Resources to Help Improve Attendance in the Early Grades

Chronic absenteeism is particularly high in the early grades, compared with elementary and middle school. For a young child to succeed and develop a strong foundation for learning, he or she must attend school regularly. REL Mid-Atlantic partnered with the New Jersey Department of Education to create a new initiative called Go-Learn-Grow: Improving the School Attendance of New Jersey's Youngest Learners. Through this webinar we explore the initiative and highlight a user-friendly toolkit with resources for district and school leaders, early childhood providers, educators, and families that is available to link. The webinar seeks to motivate district and school leaders to (1) share available resources with their networks, (2) collect and use data to understand absenteeism in the early grades, (3) identify and implement evidence-based strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism, and (4) rigorously assess the effectiveness of the intervention or interventions they employ.