Chronic absenteeism and truancy are not interchangeable. Truancy only measures unexcused absences while chronic absenteeism measures unexcused and excused absences.

It may seem obvious that missing days of school might lead to worse academic outcomes for students, but schools didn’t draw causal conclusions about absenteeism until they were pushed to collect the data and analyze it. Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which President Obama signed into law in 2015, states were required to publicly report on five measures of student success. By 2017, almost all states decided to collect and report on chronic absenteeism as a way to measure student success or school quality and continue to do so today.

Hedy Chang, founder and director of Attendance Works noted that “people don’t realize how easily absences can add up. When we think about a kid who misses school often, we might think about the kid who missed a week or two,” What we’re not always thinking about is the kid [who misses] one day here and another day here. And by the end of the year, you’ve added up to so much time lost in the classroom that you’re actually academically at risk.”

Paying closer attention to chronic absenteeism is not meant to be a scarlet letter for students but simply a way for educators to take note of the kind of outreach students and families might need.

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The article below asks an important question. Are we encouraging students to mimic or think?

Here is a common scenario:

The teacher demonstrates math problems on the board while students copy the information. The teacher asks a few questions to the class to assess understanding. A few kids answer correctly leading the teacher to believe that the lesson has gone well.

And yet....when the class starts to work independently, multiple students will start asking questions and say that they don't understand. (Sound familiar?)

Reformatting our response to student questions can be a game changer. How about the following responses?

• What have you done so far?
• Where did you get that number?
• What information is given in the problem?
• Does that number seem reasonable in this situation?

Some great information and very specific strategies in the article below. Check it out!

Using word cloud generators in the classroom can be a dynamic and engaging way to enhance learning. Here are some creative ways to incorporate them into your teaching:

1. Vocabulary Enhancement: Create word clouds from new vocabulary lists to aid memory and emphasize frequently used words.
2. Summarizing Key Concepts: Use word clouds to summarize texts, focusing on main ideas and terms.
3. Initiating Discussions: Start new topics with word clouds to visualize key terms and stimulate classroom discussions.
4. Gathering Feedback: Create word clouds with student feedback for a visual representation of their thoughts on lessons or activities.
5. Character and Theme Analysis: Analyze literary characters or themes by generating word clouds from relevant texts.
6. Facilitating Brainstorming: Employ word clouds during brainstorming to identify central ideas and themes.
7. Foreign Language Learning: Use word clouds to highlight common words and phrases in a new language.
8. Enhancing Presentations: Incorporate word clouds in presentations to visually emphasize main points.
9. Visualizing Research Data: Summarize research project findings or themes using word clouds.
10. Classroom Icebreakers: Create word clouds about students’ interests or experiences as a fun, getting-to-know-you activity.

Observing a solar eclipse can spark great curiosity about astronomy, physics, and the natural world. Here are some resources for teaching about eclipses as well as the Sun and Moon.