School Messenger

Week of January 3, 2023

Dear Explorer Families,

Happy New Year!   We are ready to return to our school schedule and see our students!    We hope that you had a wonderful holiday and Winter Break with family and friends.  

We continue our School Wide Attendance Focus

Beginning on January 3rd we will have a school wide focus on student attendance.  This particular time of the school year is important as we have a nice block of uninterrupted time to really impact student learning and success.  Please support our efforts to have your child at school on time each day.  

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:

This Week:

1/4 SIP Quarterly Review

1/6 NKT (K-2) and STARS (3-5) Math Assessment 

Upcoming Dates:

1/18:  MLK Holiday- 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