✏️ The CCSD Education Services Division is boosting schools’ home visit programs to combat chronic absenteeism.
Why it matters: In addition to our Every Day Matters campaign, federal funding that was originally secured by the CCSD Engagement Unit, is being used to offer additional assistance to schools to assist them as they reach out to families of students who struggle to attend school regularly, says Kevin McPartlin, assistant superintendent of the Education Services Division.
Principals who get this extra support will identify a team of 10 to 12 members of licensed and support professionals. Those volunteering for these teams can be joined, if the school wishes, by an attendance officer from the Education Services Division during home visits.
In addition, all members of these teams will receive contractual extra-duty pay for professional learning, implementation, and home visits.
The backstory: When McPartlin became the Education Services Division assistant superintendent in August 2023, he evaluated the systems and processes for addressing chronic absenteeism.
Improving student attendance has been a CCSD priority for years, but McPartlin says while a number of departments were working toward a similar goal, “their effectiveness was hindered because no one office or department ‘owned’ the work.”
- Using existing funding, the Education Services Division’s approach was restructured to better aid the hard-working efforts of its employees and those at schools aiming to improve student attendance.
- As part of this restructuring, there now is an Office of Chronic Absenteeism, Shared Housing, and Special Projects with a director overseeing its work.
By the numbers: Progress is being made. At the end of this school year’s first semester, chronic absenteeism stood at 29.6 percent, a full 5 percentage points below last year’s 34.6 percent.
- All student groups have shown improvement in attendance so far this school year as well.
