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Goal |
Current Understanding Where are we in relation to where we want to be? |
Resources Informal --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Formal |
Objectives | ||||
Community |
Parents |
Children and Youth |
Schools |
Service Providers |
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| Our children will demonstrate academic success. | High absenteeism is a barrier to improving academic performance. Unexcused absences are common. Students often do not complete missed assignments and fall behind in their classes. In some schools, older students often miss school to care for younger siblings when parents are unable to do so. The problem is especially acute for girls. Most are in single-parent families. Parents keep older children out of school to provide child care when younger children are sick or when parents must keep appointments for services or conduct other family business where taking younger children is difficult. | Resources: Local businesses Activities: Businesses donate funding, equipment, meals, and/or volunteers for before- and after-school programs that offer child care and tutoring for students who have missed significant amounts of school |
Resources: Ability to monitor student attendance Ability to use alternative arrangements rather than requiring older students to miss school to care for siblings Activities: Parents contact a school liaison or use resource information provided by the partnership to find appropriate child care alternatives Some parents volunteer in school-based academic enrichment and child care programs |
Resources: Ability to be responsible for completing missed assignments Activities: Students use tutoring programs and homework hotlines to complete missed work |
Resources: School counselors Teachers PTA Activities: All teachers contact parents of students with frequent, unexcused absences to identify cause, help identify appropriate solutions, and increase parents' involvement in their children's education Counselors contact frequently absent students to connect them and their families with child care and academic support programs The PTA makes absenteeism a priority issue and helps partners seek long-term solutions |
Resources: Child care providers Activities: Child care providers, working with schools, businesses, and other partners, establish emergency care programs for sick children so parents have better short-term alternatives |
Increase: (1) the number of students performing at grade level or higher; (2) scores on state assessments given at the end of fourth grade; (3) parent involvement in education; (4) child care opportunities for parents; (5) academic support services for students who miss school; and (6) communication among students, teachers, and parents to identify and resolve cases of frequent absenteeism Decrease the rate of unexcused absences among all students |
Adapted from Lodge and Hart (1994), pp. 32-35.
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[Sample Criteria for Choosing Activities to Achieve Objectives]