Let’s be honest, waking up at 6:30 on a Monday morning isn’t exactly something that we all look forward to, much less kids who have to wake up to go to school! We all remember how difficult it was to get out of bed, hurrying to get dressed and then trying to catch the bus! But for the most part, we all had something to look forward to.

A lot has changed since then and budget cuts along with teacher layoffs only subtract from the opportunities schools are supposed to provide to our students! Cutting Physical Education, Art and Music; No wonder kids aren’t enjoying school anymore! With an average of 1 for every 4 students dropping out and or not graduating, efforts to improve school attendance cannot be separated from the larger school reform picture. Safe and healthy schools— ones that employ a challenging curriculum and reinforce high expectations for academics, behavior, and social responsibility— are schools that give students the motivation to attend. Teaching children to value education is doing them a lifelong favor and students that attend school regularly get better grades, score better on standardized tests, and are more likely to go to college. That’s why promoting academic achievement with the end result of high school graduation and college and career readiness is the ultimate goal of Thinking about Tomorrow!

Our School is Cool Attendance Program hopes to encourage students to keep attending school each and everyday. It is clear that to make a difference, we must select strategies that have been shown to be effective, and research shows that schools experience higher attendance rates when they incorporate (1) incentive programs; (2) pupil empowerment measures; (3) mentor/tutor programs; (4) comprehensive support systems; (5) home visits and parental involvement programs. Attendance is the biggest predictor of high school graduation rates and creating a positive school culture that celebrates attendance is an integral key to promoting student success. Clearly, by providing incentives to students who continuously attend school on a regular basis, our program allows the students a sense of empowerment and success, encouraging the kids who aren’t on a regular attendance schedule to want to be a part of something greater, providing a peer support system; all imperative for the growth and success of their future.

Below is our Challenge that can be available to ALL students enrolled in the public school system!

Weekly Challenge

• Students will compete to be the class with the best attendance in their respective grade. Every week, the class with the best attendance will receive TaT’s weekly attendance trophy and snacks! This trophy will be moved from class to class depending on whose class has the best attendance each month.

Monthly Challenge

• Students who have perfect attendance (0 absences and 0 tardies) for the month will be rewarded and recognized with a food reward during lunch and eligible to enter their name in our Attendance Assembly drawing.

Attendance Assemblies (2x/year)

1st Assembly (Middle of year):

• Students with perfect attendance (0 absences and 0 tardies) will receive a perfect attendance certificate and a special prize.
• Students with Proficient attendance (Less than 5 absences and less than 5 tardies) will receive a certificate for Proficient Attendance.
• We will also draw names of students who qualified in our monthly challenge for prizes.

2nd Assembly (End of year):

• Students with perfect attendance (0 absences and 0 tardies) will receive a perfect attendance certificate and a special prize.

* For 2nd half of the year only

• At the end of the year, all students with Proficient Attendance will receive a certificate and a ribbon/or pin.
• Students with perfect attendance (0 absences and 0 tardies) for the ENTIRE year will be eligible for our grand prizes!