Challenge 5

County-wide collaboration includes Kent ISD, Grand Rapids Public Schools, Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, Grand Rapids Community College, K-Connect, Kent School Services Network, Great Start Collaborative, Steelcase Foundation, and Believe 2 Become

With 6.5 million students chronically absent from school in the United States each year, including an estimated 20,000 to 30,000 in Kent County, several local organizations are teaming up to make sure our youngest children are establishing good attendance habits early.

Through a catchy local attendance campaign that has gone national, educational institutions, non-profits, community organizations, and philanthropy in Kent County are joining forces to help parents of Great Start Readiness Program (GSRP) preschoolers understand the importance of good school attendance county-wide, beginning in the first months of preschool.

“Most parents know that good school attendance is the foundation for learning essential skills on time, staying on track in school, and graduating from high school,” said Michael Ghareeb, Kent ISD Director of Early Childhood Education. “They might be surprised to learn, however, that good attendance means missing fewer than five days a year and that attendance habits start in preschool. Good attendance in preschool will make your child more likely to graduate from high school, and more likely to earn a good living as an adult.”

The effort includes two opportunities from Believe 2 Become, an initiative of the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, to participate using social media and smart phones: (1) a fun October social media video contest featuring preschoolers, and (2) a school-year-long text messaging component that sends parents helpful attendance and literacy tips every two weeks. Collaborative support for the texting program has come from the Great Start Collaborative, Steelcase Foundation, and B2B.

The social media contest will include GSRP classrooms at Kent ISD, GRPS, Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative (ELNC), and Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). Each GSRP preschool teacher will be invited to post a short video of their students saying “Strive for less than five!,” using all the creativity and energy their tiny students can muster. The video that receives the highest engagement on social media will win a grand prize of $200 in gift cards, and nine other videos will be selected as $100 gift card winners in the following categories: most creative, most funny, greatest age range (parents and grandparents are welcome!), most people featured, most colorful, most inclusive, most endearing, most persuasive, most powerful.

Chronic absenteeism is strongly correlated with low student achievement and failure to graduate from high school.

Standard school attendance data can mask patterns of chronic absenteeism.

Parents are a critical component in reducing chronic absenteeism and improving school attendance.

When chronic absenteeism decreases, student achievement increases.

Parents need clear, concrete, actionable information on expectations for school attendance. When they learn it’s important to strive for fewer than five absences each school year, they take action to improve their children’s attendance.

When parents understand the strong correlation between school attendance and graduation, they are naturally motivated to enforce good school attendance.

Challenge 5, a coordinated effort to reduce chronic absenteeism, includes five elements:

• universal strategy, including quantification of attendance goal (fewer than five days absent)
• robust data analysis
• integration of attendance with principal performance evaluations
• in-school competitions and incentives
• disruptive communication strategy

In the year it implemented Challenge 5 (2014-15), Grand Rapids Public Schools reduced chronic absenteeism 25% (an 8 point drop from 33 to 25%).

In the second year of Challenge 5 (2015-16), Grand Rapids Public Schools reduced chronic absenteeism another 17% (a 4.25 point drop from 25 to 20.75%).

Due to popular demand, Believe 2 Become is making the Challenge 5 attendance campaign available nationwide for download. Click below to send an email, indicate Challenge 5 in the subject line.