School Messenger

Week of November 29-Dec 3, 2021

 

Dear Explorer Families,

Week 17 is here!  We are ready for a full week of learning and teaching.   We hope that you had a wonderful holiday weekend with family and friends.  We are thankful for you and the sharing of your children with us.  It takes a village and we are so glad that you are a part of our school community.

 

School Wide Attendance Focus

Our focus on higher rates of attendance is ON!  Beginning next week, our entire school is focused on engaging our students and exciting them about learning--each and every day counts in school!  Data shows that North Carolina’s chronic absenteeism rate is 14.6%, meaning 14.6% of K-12 students in North Carolina missed 15 or more days of school during the 2015-16 school year. This placed our state 24th among all states. 

 

Why does Chronic Absenteeism matter?

Being physically present in school is a necessary precursor to learning. Chronic absenteeism in early grades may prevent children from developing the skills they need to succeed in later grades. Research has repeatedly found a “clear and consistent relationship between early attendance and later achievement,” including:

• Lower academic performance in 1st and 5th grades
• Persistently lower academic scores in grades 3-5
• An increased likelihood of reading below grade level
• An increased likelihood of needing reading intervention

In middle grades, chronically absent students are less likely to be on-track to graduate from high school on time. In fact, improving attendance is a better predictor of high school outcomes than test score improvement.

Once in high school, chronically absent students are much more likely to dropout. The national organization Attendance Works notes that chronic absenteeism disproportionately affects economically-disadvantaged students:

“Children living in poverty are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent—and face the most harm because their community lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school. Students from communities of color as well as those with disabilities are disproportionately affected.

 

This isn’t simply a matter of truancy or skipping school. In fact, many of these absences, especially among our youngest students, are excused. Often absences are tied to health problems, such as asthma, diabetes, and oral and mental health issues. Other barriers including lack of a nearby school bus, a safe route to school or food insecurity make it difficult to go to school every day.  In many cases, chronic absence goes unnoticed because schools are counting how many students show up every day rather than examining how many and which students miss so much school that they are falling behind.” (Resource from:  https://dashboard.myfuturenc.org/college-and-career-access/chronic-absenteeism/#:~:text=North%20Carolina's%20chronic%20absenteeism%20rate,among%20all%20states%20in%202016.)

 

This Week:

No Parent Events this Week! 

 

Upcoming Dates:

12/6-10:  mClass Assessments for all K-5 students

12/15-16:  NC Check In for 3-5 grade students

12/19:  Last Day of School Before Break

12/22:  January 2nd Winter Break

01/03:  Teacher Workday No School

 

Volunteer Opportunities

If you would like to volunteer at EGES, please contact tstucker@wcpss.net.  Mr. Stucker can support with the process to register to volunteer.  

 

Your Proud Principal,

Dr. Graf