LAUSD Devised New Strategy to Cope with Chronic Absenteeism
LAUSD school has come up with a novel strategy to deal with chronic absenteeism: competition.
Students from the classes are excited to win the large, bright trophy that is awarded to the class with the fewest absences and tardies.
One such example is demonstrated by Nelly Cristales, a second-grade teacher at 32nd Street School, which is located near University Park in East Los Angeles.
The winning class gets to keep the trophy in their classroom for a month, according to Christales, who added, “My kids are motivated, we want that trophy and we want to keep it.” “They encourage one another not to be late, never be late.”
About three of Cristales’ twenty-two students miss class on a regular basis, and the issue appears to be getting worse. This means that the national problem of chronic absenteeism has struck close to home.
Following COVID-19, student attendance in LA Unified schools severely declined; in the 2021–2022 school year, 40% of students were chronically absent, a 19.8% increase from the previous year, according to an LAUSD spokesperson.
This academic year, LAUSD Superintendent Alberto Carvalho hopes to complete the reversal of COVID-19 learning loss, increase bus ridership by 50%, and increase attendance by 5% to 10%.
More 4-year-olds are enrolled on campus this year as a result of LAUSD’s expansion of the Universal Transitional Kindergarten program, or UTK, two years ahead of the state’s required deadline.
