Posted on January 5, 2016
A bi-partisan bill to improve students’ school attendance and their academic success has cleared two key state legislative committees, but needs your support to advance to the next stage on its way to becoming law.
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More than 125,000 New Jersey K-12 students were “chronically absent” in the 2013-2014 school year. Poor attendance threatens students’ academic success and their ability to graduate from high school, college or career ready.
S-3245, is a great first step toward addressing this critical issue. It would define chronic absenteeism as 10 percent or more of the days a child is enrolled in a particular school and would require publishing district-level data.
Under the measure, schools with 10 percent or more of its students deemed chronically absent would have to convene a coalition made up of key school staff and at least one parent to review school absentee data and work together to develop a school-wide plan to address the problem.
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The legislation is in response to ACNJ’s September report, Showing Up Matters, the State of Chronic Absenteeism in New Jersey. Read the report to learn more about chronic absenteeism in New Jersey.
