In September, Tucson Unified School District is partnering with school districts across the country in celebrating September as Attendance Awareness Month.

Why is reducing chronic absence so important?

• Students suffer academically if they miss 10% or more of school days--that's as few as two to three per month.
• Studies show that children who miss too many days in kindergarten and first grade often have trouble mastering
  reading by the end of third grade. Attending school regularly helps children feel better about school--and
  themselves.
• When children are absent, schools get fewer resources from the state, resulting in less funding to pay for
  teachers and books. Chronic absence in kindergarten predicts chronic absence the following year, so even the
  attendance patterns of our youngest students affect funding down the road.

What are we going to do about it?

• Every family in Tucson Unified School District can join the effort to get children to school every day.
• At the district level, Tucson Unified will be sponsoring a district-wide attendance competition for the month of September. The elementary, middle, and high school that demonstrate the largest gain in September attendance (over their 2015-16 school year attendance) will be recognized/rewarded at the end of the month.
• Tucson Unified Dropout Prevention will be providing daily facts and information that can be added to schools daily announcements.
• At the school level, each school will be provided chronic absence data specific to their site, so they may coordinate interventions with students and families.
• Schools will be provided with a Toolkit to Reduce Chronic Absence, and asked to take on their own site specific projects for improving attendance awareness.

Help us cultivate a habit of good attendance starting in kindergarten, through graduation, giving our children the opportunity to learn and succeed in school.

Visit AttendanceWorks.org for the 2018 Attendance Awareness Toolkit!