Los Angeles Unified School District



“I come to school because I want to and not because I have to.” This is a lesson learned from elementary schools and continuation high schools. This is the attitude we must create in all students to improve attendance. |Los Angeles Unified School District

District One

Accelerating Achievement

A Message From the District One Superintendent | |

| |October 27, 2004 – Day 36 of 180 Days |

|An Insight Into Attendance from Continuation Highs | |

|In looking at attendance rates in District One, an |Think Like Pepsi κ Coca Cola A Count Me In! Advertising Idea |

|interesting statistic stood out. Aliso (95.19%, Douglas |Why not announce each day the previous day’s attendance with 95% as a benchmark? Remember, Coca Cola |

|(98.90%), Independence (95.65%), Owensmouth (97.66%) and |and Pepsi Cola know that it is repetition – a message in 20 second and 30 second spots repeated on a |

|Stoney Point (98.60%) attendance for the 2003-04 school |regular basis gets students’ attention. Over a period of time students do get the message. |

|year! |An announcement each day could say, “Count Me In!” Yesterday we reached 96% attendance. Congratulations|

|How is it possible that schools designed to address the |to every student and teacher and let’s see if we can hit 96.1% tomorrow.” That way students and |

|most difficult of attendance problem students actually have|teachers would know each day their attendance status. Track the highest attendance days and make a big|

|the highest attendance rates of all schools in our |deal about it. |

|district? |Want to really drive attendance sky high? Add to your announcement, “ . . . .and if we reach 96.5% |

|The answer to this questions probably lies in the |tomorrow we will . . .” Go ahead and think up something that would motivate the entire student body. |

|exceptional job that our continuation schools do in |Once a month would be very powerful. |

|developing relationships between students and teachers. | |

|The quality of a personalized relationship has a |And Don’t Forget Just Doing the Things We Have to Do |

|significant effect on how students view their school and |1. Send information regularly to parents on how they can encourage their students to maintain strong |

|their teachers. They tend to see their school as a home |attendance. |

|and people in it as their family. |2. Notify parents to schedule children’s dental and medical appointments at times other than school |

|The movement towards smaller schools and efforts at |hours. |

|personalizing instruction are all connected to helping |3. Provide on ongoing recognition for students with perfect and improved attendance. One of the most |

|student become more respectful, responsible and caring. In|important things we can do is recognize students – It may only be a little paper certificate to us, but|

|the Continuation High School environment this is translated|to a student and a family is huge. Count Me In! Certificates can be downloaded from |

|into positive attendance. |4. Distribute the Count Me In! literature to parents and students. In particular the new student |

|The lesson from our Continuation High Schools is powerful |letter informing them of the Count Me In! program and their pledge to join the campaign and maintain |

|for our middle and regular high schools. The degree to |good attendance. |

|which we can develop respect and caring in students, |5. Put your attendance chart up and keep it up to date. Make a big deal about improvement at the end |

|predicated on strong student-teacher-administrator |of each period. |

|relation- ships, will have a significant influence on the |6. Look closely at any activity that would not promote good attendance. We all know that from time to|

|degree to which students will want to come to school. |time there are activities that will take students out of class. Look closely at those activities and |

|Understanding the above critical connection, we have to |to the extent possible talk with your Director of School Services. |

|look at our school environment. Is it positive and |7. Use your P.A., student newspaper and school newsletters to promote strong attendance. |

|supportive of students and is it characterized by positive |8. At Middle and High School, when students begin to fail classes they begin to be absent. As |

|student-teacher relationships? Discuss this with your |secondary principals we have to watcn very closely pass/fail rates in classes. We have to be able to |

|faculty, deans and staff this month as part of our overall |continue to provide opportunities for students to stay in class, earn credit and pass. We have to |

|drive to improve student attendance and achievement. |maintain a climate in which there is both hope and opportunity to succeed. |

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