Research shows that attendance is an important factor in student achievement. According to the US Department of Education, over 7 million students missed 15 or more days of school in 2015-2016, which translates to 16% of the Student Population, or about 1 in 6 students. Absence from school can lead to increased academic risk for students' success.
In December 2016, the Ohio General Assembly passed HB 410 to encourage and support a preventative approach to excessive absences and truancy. HB 410's truancy provisions bring Ohio law in compliance with federal law and reduce the number of students referred for formal juvenile court processing for missing school. HB410 emphasizes early intervention and provides opportunities to:
Eliminate schools from suspending or expelling students with truancy issues
Limit a youth's exposure to the juvenile justice system due to truant behavior.
Frequent absences from school can be devastating to a child's future. The effects start early and spiral dramatically over time.
A student is chronically absent if he/she missed as few as two days of school a month.
Children who are chronically absent in preschool, kindergarten, and first grade are much less likely to read on grade level by the third grade.
Students who cannot read at grade level by the third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school.
By high school, attendance is a better dropout indicator than test scores.
A chronically absent student, in any year between eighth and twelfth grade, is seven times more likely to drop out of school.
Student attendance in Willoughby-Eastlake Schools is a top priority. We would like to partner with our families to identify and reduce barriers to regular school attendance. The State of Ohio defines excessive absences as a student who is absent with or without a legitimate excuse for 38 or more hours in a month, or 65 or more hours in a school year. The State of Ohio defines a habitually truant student as one who is absent without a legitimate excuse for 30 or more consecutive hours, or 42 or more hours in a month, or 72 or more hours in a school year.
Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools mission statement is to “improve student achievement” by putting students first, providing quality instruction and spending more time on task. That can only be accomplished when school and family work together to ensure a good attendance record.