Attendance rates are important because students are more likely to succeed academically when they attend school consistently. Studies have shown that chronic absences as early as kindergarten can have negative long-term impacts on reading proficiency, performance in math, test will drop out out of school. It's difficult for the teacher and the class to build their skills and progress if a large number of students are frequently absent. In short if a student is chronically absent, how can the teacher teach them? Currently Minor Community School has an attendance rate of 93%. A school can have average daily attendance of 90 percent and still have 40 percent of its students chronically absent, because on different days, different students make up that 90 percent. In order to create a student that is college and/or career ready we must tackle the issue of attendance. If awarded, Minor Community School plans to use the money to create an incentive program, "Perfect Punctuality" to increase student attendance thereby increasing test scores.
Weekly small rewards:
Each week students with perfect attendance will be awarded a pencil or bracelet.
Movie Mania (1/9 wks): Students with perfect attendance will be allowed to watch a movie in the auditorium. The concession stand will be setup like the ones in many movie theaters. Students will have the opportunity to choose between a drink, candy and popcorn or nachos.
Class Perfect Punctuality Pizza Party (1/month): Each month the class with the highest attendance will earn a pizza party. This party will consist of pizza, juice and chips.
PERFECT PUNCTUALITY PICNIC (1/semester): Students with perfect punctuality will earn an opportunity to participate. We will fire up the grill and provide students with hot dogs (with all of the fixings), chips and juice. We will invite the local radio station to provide the tunes as well as lots of fun games to provide a memorable experience.