Testing Checklist
Chronic Absenteeism
Daily attendance in school is a critical component of a child's educational process. The connection between student attendance and learning is clear; a missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. The Nevada Department of Education has begun its process of looking at chronic absenteeism and its effect on student learning. Chronic absenteeism is defined as the accumulation of days absent from school for any reason for 10% or more of the child's enrolled days in school.
The definition of chronic absenteeism is as follows:
A student is absent if he/she is not physically on school grounds and is not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for the school day. Chronically absent students include students who are absent for any reason, regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused. Students who are absent 10% or more of their enrolled school days are considered chronically absent.
A student at Innovations will count as a student absent if he/she misses 50% or more of the school day. A student will be considered absent when he/she meets this threshold and is not receiving instruction or instruction-related activities. Chronically absent students include students who are absent for any reason (illness, suspension, the need to care for a family member, etc.) regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused.
To comply with the new regulations by the state to track the chronic absenteeism of students, letters will be sent to identified families of chronically absent students warning of the exact number of days the student has been absent and noting the need to actively ensure students are in regular attendance for the remainder of the school year. If a child has missed the 10% threshold, a meeting with the Registrar will take place to rectify the situation and implement further actions to get on track. Please be responsive to the letters noting that Innovations does have an attendance policy as outlined in our Parent and Student Handbook.
Innovations will provide its families with information and reminders about the importance of attendance as one of the primary absentee prevention strategies. The school will also introduce school-wide incentives to encourage students to strive for perfect of near perfect attendance.
Innovations has developed an Attendance Monitoring Team to review student attendance and serve as a primary point of contact for students missing school consistently. Notification of benchmarked days of absence are noted for parent convenience.