Professional School Counselors

Counselors,
As a school counselor at a new school, it's frustrating to see the attendance rate remain below the state's average. With low funding, it's unlikely that personnel will be hired to help with this matter.
What steps have you taken to increase attendance at your school?

Parent Answers to "Professional School Counselors"

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Navigatornan,
Sure, there is a correlation between parental involvement and student attendance. However, I'm in a district where many students come from one-parent homes-- many are being reared by a grandparent, and when there are two parents in the home, they work 2-to-3 jobs between them. I'm not making excuses, but this is a reality. I'm just hoping to read incentives that counselors have used to fit students in the above situations. Sure, we've tried "family night," only to have the same families show up.

As for the rest of your suggestions, it's not as simple as it seems. There are many reasons why students choose not to come to school. I can oftentimes address the students who have time management issues (not going to bed early enough, not setting a clock, etc.), but for those who have exceptionalities that were overlooked or misdiagnosed during their younger years-- they say "forget it, school sucks,..." These are the ones who are difficult to reach. The primary years are so important to the success of their secondary/college years. All I can say is that we, educators, have a lot of work to do.

Polling the students on the first day of school (to get their thoughts/opinions about absenteeism), is a start.
We'll go from there.

Thanks for your insight.

A question for your question.....Is there a direct correlation in increasing parent involvement to increasing student attendance? I think I would start looking there-- If parents are dialed in students will be dialed in. If parents are connected and kids are still disconnected then I would ask the question of what part of growing/maturing does the child and parent need to do next? After work in the much neglected area of parental involvement and engagement ,then make steps toward matching interests and abilities to the student in the classroom.
The student will learn when there is a felt need. Do we ever have to teach kids how to play video games?
Balance the school curriculum with the much needed ability to select what a learning focus content and you will have a hard time getting students to leave school....just a thought.

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