Goals for the Attendance Plan

1. A school's response for this section should be in SMART format for improving attendance for each category reported in the data tables.
• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic/Rewarding
• Timely
2. Address early grades at your school level (K & 1, 6th Grade, 9th Grade). Analyze school-wide data to determine needs at grade levels and times of year when challenges occur more often.

School attendance data are provided reporting percent of students with satisfactory attendance, at-risk attendance, chronic absenteeism, and severe chronic absenteeism. The two-year trend allows for comparison of attendance over time and an indication of how strategies implemented to improve attendance are working.

Walker Elementary will decrease our overall chronic absenteeism from 25.32% to 15% and increase its overall satisfactory attendance  by June 2019 by implementing a new attendance incentive that rewards the top class in each grade level for outstanding attendance.  This plan encourages teachers to communicate with parents any attendance concerns and creates an environment where children love to come to school. 
 
 

Tier 1 Strategies for Attendance

Tier 1 Strategies for Attendance - Address all five core ingredients. Tier 1 is aimed at 100% of students, parents, school staff, and community stakeholders. This is where you cast a wide net. Strategies are general to reach the largest audiences and include all employees and stakeholders.

Tiered plans will include strategies and interventions for the 5 core ingredients.

• Monitor Data
• Engage Students and Families
• Recognize Good and Improved Attendance
• Provide Personalized Outreach
• Remove Barriers

Walker Elementary monitors students’ attendance on a daily basis. As a part of our attendance plan, parents are kept informed of student tardies and absences by the classroom teacher via telephone or in person conferences. Parents are contacted after 2 consecutive absences by the teacher. Walker Elementary conducts Parent Nights at the beginning of each school year to discuss the importance of attending school daily and the impacts it has on students’ achievement. Our principal, Mr. Bullock, encourages teachers to greet each student at the door with one of the 3 H's - a hug, a handshake, or a high-five, as a reward for arriving at school on time.  We implemented a  separate breakfast program for 2nd and 3rd-grade students that allows students to eat in a breakfast room separate from the cafeteria.  This room is open until the first bell rings to help decrease the wait time for breakfast and student's tardies. The success of this initiative is evident by the decreased wait time for students in Kindergarten and Grades 1, 4, and 5.  Adequate supervision is provided in both breakfast locations.  Since its implementation, the program has received positive feedback from parents and district leaders.  Students are continuing to arrive on time for school.  During the 2018-2019 school year the school’s social worker implementing a positive incentive for students’ attendance. This new incentive rewards one class per grade level monthly and is based on the overall class attendance for that specific month. The winning class in each grade level receives a class banner to display outside their room door, a shout out on the morning announcements, and an ice cream party to reward them for their outstanding attendance.  

Tier 2 Strategies and Interventions to Improve Attendance

Tier 2 Strategies and Interventions to Improve Attendance - Address all five core ingredients. Tier 2 identifies students using early warning indicators to make connections with students and families at the onset of the school year or emergence of patterns of non-attendance. Early warning indicators include prior year chronic absenteeism, 3 or more absences in the first 4 weeks of enrollment, more than 10% of school days absent in any time period from the beginning of enrollment.

- Tier 2 represents between 10-20% of students at all schools in Broward County. This is true at individual schools and across the District.

- Chronic Absenteeism: Absent for 10% or more school days. These absences include excused, unexcused, and suspensions as days of instruction missed.

Tiered plans will include strategies and interventions for the 5 core ingredients.

• Monitor Data
• Engage Students and Families
• Recognize Good and Improved Attendance
• Provide Personalized Outreach
• Remove Barriers

The school's administration and support staff monitor students' attendance on a weekly basis. Administration meets with support staff members every Monday morning to discuss students that are approaching chronic absences. After the leadership meeting, the support staff members meet with the teachers to assist the teacher in creating a plan to help with students' attendance. In the event a student is at risk of reaching tier 2 intervention, the student's classroom teacher contacts the parents to inquire why the student has not been attending school and to see if there is anything the school can do to ensure the child is at school each day. Once the classroom teacher contacts the parent, the teacher works with the parent to ensure the student is able to attend school daily. This plan may involve creating a request for the social worker because the parent may need additional assistance at home to get the student to school each and every day.  It may also include referring them to the school's guidance counselor for mentorship and to create an individual incentive plan such as lunch bunch to help the student improve their attendance. Once the decision is made regarding the attendance plan, the teacher will monitor the plan on a weekly basis to make changes as needed. 
 

Tier 3 Interventions

Tier 3 Interventions - Address all five core ingredients. Tier 3 is the highest level of intervention and support for students that are absent 20% or more school days during the year.

- At most schools, Tier 3 interventions are utilized for about 5% (or less) of the student population.

Tiered plans will include strategies and interventions for the 5 core ingredients.

• Monitor Data
• Engage Students and Families
• Recognize Good and Improved Attendance
• Provide Personalized Outreach
• Remove Barriers

In the case that the student's attendance is still not improving after proving the tier 2 interventions, the classroom teacher continues to communicate with the parent through phone or an in-person conference the importance of coming to school every day. The school social worker will conduct a home visit to meet with the parent to see if there is anything hindering the parent from bringing their child to school each day. After meeting with the parent, the social worker reports the findings to the school leadership team and they create an individualized tier 3 intervention plan based on the students' needs to prevent the student from being identified by BTIP. After the plan is created by the leadership team they monitor the plan on a daily basis by the classroom teacher and leadership team to ensure the plan is effective and gives the students every opportunity to be successful in school.