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News > In the Headlines
For kids at Freedom Elementary School in Plainfield, the number of keychains hooked to their backpacks says it all. A field trip to a Joliet JackHammers game was last year's reward for students in the NBA (Never Been Absent) Club at Farragut Elementary. Free prom tickets is a big ticket item in a raffle for students with perfect attendance at Plainfield Central High School. To get out of taking a final exam for algebra and other core subjects, one has to maintain an A and have three or less excused absences at Bolingbrook High School. Dances, open gym and pizza parties are just some of the incentives to motivate and reward students for being in school -- driving home an important lesson that attendance matters. Attendance is the most fundamental and necessary aspect of school. It affects how schools are funded and how well students learn. "It's a common-sense premise," said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education. "Good attendance will lead to a better educational experience." Area attendance rates A Herald-News look at attendance rates--as reported in the 2009 state school report cards--for 41 districts across Will and Grundy counties found: - All middle and elementary schools in Will and Grundy counties have met the target of 90 percent attendance rate which is a factor to meet Adequate Yearly Progress as part of the No Child Left Behind law. For high schools, graduation rate is the AYP factor. - Out of 184 schools, only 13 fell below the state attendance average of 93.7 percent. Those schools are: Crete-Monee High School, Homer Junior High, Hufford Junior High, Washington Junior High & Academy, Farragut Elementary School, Joliet Central High School, Plainfield High School-Central Campus, Plainfield North High School, Plainfield South High School, Bolingbrook High School, Romeoville High School, Gardner-South Wilmington High School and Minooka High School. - Grade and middle schools typically have better attendance. The state has set attendance rate targets for grade and middle schools since 2003. In 2009, the target was 90 percent to reach AYP and it rises to 91 percent in 2010. - Among area districts with at least five schools, New Lenox School District had the highest average attendance rate at 96.1 percent. Valley View School District, with an enrollment of about 18,060, was the lowest at 93.4 percent, but near the state average. - The Chicago Public Schools had a 90.5 attendance rate in 2009 among its approximately 405,000 students. In recent years, Valley View's two high schools have shown a rebound in attendance rates. Ten years ago, Bolingbrook's 93 percent attendance rate sat right at the state average. As the number of low-income students and the percentage of chronic truants increased, attendance dipped to 85.8 percent in 2007 before a recent upturn to 87.5 percent for 2009. At Romeoville, attendance rates have remained consistent since 1999, with its lowest mark reported at 88 percent in 2006. Last school year, RHS's attendance rate reached 91.4 percent. Putting the numbers into context, Bolingbrook High School had an average of 206 students absent out of 3,533 students for the past two weeks. For the same time period, Romeoville High School had on average 134 students absent out of 1,804. Those averages are pretty much the way it runs most days throughout the year, said Larry Randa, district spokesman. Both Bolingbrook and Romeoville high schools have targeted truancy as a key to improving attendance in a district that uses an automated system to call the homes of any student with an unexcused absence. "We also have a system for which to flag students who reach three unexcused absences, which affords us time to attempt early intervention as a means ... to hopefully stop truancy before it gets out of hand," Bolingbrook Principal Jim Mitchem said in an e-mail. A chronic truant is a student who is absent without valid cause for 10 percent or more of the previous 180 regular attendance days. Out of Bolingbrook's 3,519 students, there were 287 students with 17 or more unexcused absences last school year. "The reasons for the chronic truancies are as diverse as the students we serve," Mitchem said. "Some are due to homelessness. Some are due to financial issues where students feel the need to help support the family." There are some students who have a lack of interest in school while others struggle academically, he said. Then, there are some students who are intimidated by the size of the school. One of the interventions is visiting the student at home to find out why they aren't coming to school. Mitchem said he believes the best way to increase attendance is for schools to do a better job of engaging kids, building trust and a safe and secured environment. "We need to build school systems that intrinsically motivate students to attend school. In short, we need to build a better mouse trap," he said. Tackling truancy Romeoville High School has tackled truancy by reaching out to students before they walk through the doors. Two years ago, the school established a middle school-to-high school truancy prevention team with A. Vito Martinez Middle School. It included counselors from both schools, a dean and teachers who made home visits with incoming freshmen identified as chronic truants or chronically absent, and their families, said RHS Principal John Sparlin in an e-mail. "The family and team discussed the family's and student's concerns regarding high school, reasons for attendance issues, and brainstormed solutions to resolve the student's individual issues," Sparlin said. During the school year, the students were checked on regularly by a mentor and were rewarded for ongoing good attendance. The result: 91 percent of those in the program attended on a regular basis and had academic success, Sparlin reported. Similar success followed when Romeoville partnered with Lukancic Middle School last year. Perfect score On the spectrum's other end is Nettle Creek Elementary School in Morris. It topped all 184 schools with a 97.1 percent attendance rate for its 71 students, in grades 3-8, last year. Superintendent and Principal Pete Pasteris wasn't aware of the ranking, but said the greater focus is on reaching a perfect score on the state test. Last school year, 98 percent of Nettle Creek students met or exceeded in reading and math. A perfect score this year means Pasteris will take students bowling. Pasteris said one of the keys to their success are the passionate teachers who make sure students are challenged. If a fourth-grader is ready for fifth-grade math, he or she gets it. "The bottom line is the students want to be there. The parents make sure they are there," Pasteris said. "We have good parental support. It's not like some magical wand that we are waving. The kids love being in school. It's like their second home." |
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