New Britain Schools See Another Drop in Early Grade Chronic Absenteeism New Britain -- The Consolidated School District of New Britain has seen another drop in the number of chronically absent elementary school students. The positive trend is the result of a collaborative effort between the Consolidated School District of New Britain, the Coalition for New Britain’s Children, the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain and other organizations. The change in the number of students who are chronically absent improved from 5 percent in preschool to as high as 36 percent in second grade. First, second, third, fourth and fifth grades district wide all saw double-digit percentage improvements in chronic absenteeism this school year. Chronically absent students are those who miss 10 percent, or 18 days, of school in a given school year. Studies show that chronic absenteeism has a negative effect on academic performance, especially a student’s ability to read at grade level by third grade. In the 2011-2012 school year, 30 percent of New Britain kindergarteners were chronically absent from school. That number was reduced to 17.5 percent in 2012-2013, and 13.4 percent this past school year. In second grade, 13.7 percent of students were chronically absent in 2012-2013. That number was 8.8 percent in 2013-2014. The school district has worked to reduce the numbers of chronically absent students for several years, but stepped up efforts in recent years have improved results. The district employs two part-time family intervention specialists and a full-time attendance director to improve school attendance district-wide. One part-time position is funded by the Community Foundation of Greater New Britain; the other is funded by the state Office of Policy and Management. The district’s attendance director, Joe Vaverchak, said there are several reasons for the improvement, including the increased focus at the school level. “It’s working well because the school attendance teams are meeting weekly; there’s a consistency there,” he said. “They are not only looking at the data, but they are analyzing and acting on the data.” Kimberley Russo, chairperson of the Coalition for New Britain’s Children said the numbers show a positive trend. “The improving school attendance numbers reflect the hard work of a community-wide commitment to life and school success,” Russo said. “Research shows that students who are not in school fall behind and stay behind. Reduced chronic absenteeism means that more New Britain children are spending more time in class, which improves their odds for academic gains.” Vaverchak said staff and families are working together to create a change in attitude when it comes to the importance of school attendance, especially at the lower grades. “We’re really moving on a culture change to addressing chronic absenteeism,” he said. ###
Posted on: Tue, 15 Jul 2014 18:42:59 +0000