NESD forms group in attempt to reverse slumping attendance

“We have 15 per cent fewer students attending consistently over the last several years, we’ve dropped quite a bit” Lair explained.

She said if students can attend 80 to 90 per cent of the time consistently, their academic success rate increases significantly. That includes meeting learning goals, reading rates for younger students, and credit attainment and graduation rates for older students.

Statistics show that in the NESD, the percentage of K-12 students attending more than 80 per cent of the time has dropped from over 90 per cent pre-pandemic to below 80 per cent recently. There has also been a significant decline in students attending more than 90 per cent of the time, going from an average of 78 per cent to just over 53 per cent over the past five years.

The declining attendance trend is not limited to the northeast. Schools in the Prince Albert area are also showing concerning attendance trends.

Lair said attending school 80 per cent of the time still means 37 days that students are absent.

“We have a significant amount of students who are under 80 per cent, so they’re missing more than 37 days across the school year,” Lair said.

According to Lair, there are several reasons for the lower attendance. The barriers that prevent students from coming to school, or as Lair put it, “when life gets in the way.” While the school system cannot affect some of those barriers, Lair said there are things they can help with, including supporting transitions to and helping other agencies, helping with food and nutrition, and being flexible with expectations and schedules as much as possible.

Lair said the division can also help when school feels too overwhelming or uncomfortable for students. That includes working with those students and their families to ensure that schools and classrooms are welcoming, positive, and inclusive.

“We support students to feel good and navigate through a little bit of anxiety and feelings in that regard, and to feel really rewarded and successful.”

The division is also looking to change school not feeling meaningful for students or their feeling disconnected. Lair credited teachers across NESD for their continued efforts in engagement and hands-on experiences, and there is an opportunity to leverage that positive connection with teachers and students and expand it.

Lair said they also need to get the message out to everyone that attendance is important for students.

“Those absences do add up. That’s a misconception that you can just do it for homework,” Lair explained. “You do need to be there.”

She said students learn best when they can talk through and experience learning, and their data shows that higher attendance leads to greater success for students.

“We know that students need to be in school and we would like to help and work with parents to find some positive solutions to make sure that that attendance really does matter.”

Without attending school, students are robbed of being able to build knowledge together and talk to each other in a learning community, Lair said.

The Attendance Advisory Group has met a couple of times to discuss the data on school absences, and Lair said they want to discover what supports for students, families, and schools are necessary to ensure higher, and more consistent, attendance.

“Do some checks and balances with staff, with families, to make sure we’re in the right zone,” Lair said.

She added that the group also doesn’t want to make any assumptions or guess about what the experiences of families are that lead to attendance issues.

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cam.lee@pattisonmedia.com

by Cam Lee

NESD forms group in attempt to reverse slumping attendance

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