By ANA BARRETT
Officials in Iowa have noticed a growing problem — too many kids are missing too many days of school.
“Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10 percent or more of school days for any reason, whether it’s excused or unexcused,” said Jean Kresse, the president and CEO of United Way of Story County.
In Iowa, that typically means missing at least 18 days of school a year, which is close to a month of school days.
The Governor’s Office has established a council consisting of state officials, school-board members, and community members across the state to investigate why many Iowa children are chronically absent from school. The goal of the new council is to generate a plan of action by November to solve some of the problems of low attendance.
Kresse, a member of the council, said the council consists of 32 members. The group hopes to make at least one recommendation that it can pass to the Governor’s Office.
There are various reasons children miss school, she said.
“Maybe someone’s parents work early in the morning, so after they leave for work, the student might go back to bed and miss a day of school,” Kresse said.
There are certain groups of students that are chronically absent that raise more worry than others, she said.
“We aren’t concerned about the kids that go to Europe with their parents for a month because they’re on sabbatical,” Kresse said. “We are concerned about the students who miss due to low-income restraints, transportation issues, sickness, and whatever else might be holding them back.”
Iowa Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds said in a recent report that research shows a direct link between school attendance and reading proficiency.
“One-third of Iowa school districts and nearly 40 percent of elementary schools have chronic absentee rates among kindergarteners that are over 10 percent,” Reynolds said in the report.
Chronically absent students in kindergarten were 1.5 times less likely to be proficient in reading by the end of third grade, according to the report.
Chronic absenteeism is not limited to Iowa. There are nationwide efforts to keep children in the classroom during the school year and continued learning through the summer. There is also a nationwide campaign called The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading.
The campaign is a collaborative effort by funders, nonprofit partners, states, and communities across the nation to ensure that more low-income children succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. The campaign focuses on an important predictor of school success and high-school graduation — grade-level reading by the end of third grade.
Joan Koch, a third-grade teacher in Des Moines School District who has taught for 27 years, said chronic absenteeism can affect a student’s achievement. Students can experience gaps in their learning when concepts are built upon prior teaching they did not receive because of missing school, she said.
“The pacing of material that needs to be covered in different content areas is compromised by students who miss a lot of school,” Koch said. “It is challenging to find time to provide missed instruction.”