Attendance

Why attending school regularly matters

Our goal every school year as a district is to ensure that every student attends school regularly.

Showing up for school has a huge impact on a student’s academic success, starting in kindergarten and continuing through high school. Even as children grow older and more independent, families play a key role in making sure students get to school safely every day and understand why attendance is so important for success in school and in life.

Daily attendance is one of the most important factors in whether or not a student will succeed in school. Research shows that students who attend school regularly:

• Learn more
• Have fewer discipline problems
• Acquire better study habits 
• Generally, are more successful than students who do not. 

We realize some absences are unavoidable due to health problems or other circumstances. But, we also know that when students miss too much school, regardless of the reason, it can cause them to fall behind academically. A child is less likely to succeed if they are chronically absent. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 18 or more days over the course of an entire school year.

Absences can add up quickly, and often they accumulate without the family realizing how may have been missed.  A child is chronically absent if they miss just 2 days of school every month!

Improve attendance, improve academics

• 64 percent of students with good attendance in K and 1st grade can read at grade level by 3rd grade (Missed 9 or fewer days both years)
• 43 percent of students with at-risk attendance can read at grade level by 3rd grade (Missed more than 9 days both years)
• 41 percent of students chronically absent in K or 1st grade can read at grade level by 3rd grade (Missed 18 or more days one year)
• 17 percent of students chronically absent in K and 1st grade can read at grade level by 3rd grade (Missed 18 or more days both years)

Click to read the WVCSD Attendance Policy