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.

1. By June 2019, Oakridge Elementary will decrease the amount of at-risk student absences to below 27% (144), chronic absences to 17% (90) and severely chronic absences to below 6% (32) through positive school-wide attendance strategies as measured through data on BASIS.

2. During the second semester of the 2018-2019 school year, satisfactory attendance for grades K and 1 will increase from 44% (75) to 46% (78) or greater as measured through data on BASIS.

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

Faculty and staff at Oakridge Elementary will proactively integrate Tier 1 attendance strategies in the following ways:

A. Monitoring Data

• Ensure that all teachers have completed the Brainshark training to take attendance accurately, with a record of teachers that have completed the training.
• Encourage all to take attendance in a timely and accurate manner.  Daily attendance is due in by 8:30 a.m.

• Monthly ParentLinks will be sent out to remind families of the Districts' attendance campaign, "Attendance Counts, All Day, Every Day".
• The attendance phone line will be checked and cleared daily by the attendance clerk.

• Perfect attendance certificates given at quarterly awards ceremonies (primary students receive their award on morning announcements (WKID)). Students also receive a coupon for a free hair cut courtesy of our business partner, Great Clips.
• Tangible rewards (pencil, lanyard, etc.) will be given at quarterly award ceremonies to students with perfect attendance.
• We will implement our project for reducing tardiness where we announce on a randomly selected day each month that “today is the day”, meaning it’s the day we are checking to see how many classes had everyone arrive on time.  We announce and record the winners onto charts located behind the anchors on the morning news set. At the end of the year the classes with the most days of everyone on time receive a special treat.

• Social Worker will produce a power point stressing the importance of regular on-time attendance to present at parent events such as Kindergarten Round-up.
• Focus on Kindergarten and 1^st graders to set the tone and decrease the largest group of students with absence issues.

• We provide free breakfast for all students, every school day from 7:15-7:45am.
• Doors are opened to students everyday at 7:15am, instead of 7:35am, for families who need to drop their children off early.

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

Faculty and staff at Oakridge Elementary will proactively integrate Tier 2 attendance strategies in the following ways:

A. Monitoring Data

• Teachers will monitor Pinnacle and BASIS, and consult with support staff for help in redirecting absenteeism behavior.
• Students will be given a desk calendar to self-moniotr their daily attendance/tardies.  Both a parent and student contract will be signed in cases such as these. 

• Teachers agree to call parents with a positive message after any child has been absent for 2 consecutive days.  The purpose of the call is to reach out and provide the parent with support in making the decision to send their child back to school and to let the parents and child know we care about them and are missing them at school. If absences/tardies continue, teacher will inform administration and they will contact parent regarding the situation.
• Students who are chronically tardy can be offered Owl Helper jobs in the morning to give them a motivated reason to get to school early (such as greeting children at the cafeteria door as they enter the campus after breakfast).

• We will work with students and families to create an attendance success plan, setting goals and time frames that are attainable to help improve attendance for at-risk and chronically absent students.
• Recognize these students routinely for good and improved attandance.

• Parent-Teacher Conferences with administration and School Social Worker will be scheduled to discuss absences and challenges to identify the barriers we may be able to assist with.

• Connect families with the School Social Worker to provide insight as to his role and provide clinical support and services.  

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

Faculty and staff at Oakridge Elementary will proactively integrate Tier 3 attendance strategies in the following ways:

A. Monitoring Data

• Students will be given a desk calendar to self-monitor their daily attendance/tardies.  Both a parent and student contract will be signed in cases such as these.

• Broward Truancy Intervention (BTIP) meetings will be scheduled between parents and administration to discuss reasons for abcence and ways to improve attendance.

• For students at Tier 3, appropriate positive reinforcements will be included in their "Attendance Success Plan" to support continued improved attendance.  This plan will be developed with the parents during a Collaborative Problem Solving Team meeting.

• Parents of children with severe chronic absenteeism and those who are chronically late for school will be invited to a CPST meeting so that the team can have an opportunity to discuss the reasons the parent feels they are having trouble getting their children to school and/or to school on time, and provide customized action plans for solutions to the problems to remove any existing barriers . 

• Implement agreed upon family intervention plan. Monitor for progress.
• For cases of suspected abuse, neglect or endangerment, contact the appropriate agencies to report.