family expectation for attendance sends a message learning is important. It also creates the foundation for lifelong work ethic. But, not to be lost in the discussion of school attendance is the value of each and every lesson. Because of such lessons, writers can end columns with sentences that begin with subordinate clauses."

Length of School Day

Date Captured

Saturday March 24 2007, 3:00 PM

Length of School Day: The minimum length of school day for purposes of generating State Aid is 2.5 hours for half-day kindergarten, 5.0 hours for full-day kindergarten through grade 6 and 5.5 hours for grades 7-12. These hours are exclusive of the time allowed for lunch. If school district officials establish a school calendar in excess of 180 required days, the excess days need not comply with the mandated daily time requirements. (Commissioner's Regulations 175.5) Students of compulsory attendance age must be scheduled for attendance upon instruction for the entire time the school is in session. The term session refers to the period during which instruction is provided. However, such daily sessions may include supervised study periods, supervised cooperative work study, release time for college study or school-to-work programs, and as well as traditional classroom instructional activities. (Education Law 3210(1))

School Year, Extraordinary Condition Days, Examination Days, Superintendent's Conference Days, Length of School Day and Student Attendance

Date Captured

Saturday March 24 2007, 2:48 PM

Days of Session: School districts must be in session for all students, including students with disabilities, for not less than 180 days. Included in the 180 days are days on which attendance is taken, days on which Regents examinations, State Assessments or local examinations are given and days on which superintendent's conference days are held. School district officials may not claim partial or full attendance on days when classes are not in actual session. This situation is most likely to occur on Regents examination days or superintendent's conference days. Such days do count toward the 180 required days, but, since they are not days of actual session, they do not affect and are not factored into average daily attendance. (Education Law 3604(7)).

Los Angeles Unified is counting its truants

Date Captured

Wednesday March 21 2007, 10:10 AM

LA Times reports, "Although the Los Angeles Unified School District has ramped up its efforts to keep students in school, a new report shows that thousands are still skipping class routinely, and the problem is rampant in a few low-performing schools. The report is the first in what is intended as a series of monthly accounts that will track truancy and absenteeism in every middle and high school in the district — something that has not been done in such a systematic way before. The information is considered critical because students typically begin skipping school sporadically before dropping out altogether. L.A. Unified is trying to tackle a dropout rate that is officially 24.1% but has been estimated at close to double that."

Ohio judge flunks moms of truant children

Date Captured	Wednesday March 21 2007, 9:46 AM
Times-Reporter reports, "[Judge]Kate said poor attendance by children often is a symptom of a larger problem in the home. She noted her courtroom is the last stop in the process of school officials trying to work with parents throughout the school year and seeing no improvement."

Key State Education Policies on PK-12 Education: 2006

Date Captured

Tuesday March 20 2007, 12:20 PM

This CCSSO report informs policymakers and educators about the current status of key education policies across the 50 states that define and shape elementary and secondary education in public schools. The report is part of a continuing biennial series by the Council’s state education indicators program. CCSSO reports 50-state information on policies regarding teacher preparation and certification, high school graduation requirements, student assessment programs, school time, and student attendance. The report also includes state-by-state information on content standards and curriculum, teacher assessment, and school leader/administrator licensure.

Maryland Moves To Tie Teens' Truancy to Licenses

Date Captured	Friday March 16 2007, 8:57 AM
Washington Post reports, "Maryland lawmakers issued a tough warning to teenagers yesterday: no school, no car keys. The House of Delegates approved a bill that would deny driver's licenses to students with 10 or more unexcused absences in the previous calendar year. A similar measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee late yesterday, and it appears to have wide support in the full chamber."

Las Vegas-area schools offer cash to students who test

Date Captured

Sunday March 11 2007, 4:46 PM

AP reports, "Some Las Vegas-area high schools will be offering incentives, including cash awards, to students who show up for required standardized tests, school officials said. 'Money seems to motivate them,' Randi Friedman-Macosko, assistant principal of Basic High School, told the Las Vegas Sun in Saturday editions. Basic will have drawings for $10 bills for students who take the Nevada High School Proficiency Exam later this month."

Long View HS truancy cases piling up

Date Captured

Sunday March 11 2007, 7:22 AM

The News-Journal (Texas) reports, "According to state law, a student is truant upon having 10 unexcused absences in a school year. Absences are considered excused when they are due of health reasons or school-related activities, according to Jennifer Scott, LISD assistant superintendent. Each unexcused absence equals about $12 in lost state funds to the school district, Scott said. Truancy cases thus far have amounted to more than $70,000 lost by the district, which has a total budget of more than $50 million."

Where have the students gone?

Date Captured

Saturday March 10 2007, 10:04 AM

The State Journal-Register (Illinois) reports, "The dwindling high school population isn't just a problem this year. From 2003 to 2006, Lanphier High School lost so many black students in one class that the federal No Child Left Behind Act didn't count the 42 remaining students as a subgroup in the recently released scores for last year's state tests. The NCLB measures the academic performance of subgroups, such as minorities, students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals and students who receive special-education services. But to be measured, a subgroup must take in at least 45 students. The disappearance of Lanphier's subgroup of black students led Springfield School Board member Judy Johnson to ask, 'Where are all the black students at Lanphier?' during a school board discussion Tuesday night."

ANTIOCH: STUDENTS CITED, TAKEN TO SCHOOL IN TRUANCY SWEEP

Date Captured	Friday March 09 2007, 8:47 AM
cbs reports, "According to police, statistical data has shown that high rates of truancy are directly linked to daytime criminal behavior and that truant students are more prone to drop out of school."

California parents pay for pulling kids

Date Captured	Friday March 09 2007, 8:33 AM
AP reports, "Frustrated by children missing class for long weekend ski trips and jaunts to Disneyland, the local school district is trying a novel approach to persuade parents to keep them in school. It's sending them bills – $36.13 per day."

Pennsylvania calls for tougher tactics to tackle truancy

Date Captured	Thursday March 08 2007, 11:17 AM
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports, "From warning letters to parents to hauling kids before the local magistrate, school districts in Pennsylvania long have had ways to deal with students who habitually skip school. But state education officials now are asking school officials to dig a little deeper to get to the root of chronic truancy and devise a plan to fix the problem."

Breaking the Habit

Date Captured	Thursday March 08 2007, 11:12 AM
Washington Post opines on student attendance, "Children become truant for many reasons, from problems at home to performance trouble at school. The more tools the [Prince George's] county has to work with, the better the chance of something sticking."

New York City Schools Attendance Memo re: Law and Policy

Date Captured

Wednesday March 07 2007, 1:21 PM

The New York City Department of Education is committed to the academic success and social development of all students. Our objective for the 2006 – 2007 school year is to ensure that all students are provided with the necessary intervention and supports that encourage regular school attendance. Regular attendance is critical to successful achievement in school. Conversely, poor attendance is one of the most significant indicators of potential risk. It is our goal to ensure that students are provided with every available resource to support and facilitate their successful completion of school. To this end, the accurate tracking of student attendance is fundamental to the implementation of effective educational services. The Department of Education has established a clearly defined system for recording, tracking and monitoring school attendance. This system is supported and implemented by a series of attendance guidelines and procedures set forth in Chancellor’s Regulations, State Education Laws, and descriptive memoranda distributed to school staff. This Memorandum provides information about attendance law and policy, attendance procedures for this school year, the implementation of attendance services, clearance of register procedures, revised procedures for addressing student absences, requirements for reporting educational neglect and child abuse, and discharge and transfer procedures including the process for conducting and tracking planning interviews on the ATS system. Additionally information about, “ILOG” the new student intervention screen on ATS, will be provided.

Schools cut truancy by half

Date Captured

Wednesday March 07 2007, 9:20 AM

Savannah Morning News reports, "In addition to showing up for the tests and performing well, a school's pass-fail rate can hinge on attendance, according to Dana Tofig, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education. 'If students aren't in school, they probably are not keeping up with schoolwork and they are less likely to do well on curriculum exams,' Tofig said. 'Attendance can directly impact AYP, but it's also something school systems can focus on with a great deal of success.' Lockamy said he isn't just satisfied with simply ensuring students are in their desks each day. He wants to know why students stray from the classroom in the first place."

THE CASE OF THE MISSING TEACHERS

Date Captured

Wednesday March 07 2007, 8:17 AM

NY Post opines on NYC schools database, "New York City's public schools employ the equivalent of 83,000 full-time teachers to instruct 1.1 million kids. That's 13.25 kids per teacher. Wait, you say - classes are larger than that. Right. So where are all the teachers hiding? Think maybe the database might be useful in finding them? And make it easier to herd a bunch of them back into the classroom - you know, to teach?"

Massachusetts Gov. Patrick wants to raise dropout age

Date Captured

Tuesday March 06 2007, 8:02 AM

Massachusetts students should no longer be allowed to drop out of school at 16, Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday, endorsing a plan to raise the mandatory school attendance age to 18. Patrick, speaking at a summit in Worcester on high school graduation rates, said he would embrace legislation adopted in at least 15 other states and the District of Columbia that will force teenagers to stay in school longer. Other states -- including New Hampshire, New Mexico, Arizona, and South Dakota -- are also considering raising the age to 18, according to the Education Commission of the States.

New York City Department of Education Attendance Services

Date Captured

Monday March 05 2007, 9:17 PM

The Office of Attendance is responsible for the oversight of attendance policies, procedures and programs for New York City public school students. This includes the development and implementation of attendance guidelines and procedures, provision of on-going technical assistance and support and collaboration with outside agencies and organizations on attendance-related issues. The office also serves as a resource to the community and the public-at-large. In addition, the office is responsible for: Employment Certification; Attendance Improvement and Dropout Prevention (AIDP) Programs; Truancy Prevention Programs (TRACK, PACT); and home schooling.

Principal Is Accused of Inflating Attendance to Aid Career

Date Captured	Monday March 05 2007, 6:56 PM
By LYNETTE HOLLOWAY; Published: March 17, 2000 NY Times reports, "Although a state commission in December found attendance fraud throughout the system, Mr. Stancik's report yesterday provided a detailed case history of how it might have occurred at one school."

Three new Dallas ISD schools next year will affect attendance of 50 current ones

Date Captured	Friday March 02 2007, 2:12 PM
New attendance item...

Later class start rejected for HS

Date Captured	Tuesday February 27 2007, 9:50 AM
Newsday John Hildebrand reports, "After surveying students, teachers and parents, the Oceanside School District has scrapped a proposal to start high school classes 40 minutes later each morning to give teens more sleep."

Georgia parents of absent students face jail time

Date Captured	Sunday February 25 2007, 9:35 AM
Savannah Morning News reports, "The Georgia Compulsory School Attendance Law prohibits students from having five or more unexcused absences or tardies - a requirement that is putting some parents in front of a judge."

Massachusetts students achieve despite hardship

Date Captured

Sunday February 25 2007, 9:26 AM

The Enterprise reports, "[Principal]Henderson attributed the improvement in attendance to a special program that the school has in place. “We run an attendance incentive program daily, and each month we have a theme,” Henderson said. For example, January was 'Winter Wonderland,' where the kids built snow men from 15 different parts on their bulletin boards. Each time a class had perfect attendance, they received a part of the snowman. Of 15 classes, five different classes with the most parts won that month's incentive."

The dropout dilemma

Date Captured	Saturday February 24 2007, 9:20 AM
NY Daily News reports, "Advocates at the Baruch College event suggested that increasing the state's compulsory attendance age from 16 to 18 would encourage more students to stay in school, said Cary Goodman, executive director of Directions for Our Youth. Other ideas included additional professional development for teachers who may have difficulty relating to the problems facing city teens."

Spotlight on Tennessee School Attendance

Date Captured

Friday February 23 2007, 7:19 PM

Newschannel9.com reports, "Principals say they are under an enormous amount of pressure to meet the attendance goals, especially during test time when a certain percentage must be in school to meet the No Child Left Behind standards. But kids can't learn the material if they're not in school. When attendance goes down, tests scores likely follow creating a whole another set of problems for educators."

Move to limit New Hampshire dropouts returns: It draws opposition from home-schoolers

Date Captured

Friday February 23 2007, 7:58 AM

Concord Monitor reports, "After failing to pass the House last year, a proposal to raise the high school attendance age to 18 has returned, along with opponents. A series of state officials and prominent Democratic lawmakers - including Gov. John Lynch, who has made the proposal one of his priorities - made the case for the measure yesterday. 'Instead of throwing up our hands and saying we can't meet their needs, we finally acknowledge that not only can we do it, we must do it,' said Sen. Iris Estabrook, the bill's sponsor and a Durham Democrat. 'If we don't, we can keep on building prisons, keep on growing the substance abuse problem and keep on lamenting the cycle of poverty.'"

Maryland truancy bill offers no real solutions

Date Captured

Friday February 23 2007, 7:54 AM

Maryland Gazette.net reports, "The truancy problem is an urban or inner city problem as a result of failed education policies. It begs the question, why we do not understand that our kids know what they need and what they want? Why are we punishing them for a system that has failed? Why are we not including the truancy offenders at the table to address the problem and solutions? Why are we not engaging our parents, churches, community, social workers and nonprofits to help us solve this problem? We have stripped our schools of vocational training, our county lacks a performing arts center and we do not have state-of-the-art technology training centers. In addition, our schools are overcrowded and many of our children are becoming frustrated when they cannot get the extra help needed to stay on pace. We have failed to provide positive alternatives to the truancy problem."

Local Pennsylvania school board debating truancy

Date Captured	Thursday February 22 2007, 10:56 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "School districts across the state have been mandated by the Pennsylvania Department of Education to come up with policies dealing with chronic truancy and tardiness. The new mandates address the Federal No Child Left Behind outcomes, which include attendance records as well as measures for math and reading."

What can schools do?

Date Captured

Tuesday February 20 2007, 9:45 AM

USA Today Op-Ed contributors Charles C. Haynes, senior scholar at the First Amendment Center in Washington and Marvin W. Berkowitz , Sanford N. McDonnell Professor of Character Education at the University of Missouri-St. Louis write, "After the endless headlines involving corrupt politicians, corporate cheats, doped-up sports stars and Internet predators, you might think that the American people would be demanding more character education in schools. Think again."

'It's gotten better, but it's bad'

Date Captured

Monday January 15 2007, 9:01 AM

Chicago Sun-Times reports, "In schools with high concentrations of Hispanic students, it has long been common to see empty seats in class the week or two before and after Christmas, when immigrant families take their kids to visit relatives back home. But parent outreach efforts at the Chicago Public Schools, turmoil in Mexico and Latin America, and increased border security have meant fewer kids are missing days this school year, say teachers and administrators."

Brazil President To Expand Benefits Tied To School Attendance

Date Captured

Saturday January 13 2007, 9:51 AM

AP reports, "Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva wants to include more Brazilian teenagers in the program Bolsa Familia, or Family Allowance, that provides monthly subsidies to poor families who keep their children in school and meet other requirements. Launched in 2003, Lula's first year in office, the popular program pays monthly stipends of 15 to 95 reals (between $7 and $44) to 11.1 million poor families with children up to 15 years old. Children over 15 don't qualify."

Caney Valley (Oklahoma) implements truancy program

Date Captured	Thursday January 11 2007, 9:46 AM
Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise reports, "The team sets up a plan with the parents — to decrease absences and tardiness — and closely monitors the attendance of the child to be sure that the plan is being followed."

Albany Capital Region's schools want to leave this list behind

Date Captured

Thursday January 11 2007, 4:54 AM

Times Union reports, "Because it is so easy to get on the list, school officials have complained that it unfairly tars them. For example, schools can generally be listed if 95 percent of their 'subgroups' aren't tested. But that can be hard for small schools with just a handful of minority students or those with disabilities; one or two absences on test day can skew the results. 'God forbid there is an outbreak of the flu ... and they don't make their 95 percent participation rate they can be put on the list,' said Maria Neira, vice president of the New York State United Teachers, the state's major teachers union, which has long criticized NCLB on several fronts. Additionally, Neira said, the requirement that test scores rise year after year -- even for schools that are already doing well -- seems to set up a lot schools for failure."

Troy school aims to boost learning curve

Date Captured

Friday January 05 2007, 5:03 AM

Times Union reports, "The school has developed what it calls a team to encourage positive behavior, and it has trained some students with help from BOCES. 'We thought it was important for the kids to learn about the program to try to develop strong leaders,' she said. The district is awaiting word from the state as to whether its students met the standards last school year. In its restructuring outline, the district also calls for lowering the number of absent students and reducing teacher absence, as well."

Little 'Middle' Left in Apple Schools: ED. DEPT. MOVING TOWARD K-8 FORMAT

Date Captured

Tuesday January 02 2007, 5:04 AM

NY Post David Andreatta reports, "Perhaps not by coincidence, city officials say, middle-graders in K-8 schools are consistently scoring higher on reading and math tests than those in middle schools. 'There is less violence in these schools, the achievement is somewhat better and the attendance is higher. That's the bottom line,' said Kathleen Cashin, superintendent of Region 5, which covers some of the poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens. She added that the configuration was in high demand by parents looking for stability for their children and to keep older and younger siblings together longer. "

Low driving age puts teens' school performance on the skids

Date Captured

Sunday December 31 2006, 8:53 AM

Oregonian contributor and teacher Matt Love writes, "So here's one proposal to improve student achievement and lower the dropout rate, and it doesn't cost taxpayers a cent: Raise the driving age to 17. Just one year and no big deal except to low-wage service-sector employers who schedule teenagers to work on school nights. Set up a hardship program for emancipated minors or students in remote rural areas. Grandfather the change in over several years, and today's 12-year-olds wouldn't know the difference. Legislators, it's a 100-word bill you could draft on a napkin."

The smaller the better?

Date Captured	Sunday December 31 2006, 8:07 AM
Daily Southtown (Illinois) reports, "A 2006 study from the Consortium on Chicago School Research shows that the creation of small schools has lowered the dropout rate and raised attendance, but it has not improved test scores."

Secretarial devotion

Date Captured

Friday December 29 2006, 8:59 AM

The Herald Journal (Utah) reports, "Imagine you’re 13 years old and walking into a new school for the first time in the middle of the year. You’ve just left your friends, your school and your comfort zone. You’re scared. If you’re walking into Mount Logan Middle School, word is the fear won’t last long. That’s because the first person you’ll see and talk with is Brenda Barkle, the school’s registrar."

School principals keep an eye on teacher absences

Date Captured	Thursday December 28 2006, 5:23 AM
Post-Standard reports, "The absenteeism committee was created in the wake of a districtwide staff development day last March for which 20 percent of all teachers called in sick, Alicea [Syracuse school district's deputy superintendent] said. It was a beautiful, spring day, and about 700 teachers failed to report for the mandatory workshop, he said."

Truancy can spell trouble for Colorado parents

Date Captured

Wednesday December 27 2006, 10:52 AM

Cortez Journal reports, "'Parents may be surprised to hear that if they do not support their children in their education and their children account for too many unverified absences, the parents could face hefty fines and could go to jail. 'Truant' is defined by Webster's II New Riverside Dictionary as 'one who avoids doing work or fulfilling a duty, especially one who is absent from school without permission.' Under this definition and the No Child Left Behind Act signed by President Bush in 2002, which calls for every child not only to be enrolled in school but also to pass achievement tests, truant would include not only students who do not attend school, but also those who don't complete their schoolwork and receive below-average grades."

Famous truants to be featured at Ohio reform school museum

Date Captured	Sunday December 24 2006, 9:30 AM
AP reports, "The tens of thousands of boys who spent time at the Boys Industrial School were deemed incorrigible, truant, thieves or burglars by juvenile courts, but a few of them went on to fame and success."

Perils of online grading

Date Captured	Sunday December 24 2006, 9:19 AM
Boston Globe contributor Ron Fletcher, English teacher at Boston College High talks about online use and education, "The school has been pushing teachers to do more online through our website such as taking attendance, posting assignments and syllabi, and issuing progress reports and report cards, which students and parents can access."

A Baltimore School Seeks to Avoid Failure

Date Captured	Friday December 22 2006, 9:02 AM
NPR Larry Abramsom reports, "Thousands of schools around the country are labeled as 'needing improvement' under the terms of the No Child Left Behind Act. One Baltimore school is struggling against poverty, absenteeism, and years of academic decay to try and turn itself around."

Several Massachusetts schools' dropout rates fall

Date Captured	Thursday December 21 2006, 9:40 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Principals and superintendents throughout the area credit dropout prevention efforts -- such as offering night school and alternative schools; matching vulnerable ninth-graders with successful upperclassmen; rewarding students for good attendance; and allowing them to make up courses online -- for their reduced dropout rates."

Freshmen academies help boost achievement for young students

Date Captured

Wednesday December 20 2006, 6:08 AM

Journal News reports, "The academies, where ninth-graders take classes in separate buildings away from older students, are part of a movement centered around smaller learning communities. Ultimately, the programs aim to boost graduation rates by helping students master the core curriculum of math, science, English and social studies early, while providing coping skills and fostering greater teacher-student interaction."

Getting Schooled

Date Captured

Wednesday December 20 2006, 5:28 AM

Post-Standard writes, "The needs of children must be first and foremost, which means the adults must be flexible. The Syracuse Choice program also has that flexibility. It serves a small group of at-risk middle school students, most of whom were failing and had behavior issues. It employs youth advocates who act as coaches, cheerleaders and counselors to interact with students in school and at home - even on weekends. They monitor student attendance, behavior and academics. They act as liaisons with the teachers and parents. The intense attention seems to have paid off."

Idaho schools adopt 4-day week

Date Captured

Monday December 18 2006, 9:08 AM

AP reports, "As their enrollment numbers continue to trickle away, many of Idaho's rural school districts are switching to a four-day school week to save money — and are seeing some extra benefits. At Marsh Valley High School, one of the latest school districts to make the switch as an experiment this year, teachers say attendance has gone up. At Bear Lake High, where they're in their second year of a four-day week, teachers say students show up fresher and ready to learn."

California schools add third week to winter break

Date Captured

Monday December 18 2006, 8:09 AM

ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER reports, "Simultaneously, the district hopes to curb high absentee rates – and the subsequent loss of state funding – that occur around the holiday season when parents pull their children out of school to go on long trips. The break runs from today through Jan. 8. Santa Ana, where 92 percent of students are Latino, is the only district in Orange County giving students and teachers three weeks for winter break. Only a handful of districts across the state offer the extended vacation."

Champaign, Illinois schools must improve attendance — but how?

Date Captured

Monday December 18 2006, 7:46 AM

The News-Gazette reports, "While the district works with students of all races who are missing school, the consent decree mandates it reduce the gap between black and white students in attendance. Stephanie Record said she deals disproportionately with black students. Earlier this month, almost all of the top 30 truants at Central were black. At Centennial, the list was almost evenly split between white and minority students. Officials hope the involvement of black churches will help boost the attendance of black students. But, as one principal noted at the Ministerial Alliance breakfast, those students involved with a church are not usually the ones missing school. The issue is not unique to Champaign, but 'We're under the gun here because everybody is watching,' Stephanie Record said. The school district is trying a number of other things to keep kids in school. Currently, it is holding a contest between Central and Centennial high schools. Whichever school improves its attendance the most by the winter break will win a live radio remote from WCZQ 105.5-FM."

Tough truancy rules sought

Date Captured

Monday December 18 2006, 7:41 AM

Baltimore Sun reports, "Board members [Howard County, Maryland] were told that truant students could face consequences that include community service, counseling, substance abuse evaluation and treatment, mental health evaluation and treatment, a curfew and loss of driving privileges. The Howard County truancy court would be based on a model used in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester counties. However, unlike that model, which applies only to students 15 and younger, the Howard County court would apply to students 12 and older."

Some teen dropouts fell through the cracks

Date Captured

Sunday December 17 2006, 4:46 PM

Bonita Daily News reports, "The state and the district both closely track high school students, and the proportions in which they graduate. And that's just it. No one, it seems, is looking for dropouts in the middle schools. During the last academic year, four seventh-graders and 18 eighth-graders in Lee County [Florida] left school at age 16, intending never to come back and finish their education. Two more gave up on going to traditional high school and went to GED classes instead."

Illinois school district may hire residency investigator

Date Captured	Sunday December 17 2006, 10:26 AM
Herald News reports, "By having a district employee dedicated to investigating claims, the district would not only save money but maintain tighter control over the hours the investigator works and records kept. The district has not kept a coordinated record of past residency investigations, and officials could not say how many out-of-district students have been discovered."

New Florida task force will tackle rise in high-school-dropout rate

Date Captured

Saturday December 16 2006, 9:16 AM

Orlando Sentinel reports, "Chairing the panel will be the Rev. Ken Scrubbs of First Baptist Church in Leesburg, who has extensive experience working with low-income and troubled youths. 'I think our schools are going to have to be more inviting across the board to all students, so they can be reached at all levels,' Winn said. 'We know that failure in school leads to dropping out.' The task force will meet in North, Central and South Florida during the next three months and then report to the state Legislature. Lawmakers already have moved to make high school more interesting and challenging to teens; they approved a requirement that students choose a major field of study, much as college students do."

Saugerties school board deals with attendance, communications

Date Captured	Wednesday December 13 2006, 5:54 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Failing students due to poor attendance is 'an empty exercise,' [high school prinicipal]Price said. Dropping the minimum attendance requirement and implementing a phone system that automatically calls each student's home every time they are absent has helped Saugerties crack down on attendance problems, Price said."

Massachusetts schools target dropout rates

Date Captured

Monday December 11 2006, 9:29 AM

Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports, "Mrs. Haskins said that at Southbridge High School, a 'crisis team' — including the district psychologist, social worker, school resource officer, guidance personnel and the school nurse — meets to discuss students who are believed to be at risk of dropping out. The reasons vary with each student, Mrs. Haskins said. An 18-year-old who is still a freshman may consider dropping out because of his age, or family and economic issues can come into play, she said. The intervention begins at home. 'Parents are called every single day a student is absent,' Mrs. Haskins said."

How Do You Spend $1.93 Billion?

Date Captured	Sunday December 10 2006, 8:42 AM
NY Times Op-Ed contributor Harold O. Levy, New York City schools chancellor from 2000 until 2002 opines, "Having been a witness for the plaintiffs in the case, I can now say that however much money we ultimately get, the critical question is how we spend it."

Bank to fund mentoring efforts

Date Captured	Sunday December 10 2006, 8:05 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle reports, "Referring to a recent study by Big Brothers, Big Sisters, First Niagara said students who meet regularly with a mentor are: 52 percent less likely than their peers to skip a day of school. 37 percent less likely to skip a class. 46 percent less likely than their peers to start using illegal drugs. 27 percent less likely to start drinking."

Teachers are truant, too, Philadelphia reform commissioner says

Date Captured

Thursday December 07 2006, 8:13 AM

Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "With 10 percent of students absent on any given day, and the mayor and a school chief pledging to hire 400 new truancy officers, there's plenty of attention on a student attendance problem in the Philadelphia School District. But at yesterday's School Reform Commission meeting, Commissioner Daniel Whelan suggested that teacher attendance deserves some of the spotlight, too."

Attendance at school starts at home

Date Captured	Wednesday December 06 2006, 8:29 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall writes, "You can't treat a kid who ditches class like an overdue library book - if you return, your check-out privileges get reinstated. It's a complicated human problem that requires consistent parental involvement - not three years before graduation, when it's too late."

Ohio charter schools must follow attendance rules

Date Captured	Wednesday December 06 2006, 7:57 AM
Tribune Chronicle reports, "Ohio Department of Education officials have instructed administrators at 11 charter schools that they need to do a more honest job of reporting attendance. Public schools are required to do that, through a complex formula intended to ensure that the numbers they report are meaningful."

Truant officer gets more kids to school

Date Captured	Tuesday December 05 2006, 8:30 AM
North Platte Bulletin (Nebraska) reports, "Vargas [truant officer] is working more aggressively to stop truants this year than last. The county attorney can prosecute students who are absent more than five days during one quarter of the school year. She said she is more apt to turn students over to the county attorney this year than last."

Schools track students with online tool

Date Captured

Tuesday December 05 2006, 5:31 AM

Times Union reports, "Shenendehowa plans to open the system's parent portal by next fall, which would provide parents access to some of their student's academic information through the Internet. The district is discussing what should be accessible to parents, but teachers will retain control over what part of their electronic grade book will be permitted viewing, according to district officials. Shenendehowa staff now records attendance electronically. Teachers have home access to the system, which makes grading at home easier, said Koopman, who teaches social studies, science and reading."

attendance contract story florida

Date Captured	Saturday December 02 2006, 8:57 AM

Broward school contracts threatening student expulsion under investigation

Date Captured	Saturday December 02 2006, 8:54 AM
The Sun-Sentinel reports, "An investigation has been launched into how many public schools in Broward County have made low-performing students and their parents sign contracts that threaten to expel the children if they do not improve their grades and attendance. District leaders say they were not aware of -- and never authorized -- such contracts."

Houston charter school's figures probed

Date Captured	Saturday December 02 2006, 8:48 AM
Houston Chronicle reports, "The Houston Independent School District and state officials are investigating allegations that a for-profit company that runs an HISD charter school has been inflating attendance numbers to garner extra money, officials said Thursday."

Roane County Tennessee: Board considers amending attendance policy

Date Captured	Friday December 01 2006, 8:48 AM
Roane County News reports, "If a student accumulates 10 unexcused absences over two consecutive semesters, the school system will file a petition against them in juvenile court. Another change in the policy allows one unexcused absence when a student's parent is deployed for military service or returns from a tour of duty."

Philadelphia parents get mass truancy warning

Date Captured

Friday December 01 2006, 8:17 AM

Philadelphia Daily News reports, "Letters telling parents it is their duty to make their children attend school - and warning that failure to do so could result in fines or jail time - went to thousands of homes of children ages 12 to 14. Some protested, saying they couldn't make their kids go to school. Others complained that they had sent letters giving legitimate reasons for absences and been summoned unfairly." Children and parents were asked to sign a "Family School Attendance Agreement."

Tennessee Gov. Bredesen focuses on education for legacy

Date Captured

Friday December 01 2006, 8:02 AM

The City Paper reports, "While additional funding for urban school systems has been discussed for years, Bredesen is backing two new education initiatives to help high school students graduate. The governor wants to add truancy officers in all of the state’s 400 public high schools to improve attendance and, hopefully, result in more high school students graduating." Gov. Bredesen may devote about $25 million more to continue to expand pre-K in the state’s next budget.

Indiana's high school graduation rate plummets under new formula

Date Captured

Tuesday November 28 2006, 10:12 AM

The Times (Indiana) reports, "A 2003 law allowed the state to assign a tracking number to every student that entered high school in 2002. Having tracked that class, the education department now reports that the statewide graduation rate -- estimated at 89.8 percent last year -- is actually 73.7 percent." Previously, students who dropped out over the summer simply vanished from the equation using the older state formula.

4 failing Massachusetts schools may become pilots to fix themselves

Date Captured

Tuesday November 28 2006, 8:27 AM

Boston Globe reports, "Dan French, executive director of the Boston-based Center for Collaborative Education, said that Boston's pilot schools generally perform better than regular schools on several measures, including daily attendance, college-going rates, and MCAS scores. But the 20 pilot schools have also been a source of contention with the teachers union, which blocked expanding the schools for months over issues such as overtime pay."

Gender-split classes draw raves at area middle school

Date Captured	Tuesday November 28 2006, 8:23 AM
Journal Gazette reports, "Students in gender-divided classes at Riverview Middle School are more disciplined, have better attendance and are getting better grades, according to the teachers leading those classes."

Pennsylvania urging districts to get tough on school-skippers

Date Captured

Monday November 27 2006, 7:53 AM

Post Gazette reports, "The state said the recommendations came from a Statewide Task Force on School Attendance and Truancy Reduction. Because federal and state performance standards require growing percentages of students to post gains on math and reading tests, the state considers truancy a growing concern. Dr. Cupples said the Pittsburgh district will send parents a letter to explain the policy changes, remind them of their obligations under the state's compulsory attendance law and outline the penalties violators face. For repeated violations, parents face $300 fines, jail sentences, parenting classes and even the possibility of having their children placed in foster care. But the state says it wants to deal with truancy in the school whenever possible."

Fewer kids, fewer California schools

Date Captured

Saturday November 25 2006, 8:33 AM

Sacremento Bee reports, "The California Legislative Analyst's Office reports that K-12 public school enrollment -- or average daily attendance -- will drop next year by 6,000 students from a total of more than 6 million pupils statewide. Though seemingly modest, the drop signals considerable challenges for schools as statewide enrollment is expected to continue falling through 2010 as the children of the post World War II baby boom generation move beyond school age."

Massachusetts home-school policy adopted: Students can take extracurricular sports, activities

Date Captured

Friday November 24 2006, 5:23 PM

Norton Mirror reports, "Home-schooled students wishing to participate in teams or co-curricular activities must give 90 days prior notice to the school systems and obtain signed permission from their parent or guardian, building principal and the director of the team or club they are interested in. Home-schooled students participating in team sports must abide by the guidelines of the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association and provide proper physician notes and proof of insurance. They are subject to the disciplinary rules and regulations set forth by the MIAA, as well as the newly instituted Norton athletic user fees. School Committee Vice Chairman Kevin O'Neil suggested home-schooled students be issued a student identification card once all requirements have been completed. The School Committee agreed."

Count truants or lose Ohio state aid, 11 charters told

Date Captured	Friday November 24 2006, 9:16 AM
Columbus Dispatch reports, "The department [Ohio Department of Education] is requiring 11 charter schools in that situation to change the way they take attendance. Nine of the 11 are Internet schools, including the state’s largest, the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow."

Academies proposed at Poughkeepise city school

Date Captured

Friday November 24 2006, 4:40 AM

Poughkeepsie Journal reports, "Wilson [superintendent] said his experience with small learning communities shows they lead to better attendance, improved grades and higher graduation rates. The academies would likely be open to students in grades 10 through 12. Freshmen entering the high school could be in their own academy, with the focus on preparing them for the rest of their academic career by emphasizing study skills, improving motivation and exposing them to school resources."

Mount Vernon officials secure grant to help police keep kids in school

Date Captured

Tuesday November 21 2006, 6:26 AM

The Journal News reports, "Under the grant, eight police officers will be assigned to to locating and returning students to their schools. Capt. Robert Kelly will lead the unit. The $143,000 grant is from the state Division of Criminal Justice Services. When children are returned to the school, their parents will be contacted and will have to come in the next day for a conference with the teacher, Smith said. Other measures include attendance, teachers visiting the homes, and counseling for the students."

Keep kids safe: Violence and drugs are hurting students' ability to learn

Date Captured

Monday November 20 2006, 7:27 AM

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle writes on City Schools Superintendent Manuel Rivera, "As the force behind the Rochester Children's Zone, Rivera is a good choice for Spitzer's transition team. This effort, modeled after the successful Harlem Children's Zone, aims to coordinate community resources to attack the societal ills that make kids want to carry guns, for example. The Children's Zone has received enthusiastic words of support from community leaders who know that cleaning up drugs, violence and family problems in Rochester will make it easier for children to succeed in school. Coming up with concrete resources has been a struggle. Rivera should impress upon Spitzer the importance of state support for programs that are successfully helping young people resist drug traffic, for example, and the associated weapons problems. Too often, programs that deal with students' lives outside the classroom fall victim to budget cuts."

Hunger in East Tennessee - fallacies and facts

Date Captured	Sunday November 19 2006, 3:54 AM
Knoxville News reports, "Food for Kids and Kids Cafe -- Youth programs serve more than 3,000 kids monthly in nearly 100 locations. These kids show increased attendance, improved learning, better overall health and healthier social behavior. Several corporations have donated $2,500 each to adopt and fund a neighborhood elementary school for a year."

$3 million drive targets truancy: Philadelphia schools would add 400 parent officers to tackle 18% absenteeism.

Date Captured

Thursday November 16 2006, 3:52 AM

Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Among the other efforts in the truancy blitz: more sweeps to round up students, an expansion of after-school programs to serve 27,000 additional children, the tripling of the number of children and families served by counselors, and the tripling of parent-education classes for parents of truants. District officials estimate that 32,000, or 18 percent, of the city's 180,000 public schoolchildren, are illegally absent on any given day. Last school year, 80,000 missed eight or more days."

Buffalo schools weather test of new, speedy phone system

Date Captured	Monday November 13 2006, 11:29 AM
Buffalo News reports, "In Buffalo, school officials can specify who will receive the calls - for example, all parents and staff, students at one particular school or in a single class, all sixth-graders in the district, or a handful of students scheduled to be honored at a Board of Education meeting."

Massachusetts high school experimenting with lures to boost attendance

Date Captured	Sunday November 12 2006, 9:38 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Students and parents unfamiliar with the nuances of the school calendar year is just one of the many challenges facing urban school districts like Chelsea as they try to improve their attendance rates -- as mandated by federal education laws, Orlov [high school principal] said."

It's cool to stay in school

Date Captured	Thursday November 09 2006, 4:33 AM
NY Daily News reports, "The citywide program is funded largely by $14.5 million of state money. It is administered by the United Way of New York City, which in turn contracts with local community groups. The program focuses on students who have 'attendance challenges' and are in danger of dropping out, but who are not so truant that they have fallen drastically behind."

Maryland court program brings truancy improvements

Date Captured

Tuesday November 07 2006, 7:48 AM

The Daily Times reports, "In its third and possibly final year, the truancy reduction pilot program seeks to understand and intervene in the underlying issues that keep children from school, said Christen Niskey, program coordinator for the truancy court effort in Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester county public schools. The intervention strategies range from counseling to medical support services, she said."

Secretary Spellings Delivered Remarks at National Postsecondary Education Cooperative Symposium on Student Success in Washington, D.C.

Date Captured

Friday November 03 2006, 12:36 PM

PRESS RELEASE: You can find plenty of rankings and college guides, but you're out of luck if you want to find an answer to the question that matters most: How much are students learning? A recent report showed that instead of gauging student success, the most popular college rankings are "almost entirely a function of three factors: fame, wealth, and exclusivity." That's certainly of little or no help to the 2 million lower income students who will not be able to attend college this year because they can't afford it... or to millions more who are discouraged by skyrocketing sticker prices that often don't reflect the actual cost of attendance. The lack of data also hurts institutions.

Parental involvement key to a child's school success

Date Captured	Sunday October 29 2006, 8:49 PM
Bay News 9 reports, "School district [Polk County, Florida] officials said classroom teaching is not enough. Parents are an integral part of the education process. So, the school board just approved nearly $250,000 in funding to hire outreach facilitators. Their job will be to talk to parents about homework, testing and truancy."

Ferris Bueller's day is history for today's kids

Date Captured

Friday October 27 2006, 9:58 AM

USA TODAY reports, "Recent research showing that important brain development continues into adolescence has influenced new restrictions, says Stephanie Walton of the National Conference of State Legislatures. 'There's a real sense out there, and you see this reflected in all these laws, that kids don't grow up as fast as we used to think they do.' Lobbying by parents has brought a wave of laws and surveillance — as well as lawsuits contending that some policies designed to crack down on teens have gone too far:"

Pittsburgh city district putting heat on charter school students

Date Captured	Wednesday October 25 2006, 7:09 AM
Post-Gazette reports, "The Pittsburgh Public Schools yesterday sent a letter to Pittsburgh's district judges, asking for their help in enforcing compulsory attendance laws involving students at the Career Connections Charter Middle School."

School board stiffens penalties for drinking

Date Captured

Wednesday October 25 2006, 5:09 AM

Times Union reports, "The code now calls for the following consequences for students who violate the district's drug and alcohol policy: a minimum five-day suspension (a combination of in school and out of school); a parent conference with the superintendent; four-week exclusion from extra-curricular activities; a referral to a student-assistance counselor; and attendance of a seven-week, county-run alcohol and drug program."

2003–04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04): Undergraduate Financial Aid Estimates for 12 States: 2003–04

Date Captured

Tuesday October 24 2006, 2:28 PM

In addition to providing national estimates, the NPSAS:04 survey was designed to provide representative samples of undergraduates in public 2-year, public 4-year, and private not-for-profit 4-year institutions in 12 states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Texas, and Tennessee. Prior NPSAS studies have not been representative at the state level. For the in-state undergraduates in each of these 12 selected states, the tables in this E.D. TAB show the average tuition and fees and total price of attendance, the percentages of undergraduates receiving various types of financial aid and the average amounts received, the average net price of attendance after financial aid, average financial need and remaining need after financial aid, cumulative student loan amounts, earnings from work while enrolled, and other aspects of financing an undergraduate education. Berkner, L., and Wei, C.C. (2006). 2003–04 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:04): Undergraduate Financial Aid Estimates for 12 States: 2003–04 (NCES 2006-158). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved October 24, 2006 from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch.

Louisiana public schools show improvement

Date Captured	Monday October 23 2006, 2:13 PM
KATC reports, "But dozens of schools in hurricane-damaged areas -- including many of the state's lowest performing schools in Orleans Parish -- weren't included in the results because they were shut down for days and months, in some cases. The results were based on individual student scores on high-stakes tests, attendance rates and dropout rates."

East Ramapo considers keeping students in class year-round

Date Captured	Monday October 23 2006, 5:33 AM
Journal News reports, "The district is forming a committee of administrators, board members, teachers and members of East Ramapo's curriculum department to study extending the school year as well as other options, such as bolstering the district's summer school program and providing transportation for summer school students."

El Paso district wants fewer students per school

Date Captured	Sunday October 22 2006, 2:52 PM
El Paso Times reports, "A study published by Ohio and Marshal universities concludes that smaller schools tend to have: Lower dropout rates. Better student grade-point averages. Increased student attendance. Decreased failure and retention rates. Higher scores in standardized tests. In El Paso, all three of the schools rated exemplary are considered to be of either small or medium size. "

Arizona deserves 'least smart' tag

Date Captured	Sunday October 22 2006, 9:15 AM
Arizona Republic reports, "In the annual 'The Smartest State Award,' Arizona got last place. Researchers at Morgan Quitno Press reached that conclusion after they analyzed calculations from federal agencies and Census data."

Changing direction for Philadelphia schools

Date Captured

Friday October 20 2006, 8:20 AM

Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "At the Philadelphia schools, one of the goals on their 'balanced scorecard' centers on attendance. McDaniel, a 525-student school in a city neighborhood with one of the highest rates for shootings that occur during the school day, failed to meet "adequate yearly progress" under the No Child Left Behind law last year, in part because its attendance fell below 90 percent."

Buffalo schools running short of snow days

Date Captured	Tuesday October 17 2006, 8:27 PM
Buffalo News reports, "Under state law, districts must have at least 180 days of instruction in order to receive their full share of state aid. Four of those days can be superintendent conference days. Sources said local districts probably will ask State Education Commissioner Richard P. Mills to lower that requirement to 175 days due to last week's crippling storm."

Alabama school catches up with attendance 'glitch'

Date Captured

Tuesday October 17 2006, 8:04 AM

The Huntsville Times reports, "In late August, the state Department of Education [Alabama] cited the school on Carter's Gin Road for failing to maintain at least 95 percent daily attendance last year. Assistant Principal Melanie Barkley attributed the problem to a bookkeeping error: Students who arrived late for class were being marked absent when they should have been counted as tardy. Employees combed through attendance logs and found late-arriving students were mistakenly marked absent 403 times last school year, Barkley said. Giving those kids credit for coming to class late bumped Sparkman Middle's daily attendance from 94.42 percent to about 96 percent - comfortably above the state's goal."

Crack down on school truancy

Date Captured

Friday October 13 2006, 10:31 AM

Sun-Times News reports, "The ordinance provides for 'investigatory detention,' meaning a police officer may stop and detain a person whom the officer reasonably suspects to be violating the ordinance for the purpose of verifying the detained person's identity, age, school enrollment and authority to be absent from school. The subject shall be promptly released upon verification of authorization to be absent from school."

Attendance to make up 10 percent of Buffalo students' grades

Date Captured	Friday October 13 2006, 9:40 AM
Buffalo News reports, "Supporters of the measure described it as an appropriate way to improve poor attendance rates and emphasize the importance of being in school. Opponents said it offers rewards to students for doing what they should be doing anyway."

Punish parents when kids are tardy? No

Date Captured

Sunday October 08 2006, 8:51 AM

NY Daily News op-ed contributors John Beam, Executive Director of the National Center for Schools and Communities at Fordham University and Cecelia Blewer, co-founder of the Independent Commission on Public Education in New York City write, "Of course students should get to school on time and show up every day they can. Our experience as researchers and parents - and plain common sense - suggests that strong attendance goes hand in hand with other positive results in schools, from fewer discipline issues to higher academic achievement. But humiliating parents for their children's attendance and tardiness problems is a big mistake - one that puts shortsighted punitive instincts before the good of parents, children and schools."

Wheels in motion for Rochester district to keep advancing to success

Date Captured	Sunday October 08 2006, 7:59 AM
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle guest essayist Manuel Rivera, superintendent, Rochester School District writes, "The gains of our students and the progress of our district is a direct result of people working together toward a common goal, and that includes the Board of Education, our union leaders, staff, parents, the higher education, faith and business communities and many involved citizens."

CSRQ Center Report on Middle and High School Comprehensive School Reform Models

Date Captured

Friday October 06 2006, 8:31 AM

This Comprehensive School Reform Quality Center report "serves as a consumer guide that will help decision makers sort through claims about which school reform approaches could truly meet the needs of students. The report is the first comprehensive review of middle and high school whole-school reform models ever issued. To prepare this report, the CSRQ Center screened nearly 1,500 documents and reviewed 197 studies on 18 widely implemented middle and high school models. We used rigorous standards that are aligned with the requirements for scientifically based research established by NCLB. Each model is rated on a number of dimensions, including evidence of raising student achievement. The reviews of the individual models provide education decision makers with profiles of each model and the evidence needed to make decisions to meet locally defined needs."

Experts claim Texas graduation rates inflated

Date Captured	Friday October 06 2006, 8:25 AM
Houston Chronicle reports, "The dropout and graduation rates that Texas reports for black, Hispanic and poor students in urban districts are even further from reality, researchers assert."

Manhattan school gives parents detention with tardy children

Date Captured	Monday October 02 2006, 5:17 AM
Newsday reports, "Under the new rule at the Manhattan School for Children, parents who don't drop off their children by 8:25 a.m. have to pick up late slips from the principal's office and go to the auditorium to serve 20 minutes of detention with them."

Attendance and school funding in California school district

Date Captured	Sunday October 01 2006, 2:00 PM
Desert Dispatch reports, "Parents get the calls — an electronic voice notifying them their child was absent from school. What follows can go any number of ways, but it usually involves kids trying to convince their parents they were in school and not ditching. It turns out they might be telling the truth."

Money helps; curriculum, too

Date Captured

Sunday October 01 2006, 11:25 AM

Record Eagle Op-Ed contributor Jack Lessenberry writes, "They call it 'count day,' the day when students are bribed with pizza, ice cream and the chance to win Game Boys, iPods or even a laptop, if they do just one thing in school. Not pass their tests, not win scholarships, not win a spelling bee, if their school has such a thing anymore. They don't even have to read, write or learn anything, and some didn't do that, either. No. What the state's school systems, especially Detroit's, wanted students to do Wednesday was this: Show up."

How state figures out who gets what when allocating funds for education

Date Captured

Sunday October 01 2006, 8:23 AM

Anchorage Daily News reports, "A lawsuit set for trial Monday charges that the state's school-funding method doesn't provide enough money to fulfill the Alaska Constitution's promise of an education for all children. How exactly does the current system work? The formula, adopted in 1998, first considers a school's average daily enrollment during a 20-day period in October. This is called the ADM."

California law tightens school rules: It could become harder to avoid summer school

Date Captured	Saturday September 30 2006, 8:23 AM
Press Telegraph reports, "The law allows districts to further involve parents in the decision about whether children should attend summer school or other programs, he [spokesman for Long Beach Unified School District] said. Districts could 'make sure that the parent is aware of these opportunities and is fully informed before their child does or does not participate,' he said."

Dayton schools hope for perfect attendance

Date Captured	Friday September 29 2006, 7:58 AM
Dayton Daily News reports, "Taking no chances, Dayton Public Schools is airing television commercials featuring its teacher of the year, Julie Berro, surrounded by her kindergarten class, telling viewers, 'an empty chair means a loss of thousands of dollars in state aid for your child's education. Please don't let that happen.'"

Elmira student information available online (second story)

Date Captured	Monday September 25 2006, 5:32 AM
Star-Gazette reports, "Parents of Elmira City School District students may register at any time for ParentCONNECT, an online program that allows them to view information about their child's attendance, classes and grades as well as their discipline and attendance records."

Taking a look at longer classes

Date Captured

Monday September 25 2006, 5:19 AM

Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin "A main roadblock to extending the year is financial concerns. Any move to add days to the school year, or hours to the school day, would have to be negotiated with labor unions, including teachers' associations, officials said. And this would mean higher labor costs. 'If you extend the school year, I would assume people would expect addition compensation,' Busch said."

Ohio probing absence rates

Date Captured	Saturday September 23 2006, 6:29 PM
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH reports, "The attendance numbers for many Internet charter schools look good. In fact, the number with perfect scores are a little too good, prompting the Ohio Department of Education to give them a second look later this month, said Todd Hanes, executive director of the department’s Office of Community Schools."

Should Philadelphia schools leave Pennsylvania control?

Date Captured	Thursday September 21 2006, 8:42 AM
Philadelphia Inquirer reports, "Mayor Street's office is creating a task force and hiring a consultant to look at the state of education in the city - including whether it's time for the school district to leave state control."

RFID and student privacy in California

Date Captured	Wednesday September 20 2006, 12:19 PM
e-week reports, "Last year the Brittan Elementary School District in Sutter, Calif., required all its students to wear an ID badge implanted with a radio-frequency chip [RFID]. The badges, which stored a 15-digit identifier for each student, were intended to be used as an attendance aid. Parents, however, were up in arms over the practice, which many said violated their kids' privacy rights."

Regional office of Illinois education says its has a right to check on homeschool students

Date Captured

Sunday September 17 2006, 11:57 AM

The Southern reports, "'According to the Regional Office of Education, they do have the right to check on home-schooling parents,' Garnati [Williamson County State's Attorney] said. A Marion resident was recently sentenced to 48 hours in the Williamson County Jail after she was convicted of allowing her child to remain truant from school. She claimed she was home-schooling her child, but Williamson County Judge Ron Eckiss ruled that she was not home-schooling and was rather allowing her child to remain truant from school."

Massachusetts, Pittsfield District has high hopes for grant

Date Captured

Sunday September 17 2006, 11:38 AM

Berkshire Eagle reports, "Schools officials believe that a rare federal grant recently awarded to the Pittsfield Public School District will help increase school attendance, decrease disruptive behavior and improve graduation rates. The $2.8 million Safe Schools/Healthy Students Grant is part of a joint effort by the U.S. departments of Education, Health and Human services. Only 19 districts across the nation were awarded the three-year grant, and Pittsfield secured the second-largest sum."

Officials help cut truancy rate in half: Local Wisconsin city leaders, schools, community collaborate

Date Captured

Saturday September 16 2006, 10:47 AM

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, "In two years, the Racine Unified School District has lowered its truancy rate from 21.7% to 9%, prompting state schools Superintendent Elizabeth Burmaster to offer more financial support for the community and to proclaim Racine as the 'resource and model for others around the state' as programs to curb school-skipping expand to Madison, Kenosha, Janesville and Beloit."

California school district nixes attendance campaign

Date Captured	Friday September 15 2006, 11:33 AM
North County Times reports, "The [Temecula Valley Unified] school district has nixed its campaign offering students prizes ranging from computers to a new car for near-perfect attendance. The effort's debut last year produced only a minor bump in attendance."

Nearly 1 in 5 Massachusetts schools not making adequate yearly progress

Date Captured	Tuesday September 12 2006, 1:42 PM
AP reports, "In Massachusetts, the progress is measured using attendance rates, graduation rates and participation of and performance on the state's MCAS math and English/language arts tests."

Kentucky schools will compete in attendance

Date Captured

Monday September 11 2006, 2:03 PM

The Cincinnati Post reports, "Decades ago, rounding up kids cutting school was the job of the police truancy officer. It's an image best captured in the famous Norman Rockwell painting of the officer sitting at a diner counter next to a young boy who appears to be set to run away from home. Rockwell was so 20th-century. Today, Newport Independent Schools is the only district in Kentucky to track truants electronically and with lightning-speed."

Attendance below expectations at new accelerated learning academies

Date Captured	Monday September 11 2006, 8:35 AM
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports, "The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette requested data to see whether parents and students were availing themselves of the longer school day and extended school year at the academies, which are using the $3.6 million America's Choice program of teaching strategies and curriculum supplements. The academies serve elementary and middle-grade students."

Plattsburgh State Upward Bound's success rate: 92-percent college attendance with a 60-percent graduation rate

Date Captured

Thursday September 07 2006, 7:34 AM

Press Republican opined, "Upward Bound projects provide academic instruction in mathematics, laboratory sciences, composition, literature and foreign languages. The local students experience living in the university's dormitories and move to their classes in real-life collegiate settings. While attending lectures and getting homework in subjects like public speaking, creative writing and foreign languages, the students also participate in a variety of out-of-classroom activites, like attending leadership conferences, hiking and field trips."

$3 billion plan for struggling California schools is revealed

Date Captured

Thursday August 31 2006, 12:08 PM

UNION-TRIBUNE reports on agreement with the California Teachers Association, "The estimated 600 schools in the pilot program would be selected from applicants among 1,600 low-performing schools whose scores on statewide tests are in the bottom 20 percent. The schools would have to maintain an average class size of 20 students in kindergarten through the third grade, a current requirement, and an average of 25 students not to exceed 27 students in most fourth-through 12th-grade classes. The schools would have to have at least one credentialed counselor for every 300 students. Using a new index, the average experience of teachers would have to equal or exceed the district average. The schools also would have to move toward a three-year goal of improving their test scores. Pupil attendance and graduation rates also would be expected to show improvement."

Policing as Education Policy: A briefing on the initial impact of the Impact Schools program

Date Captured

Tuesday August 29 2006, 12:50 PM

Prepared by Sharon Balmer with Travis Dale, Bethany Aaronson, and John M. Beam. Brief on Impact Schools reports, "In addition to having significantly higher rates of suspension and police incidents and significantly lower attendance rates than most non-Impact schools, Impact Schools were significantly different from other city high schools in a number of ways." National Center for Schools and Communities, Fordham University, August 2006.

Audit finds sensitive data vulnerable at Arizona education agency

Date Captured

Monday August 28 2006, 8:20 PM

AP reports on the vulnerable systems, "The systems are used for a variety of purposes, ranging from teacher certification to tracking student attendance that is used to allocate state funding to school districts and charter schools. Confidential information kept on the department's computer systems include teachers' names, birth dates and Social Security numbers and students' names and birth dates, the audit report noted. Many of the security flaws have been noted previously but the audit found that only some of them had been fixed, the department said."

New Illinois law to keep truants off roads; state will check school attendance

Date Captured	Monday August 28 2006, 4:52 PM
News-Democrat reports, "The state [Illinois] now requires school boards to file quarterly reports listing chronically truant students to the office of the Secretary of State. Those students will not be issued instructional permits or graduated driver's licenses until the next report shows they are regularly attending classes."

Bottom Line is kids graduate: Rules alone may not cut Boston schools absenteeism

Date Captured

Monday August 28 2006, 10:05 AM

Boston Herald Op-Ed contributor James Alan Fox, Lipman Family Professor of Criminal Justice at Northeastern University opined, "Bottom Line, funded through private donations and grants, each year counsels hundreds of children from immigrant or poor families, assisting them with the college search, the daunting application and financial aid processes, as well as the adjustment to college life. Achieving a remarkable college acceptance rate of 98 percent, Bottom Line is only limited by its own bottom line of fund-raising. Moreover, it demonstrates how creative thinking outperforms rules and regulations in keeping students in school."

Stealth Students Test Tolerance of the Affluent

Date Captured

Saturday August 26 2006, 9:14 AM

NY Times reports, "Just as Mexicans sneak into California because that’s where the better jobs are, students sneak into Greenwich because that’s where the better schools are. Greenwich, one of America’s wealthiest towns, has not yet surrounded itself with a chain-link fence and National Guard troops. But it has its own version of a border patrol. A private eye, the kind who might be expected to snoop around motels, has been hired to check out tips of juvenile border crossings."

Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 2003–04 With a Special Analysis of the Net Price of Attendance and Federal Education Tax Benefits Statistical Analysis Report

Date Captured

Wednesday August 23 2006, 3:35 PM

This NCES report provides detailed information about undergraduate tuition and total price of attendance at various types of institutions, the percentage of students receiving various types of financial aid, and the average amounts that they received. Berkner, L., and Wei, C.C. (2006). Student Financing of Undergraduate Education: 2003–04, With a Special Analysis of the Net Price of Attendance and Federal Education Tax Benefits (NCES 2006-186). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Kingston school board trustees limit absences

Date Captured

Wednesday August 23 2006, 9:26 AM

The Daily Freeman reports, "After every absence, teachers are required to call parents or guardians notifying them of the absence. After the fifth absence, a high school guidance counselor will be notified, and will schedule a meeting with the parents. If the parents refuse to schedule a conference, a social worker will be requested to visit the student's home, and a letter will be sent home. After the 10th absence, the student's assistant principal will set up a meeting with the student's guidance counselor, assistant principal, psychologist, and social worker and parents. Again, a social worker will visit the parents' home if they refuse to attend the conference."

Arizona Gov. Napolitano: Raise school attendance age

Date Captured

Wednesday August 23 2006, 9:20 AM

Arizona Daily Star reports, "State Schools Superintendent Tom Horne said altering the dropout age is not the answer. 'My solution to the dropout problem is to persuade kids that they should be in school with things like outside mentoring, peer counseling, flexible hours and career technical education,' Horne said. 'But if you force kids who don't want to be there to be there, they can be disruptive.'"

California student tracking system receives a failing grade: Millions spent, yet state can't calculate dropouts

Date Captured	Monday August 21 2006, 5:20 PM
Union Tribune reports, "California has fallen far behind other large states with sophisticated student tracking systems, such as Texas and Florida, and cannot accurately calculate a basic fact about school performance: the dropout rate."

Metro Nashville grad rates rise by technicality: Schools count summer finishes for first time

Date Captured

Sunday August 20 2006, 6:34 PM

The Tennessean reports, "Metro Schools Director Pedro Garcia said the district has ramped up efforts to reduce dropouts. Some initiatives include help transitioning from middle to high school, support for struggling freshmen and classes that allow students to recover failed classes or pick up basic skills. 'Our grad rate is our number one goal,' Garcia said. Tennessee, along with many other states, was able to get special permission from the U.S. Department of Education to insert a one-year lag in the graduation rates."

Kentucky school health centers seek funding

Date Captured

Thursday August 17 2006, 6:38 PM

Community Press and Recorder reports, "For parents of low-income families in Northern Kentucky, having a sick child used to mean struggling to get time off work, pulling a child out of school, and finding transportation to a doctor's office. Now, families have an alternative and schools are seeing improved attendance, says Nancy Penick-Woolum, community development specialist for the Northern Kentucky school-based health centers."

Upcoming school year for California state controlled district will focus on student achievement, budget

Date Captured	Tuesday August 15 2006, 8:17 PM
Times-Herald reports, "Getting tough on truancy, plus more remedial classes at middle and high schools are some of what's in store as the Vallejo school district enters its third school year under state control."

Arizona panel urging better auditing of school figures

Date Captured	Monday August 14 2006, 11:47 AM
AP reports, "A report issued by the Auditor General's Office [Arizona] said limited audits and reviews already conducted indicated the possibility of widespread inaccuracies in attendance figures reported by school districts and charter schools."

The Determinants of Student Achievement in Ohio’s Public Schools

Date Captured

Friday August 04 2006, 1:08 AM

By Matthew Carr, Education Policy Director, Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions. Carr writes, "To capture the changing dynamics of both different academic subjects and students at different ages, this analysis evaluates student performance in five subjects (math, reading, writing, science and citizenship) across grades 3 to 12. This combination gives us 21 separate analyses, or mathematical models. Controls were also included for geography, student socio-economic status, race, and learning disability. This study breaks new ground by also analyzing the factors that influence student performance in charter schools."

Ohio study disputes traditional keys to success in school: Qualified teachers, attendance rated as most important

Date Captured	Friday August 04 2006, 12:41 AM
The Columbus Dispatch reports on study results, "Other things that make a difference: attendance, how often students switch schools and whether students are poor. Spotty attendance, high mobility and poverty have a negative impact on scores, the study shows."

New cars may reward perfect attendance

Date Captured	Thursday August 03 2006, 10:26 AM
The Tennessean reports, "High school seniors from 26 Middle Tennessee counties will have a chance to win a new Chevrolet car this school year through a new incentive program called 'The Chevy Drive for Perfection.'"

School health centers seek funding

Date Captured

Thursday August 03 2006, 10:12 AM

Community Press & Recorder reports, "For parents of low-income families in Northern Kentucky, having a sick child used to mean struggling to get time off work, pulling a child out of school, and finding transportation to a doctor's office. Now, families have an alternative and schools are seeing improved attendance, says Nancy Penick-Woolum, community development specialist for the Northern Kentucky school-based health centers."

Don't abolish minimum attendance rule, school board is urged

Date Captured	Thursday August 03 2006, 6:57 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Parents, teachers, former Board of Education members and several school district residents spoke out Wednesday night against a proposal to eliminate the district's minimum-attendance requirement. The requirement that the Board of Education is considering abolishing mandates that students attend class at least 90 percent of the time to be eligible to pass."

Kingston High School attendance policy topic of hearing

Date Captured

Wednesday August 02 2006, 7:36 AM

Daily Freeman reports, "The current school attendance policy established a minimum standard of attendance whereby any high school student who is illegally absent for 18 days in a full-year course or 9 days in a semester course will be denied course credit. Under the revised attendance policy, 'where a student earns a passing grade, credit will not be denied for the course(s) regardless of the number of absences.'"

Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

Date Captured

Thursday July 27 2006, 9:36 PM

"The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 U.S.C. § 1232g; 34 CFR Part 99) is a Federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. The law applies to all schools that receive funds under an applicable program of the U.S. Department of Education. FERPA gives parents certain rights with respect to their children's education records. These rights transfer to the student when he or she reaches the age of 18 or attends a school beyond the high school level. Students to whom the rights have transferred are 'eligible students.'" parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student's education record. However, FERPA allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions (34 CFR § 99.31): School officials with legitimate educational interest; Other schools to which a student is transferring; Specified officials for audit or evaluation purposes; Appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student; Organizations conducting certain studies for or on behalf of the school; Accrediting organizations; To comply with a judicial order or lawfully issued subpoena; Appropriate officials in cases of health and safety emergencies; and State and local authorities, within a juvenile justice system, pursuant to specific State law. Schools may disclose, without consent, "directory" information such as a student's name, address, telephone number, date and place of birth, honors and awards, and dates of attendance. However, schools must tell parents and eligible students about directory information and allow parents and eligible students a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose directory information about them. Schools must notify parents and eligible students annually of their rights under FERPA. The actual means of notification (special letter, inclusion in a PTA bulletin, student handbook, or newspaper article) is left to the discretion of each school.

AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT FREE TUTORING SERVICES UNDER THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT IN NEW YORK CITY: A FOCUS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

Date Captured

Wednesday July 26 2006, 11:18 AM

Advocates for Children of New York, June, 2006. "This policy brief examines the status of SES in NYC as of the 2004-2005 school year (the most recent year for which data is available) and compares, where possible, results from the first year of implementation. This report also analyzes the extent to which ELLs are eligible based on their attendance in designated schools, their enrollment in SES, and SES providers’ capacity to serve these students."

Texas schools help migrant students adjust

Date Captured	Tuesday July 25 2006, 10:07 AM
The TELEGRAPH reports, "'Our goal is to put children in the schools and keep them there,' Warren said. 'We make the families aware of school requirements, attendance policies, bus routes and the graduation requirements if the children are high school-aged.'"

Their summer is no vacation

Date Captured	Tuesday July 25 2006, 9:46 AM
Baltimore Sun reports, "While coaches cannot mandate attendance, summer training sessions are common in high school football, with teams using varying approaches to encourage participation."

Kingston High School may drop attendance policy

Date Captured	Thursday July 20 2006, 7:30 AM
Daily Freeman reports, "Eliminating the attendance policy would allow students to pass a course if they are able to succeed academically, without a minimum of attendance requirement."

A More Nuanced Look at Men, Women and College

Date Captured	Wednesday July 12 2006, 6:55 AM
NY Times registration. Tamar Lewis reports, "The study’s author, Jacqueline King, said the dynamics of college attendance became clearer when she broke students down by age group."

Podcast craze hits classrooms; Some say digital lectures can let students catch up

Date Captured	Tuesday July 11 2006, 8:06 AM
Boston Globe reports, "Students, some professors say, might be tempted to skip class and the discussion that can flow after a lecture."

Norwalk Proposes Eviction for Truancy

Date Captured	Saturday July 08 2006, 9:20 PM
NY Times registration required. NY Times reports, "If their children repeatedly play hooky from school, residents of Norwalk's public housing complexes could be evicted under regulations proposed by the Norwalk Housing Authority."

New Ohio Law: Skip School, No Driver's License

Date Captured	Saturday June 24 2006, 6:55 PM

Law might affect year-round school

Date Captured	Friday June 09 2006, 7:45 AM

Proposed Connecticut attendance policy has legal ramifications

Date Captured	Thursday June 08 2006, 7:33 AM

Nutrition, Physical Activity Boost School Performance; Four-Year Program Improves Test Scores, Discipline, Attendance

Date Captured	Thursday June 01 2006, 2:42 PM

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson proposes school reform

Date Captured	Thursday May 25 2006, 4:05 PM

Making the grade with attendance

Date Captured	Tuesday May 23 2006, 11:02 AM

Getting to school can become a crisis

Date Captured	Sunday May 21 2006, 9:17 AM
Times Union reports, "The team, led by Sal Villa, a former high school administrator, was visiting the home of a fifth-grader who hadn't been showing up at School 19. The apartment contained almost no furniture, save a set of shelves with a small TV and video game setup. Dishes were piled high in the sink and on the floor was a box of Arctic Pops, which were supposed to be in the freezer."

Attacking absenteeism

Date Captured	Saturday May 13 2006, 7:59 AM

Just being there is key; Schools with high attendance rates graduate more students, state education Mills says

Date Captured	Thursday May 04 2006, 7:07 AM

Back to school for Rochester city truants

Date Captured	Monday May 01 2006, 9:25 AM

Go to school in Florida, win a free car: Incentive enough, kids?

Date Captured	Saturday April 29 2006, 9:28 AM

Funding and student retention top community college concerns

Date Captured	Friday April 21 2006, 12:40 PM

High school graduation gap more than racial

Date Captured	Wednesday April 19 2006, 9:14 AM

Leaving Boys Behind: Public High School

Date Captured	Wednesday April 19 2006, 9:03 AM
by Manhattan Institute Senior Fellows Jay P. Greene and Marcus A. Winters. Civic Report 48. April 2006

Leave No Adult Behind Program Could Help 30 Million Adults Earn HS Diplomas

Date Captured	Monday March 27 2006, 8:54 AM