BIPOC students are absent from school at higher rates than white students. As one high school student recounted “I feel like a ghost at school. I don’t even know if the teacher knows my name.” (Shelley) According to Attendance Works (see link below), “it requires
- nurturing feelings of belonging to school in the spring for current and prospective students,
- building bridges to school in the summer, and
- creating a welcoming, restorative community at school in the fall.”
When re-engaging students in the fall, restorative practices provides the HOW of building relationships that are often missing from activities in the first weeks of school as we discuss in an Edutopia article.
Three takeaways from our discussion of these 2 articles are:
- be intentional in your approach to the attendance of marginalized students.
- take the time to re-establish connections with kids and their families
- look at your attendance data in order to address students’ needs
Attendance Works Pathway to Engagement: A toolkit for Covid-19 recovery through attendance
Edutopia Rekindling a Sense of Connection in the New School Year
Order Steve’s book The Restorative Principal Leading in Education with Restorative Practices
Visit CircleForum for more information about our online trainings in restorative practices
Listen to current podcast