Friday, August 26, 2011

High Incomes, Low Absenteeism

Here we looked at the average number of school absences in cities that contain Massachusetts' hungriest children. It is also important to note this average for students in high income communities. Below is the average number of school absences in some of the wealthiest communities in Massachusetts.


Weston
5.5
Dover
7.1
Carlisle
6.2
Sherborn
5.8
Sudbury
6.5
Wellesley
6.3
Wayland
6.4
Concord
6.4
Winchester
7
Lincoln
7.3
Boxford
6.6
Lexington
6.1
Marblehead
8.2
Newton
7.1
Swampscott
8.3
Brookline
7.5
Cohasset
7.5
Acton
7.3
Nahant
8.1
Andover
6.8
Harvard
7.6
Lynnfield
6.8
Belmont
7.2
Needham
6.6
Walpole
6.8


In the low income communities selected for the previous study, the average ranged from 6.4 school absences to 15.7. Here we see that children in high income communities tend to miss a lot less school; the averages range from 5.5 school days to 8.3. This difference indicates the added challenge that low income communities have in educating their children compared to high income communities. While is it important to know this, the next step should be to determine why students are not coming to school and what the school, parents and community can do to change high absentee rates. Fixing the curriculum and raising standards are important, but matters little if children not coming to school; one cannot teach a child that is not present.

All Data Taken from: www.doe.mass.edu

3 comments:

  1. Here in KC MO/KS, our community food bank has begun a program called "BackSnack". Children receive a backpack full of food on Friday afternoons to get them through the weekend and are expected to return the bags on Monday. I have noticed increased attendance in my students that receive this aid as well as improved health (alertness, days ill, etc.) and attitude. Whoever thought of this idea should be sainted. Many children who depend on school for their meals (only two with no money for snack) will now eat more and more healthfully during the weekends. Now to solve the problem of summer vacations...

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  2. That's an amazing program! In Lynn, we don't have any weekend food programs that I know of, but we do have a summer food program that serves both breakfast and lunch through the end of August. It at least helps in mitigating the negative effects of poor nutrition and likely adds some different foods to the kids' diets.

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