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.

Watkins Elementary will strive to improve attendance by
1. By May 2019, we will reduce students arriving late by 25%.
2. By May 2019, we will decrease absences for students missing 10 or more days during the school year by 50%
3. We will reward students with perfect attendance at the end of the 2nd and 4th Quarters.

Goal 1: In 2017/18, the grade level with the most students with chronic absence was 3rd grade with 40 total students 37.38% (34 chronic absence 31.77% and 6 severe chronic absence 5.6%). In 3rd grade, our goal is to reduce the number of students with chronic absenteeism by 10 students (about 16.84%) for the 2018/19 school year.

Goal 2: Overall chronic absence in 2017/18 was 40.28% (30.21% chronic, 10.06% severe chronic). Our goal is to reduce overall chronic absence by 1% (about 4 students).

Goal 3: In 2017/18, 2nd grade had the highest level of students with satisfactory attendance with 15.28% of students attending 95% or more school days. The goal for satisfactory attendance is to increase the percentage of students attending 95% or more in every grade level by the end of 2018/19. 

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

A. Monitor Data
• The administrator responsible for school attendance will ensure that all teachers have completed the Brainshark training for taking classroom attendance at the elementary level (K-5). The administrator should maintain a record of teachers that have completed the training.
-IMT sends a daily reminder to the teachers by 11:00a.m. who have not taken attendance for the day.
• Monitoring attendance-taking procedures will take place daily/weekly by the Attendance Clerk and as requested by administration.
• At the beginning of each month, the administrative team will request from the IMT to provide a report for current year attendance categories to monitor improvement and steer the direction of attendance initiatives.
-Ensure that teachers are trained in how to accurately record attendance.  Inform staff of the importance of timely and accurate documentation.

B. Engage Students and Families
• School staff will be encouraged to reach out to parents by phone or email to remind parents about the importance of attendance in the early grades.
• Assistant Principal will provide monthly updates via ParentLink and SAC meetings regarding Average Daily Attendance and the Chronic Absenteeism categories. 
• Front office staff will meet each month to discuss customer service responsibilities and adapt procedures for ensuring a welcoming environment when visitors enter the front office (students, parents, guests, District staff).
• School Twitter account will follow and re-Tweet relevant messages about attendance for our stakeholders. Messages on the school website will be positive and supportive.
• The Attendance Phone line will be checked and cleared daily by the attendance clerk. ​
-Ensure that the Attendance Line information is easily accessible on the website, included in all newsletters and parents are aware of the information.
-Promote attendance using school's Social Media Accounts
-Promote regular attendance with posters and other visuals in the hallways.

C. Recognize Good and Improved Attendance
• The administrator responsible for attendance will ensure that students have opportunities to participate in District-wide Attendance recognition events (certificates, Miami Heat games, Florida Panthers, Miami Marlins, etc.)
• School-based attendance recognition events will occur at the end of the school year. 
-Highlight the importance of regular school attendance during assemblies, morning announcements and lunch periods.

D. Provide Personalized Outreach
• School staff will host a transition meeting for students moving from Pre-K into Kindergarten. Families will meet the team of teachers, tour the school, and learn about the importance of regular attendance for their child’s academic success through their senior year.
• Attendance will be included on all student report cards. • Integrate information about chronic absence into parent programs and communications throughout the school year.

E. Remove Barriers
• School provides free breakfast for all students, every school day.
• A bike rack enclosed in a lock gate is available for students that arrive by bicycle. The rack is locked after school begins and is unlocked and monitored by staff after school.
• School and Zone host parent nights throughout the year to inform parents about services, programs, and District policies pertaining to 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

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

 A. Monitor Data
• Identify students with a history of severe chronic absenteeism (missing more than 20% of a school year).
• Leadership team will monitor the non-attendance report from OptiSpool, data from BASIS to identify students that are missing too many school days.
• Attendance data is one of the main metrics brought to discussion for Collaborative Problem-Solving Team (CPST) and Response-to-Intervention (RtI). Attendance data may help uncover bigger issues the student or family are experiencing.

B. Engage Students and Families
- Engage targeted families in order to reduce attendance issues.  
• Refer students to appropriate service agencies (social services, human resources, counseling, housing, the HEART team for homeless education, or health services).
• Share data with appropriate agencies and ensure that agencies are using chronic absence as an indicator for assisting families.
• Utilize best practices from schools within the District that have been able to decrease chronic absences and increase satisfactory attendance.
• The Broward Truancy Intervention Plan (BTIP) may initiate truancy letters to hold 5-day or 10-day meetings with the parents, principal (or designee), District representative, and State Attorney’s Office for the 17th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida.

C. Recognize Good and Improved Attendance
• For the 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, School Counselor, and School Social Worker. Plans and goals will be shared with the child’s teachers.
• Tangible incentives may be utilized to help students and parents improve attendance.

D. Provide Personalized Outreach
- Provide recognition for improved attendance and tardies.
• Ensure continued positive and regular contact with the family.
• Check-in on “Attendance Success Plans” and communicate with parents at regular intervals. If the plan is not referenced regularly with positive reinforcement, the plan is not being supported.
• Consult with the School Social Worker as a resource for helping families with attendance problems.
• When the student misses school, ensure the assigned personnel is following up on each absence.

E. Remove Barriers
• Implement agreed upon family intervention plan. Monitor for progress.
• Connect students with chronic physical and mental health issues to medical providers.
• For cases of suspected abuse, neglect or endangerment, contact the appropriate agencies to report.