That’s why — as a community — we need all of our children in school, on time, every day.
Quite simply, being at school, on time, is an essential “soft skill” for a successful adult work life.
How big is the attendance problem? Researchers working with Learn to Earn Dayton reviewed three years of attendance data for kindergarten through third-graders in seven of Montgomery County’s 16 school districts (not including Dayton Public Schools).
Their findings were startling:
- Forty-two percent of students miss at least two weeks of school each year.
- More than 1 in 5 kindergartners miss more than 18 days.
- 10 percent of third-graders miss more than 18 days.
When a child has poor attendance in the early grades, too often that is the start of more serious issues as they can’t keep up with their peers in class. There’s nothing fun about getting up early to go to a place where you’re overwhelmed and feel like a failure. When children get behind early in their school career, they tend to stay behind.
What’s especially sad is that the path to having difficulty in school frequently starts long before a child can understand the consequences of not being in school. That’s why it’s on us — the adults, the parents — to make sure that they hear repeatedly that attendance counts.
Think about the kindergartener who is out two days a month — a not uncommon occurrence. That adds up to almost a month of absences. If that scenario repeats itself in first grade and again the following year, the cumulative lost learning quickly can become daunting.
Imagine also being the third-grade teacher who’s trying to compensate for children who are absent habitually. If you have 30 students and three are out repeatedly, the rest of your students assuredly will lose out while you spend time repeating lessons or diverting your attention to those who weren’t with you yesterday or last Monday.
Children are a lot like adults: Habits, especially bad ones, are hard to break. If kids get the message early that school isn’t important, it’s difficult to un-learn that notion. If they think that being late or not showing up is acceptable, consider the shock of finding out when they’re grown that employers expect that — and much more.
Companies complain a lot today about workers’ lack of soft skills. That is, employees don’t come to work every day and on time, they don’t follow directions well, they don’t work well in groups and they’re not good listeners.
Those are exactly the values and traits that children need to have to do well in school. These are the skills that kindergarten teachers — and teachers every year after — emphasize with their students, over and above rigorous content.
Showing up is not optional for adults, and it can’t be for students if we want them to succeed. In our homes, our schools, our places of worship and in our conversations, we need to make sure that young and older students alike know that when they miss school, they miss out.
We should never underestimate what kids can do. But they do have to understand what’s expected and required. Good attendance is the minimum. Without that, they can’t possibly get ahead or do the jobs that one day we will need them to perform in order for our community to be economically viable.
Colleen Ryan is the president of Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio.
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