Attendance is Important!

​By Danielle Lankford, Guadalupe School Communication Specialist
The leaves are changing, there's cool in the air, and boots and scarves are coming out of the closet and that means - it's almost October! And, October at Guadalupe Charter School is Attendance Awareness month, or what we call "Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow! Our 6th grade leadership team gave us their take on what attendance means:

"Going to Guadalupe is fun because it is where my friends are and I like seeing my friends everyday. Attendance is important because we don't want to miss homework and other information. When I miss school sometimes I miss important tests and lose grade points. I like attending school because I like the satisfaction of knowing I am doing something good for my future. I don't want to miss the lessons my teacher has to teach me.


We want to make sure all of Guadalupe School knows that coming to school every day counts toward our future!"
- Luis and Fernando


Luis and Fernando are right, attendance is important! The reason we make a big deal out of attendance at Guadalupe School is because everyday does count, and here's how:

• Kindergarten and first-grade classes often have absenteeism rates as high as those in high school. Many of these absences are excused, but still add up to lost time in the classroom.
• Two out of ten students in kindergarten and first grade are chronically absent. In some schools, it’s as high as one in four.
• Two in ten low-income students miss too much school. They are also more likely to suffer academically.
• Four in ten transient children miss too much school when families move too much.
• Students who attend school regularly are more likely to graduate and find good jobs. In fact, a high school graduate makes on average $1 million more than a dropout over a lifetime.
• A student who misses 10 days or more during a school year is 20 percent less likely to gradate from high school and 25 percent less likely to ever enroll in college.
• Chronic absence can affect a student’s ability to earn a living. Dropouts are less likely to succeed in a career, and even those who do graduate will not do well at work without good attendance habits.

Source: Attendance Works