TULSA, Okla. (AP) - Tulsa Public Schools leaders are working to lower the district’s chronic absentee rate from just above 25.7 percent, which is far above the national average of 13.7 percent.
The district has more than 10,000 students who are chronically absent, the Tulsa World reported. The district is focusing on managing attendance and setting goals to raise the attendance rate.
“We realized that our schools needed an actual structure in place in order to make this body of work pretty prevalent, relevant and in the face of school leaders and parents every day,” said Ebony Johnson, executive director of family and student support services for the district.
Johnson said the initiative is focused on uniformity across the district.
“There’s about three to four people every single day that designate a portion of their day to actually look at data, who’s missing, which teachers didn’t take attendance and how can we move the needle on a daily basis,” Johnson said.
According to a district report, gifted students and English language learners attended school at a higher rate. The report also says students who qualified for free and reduced lunch went to school less than those who didn’t.
Asian and Hispanic students had higher attendance rates than any other demographic.
___
Information from: Tulsa World, http://www.tulsaworld.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.