Estimated read time: 7-8 minutes
SALT LAKE CITY — Four years ago, the percentage of students at Northwest Middle School who were chronically absent was cringeworthy.
Coming out of the pandemic, the school's attendance rates "were horrendous," so much so, the Salt Lake City school was held out in a district meeting to make the point "OK, we got to work on this," said Principal Andrea Seminario.
Northwest was hardly the only Utah school struggling with consistent student attendance but Northwest's rate of students who were chronically absent was far above the statewide average of 27%.
"We were like 42% the first year," Seminario said, wincing.
Chronic absenteeism means a student misses 10% or more of enrolled days, according to state school board rule.
Fast forward to the 2023-24 school year and Northwest Middle School once again was being singled out, this time for its strategic efforts that have drastically improved school attendance.
The percentage of chronic absences is now between 10% and 13%, less than half of the statewide average in 2022. As an added bonus, discipline referrals at the school are down, too.
The school, which serves 540 students in grades 7 and 8, has embraced a multi-pronged, intentional strategy to get Northwest students to attend school every day.
The school has embraced the Ron Clark Academy's house system. All students and adults in the school belong to one of four houses, Isibindi, Nukumori, Rêveur and Sollevare. Each house has its own color, symbols, nation of heritage and history.
For instance, Nukumori is the house of kindness and its color is purple.
Members of each house have T-shirts of the color that corresponds with their respective houses and the shirts are worn on the school's spirit days. Students also carry binders that are their house color so their membership is readily identifiable.
The system is intended to create a positive climate and culture for students and staff. Houses compete against one another for rewards. A house with the lowest absences, for instance, is rewarded with a field trip or a party at school.
The teams also compete in "minute to win it" type challenges.
Seminario said students want to win the contests and rewards, of course, but they also do not want to let their housemates down so they feel more compelled to come to school.
Seminario traveled to Atlanta for training on the house system and later sent some faculty members, who are now house leaders.
Each day, the teams' rates of absences or other school goals are displayed on a screen in the cafeteria so students are constantly aware of their progress toward their goals or their need to step up their efforts.
It's all part of building culture and community in the school.
"Kids want to belong. If you walk into our school, the first thing you see is, 'You belong.' Our theme is, 'I am Northwest.' We want kids to be proud to be from the west side, from the Rose Park area. What does that mean? It means that you got to show up all the time," she said.
Northwest teachers are expected to take roll within the first 10 minutes of the school day to give the school's attendance secretary a jump on reaching out to parents whose children are absent.
Sometimes parents are unaware their child is not at school because the parents are working and they expect their child to get ready and get to school on their own. Other times, the parents are home and once they get a call from the school, most bring their child to school.
The school has also created a variety of clubs to encourage school attendance, develop students' interests and have fun.
Teachers and administrators asked the students what clubs they wanted, "and that's how we got our anime club and our dance club, all these things they wanted," she said.
"They want to be here. They're safe, there's food, there's connections, there's tons of clubs," Seminario said.
Seminario said parents are important partners in getting their children to school consistently.
Northwest holds monthly parent meetings to encourage them to get their children to school — and on time — and to get better acquainted with educators and administrators.
"We have a food pantry that's available to our families after our monthly meetings. That also helps to build those relationships where they know we're taking care of our families and our families trust us. Again, it's just getting them to come," she said.
Parents often do not realize that even two absences a month is considered chronic, she said. "Even if they're excused absences, they're still absent," Seminario said.
School interventions
If students start racking up absences, the attendance secretary checks in with their parents and offers assistance.
If things don't improve, the secretary schedules appointments for the student and their parents with a school counselor. They set goals and establish a meaningful reward for the student if they meet the goals. If the absences persist, the student is referred to school administrators.
School personnel also make home visits to educate parents on why regular school attendance is important and to offer help with barriers such as transportation or offer to intervene if another student is bullying their child.
"It's a parent's responsibility, and the parent's call, right? So we just need our parents to really back us up with this initiative and understand it's trying to help the whole child, but they have to be here. They have to show up. Every day counts," she said.
Seminario said the school's cellphone policy, which prohibits their use by students from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., has also curbed bullying.
Reducing the school's rate of chronic absences has been hard work but the rewards are substantial because teachers, administrators and staff spend their time helping students reach their academic and social goals instead of laboring just to get them in the door.
"It's just so much energy and work to decrease that, and then to sustain that, because you get new kids every year that you also have to train, and those parents you have to retrain," she said.
Statewide challenge
The percentage of Utah students who were chronically absent shot up from 13% in 2018 to 27% in 2022.
The upward trajectory post-pandemic is worrisome because regular school attendance is linked to higher levels of student achievement and lower dropout rates compared to peers who are chronically absent.
Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Elizabeth Grant recently teamed up to stress the importance of regular school attendance in Utah's capital city.
They released an Instagram video message that urges families to reach out to their child's school principal who can help them obtain resources to help them address barriers to school attendance. For instance, schools can help families obtain food, clothing and free UTA bus passes provided by Salt Lake City and the Salt Lake City Education Foundation.
Mendenhall said chronic absences can negatively impact students' long-term goals.
"Every day that students miss has an impact on their potential to graduate. I know, as a working mom with three kids, that is a big impact on our family when one of our kids has to miss school. There's a lot of reasons that can happen, but to think about the cumulative impact and the potential on their long-term success, attendance is one of those key indicators," she said.
Grant said missing school affects students' futures.
"We are all about building opportunities for our students. We need them here to take advantage of college and career pathways. Students need to be in school," Grant said.
According to the Utah State Board of Education, a student who is chronically absent in any year, starting with their eighth grade year, is seven times more likely to drop out than a student who is not chronically absent.
"Did you know that about a quarter of our students are missing 18 days a year? That's a lot, and it's similar to ... to schools nationally. But you know what? We can fix it here in Salt Lake City. We need to get our kids to school every day, because every day counts," Grant said.
