With so many students having to learn either partially or entirely at home this fall, school attendance and academic engagement are more important than ever, says Kansas City’s “Learning Together Every Day” campaign.

The struggle to close early learning gaps and create equitable learning opportunities is harder now during the pandemic. Disparities in access to strong Internet connections, usable technology and in-home educational support are more damaging, especially among low-income and high-minority neighborhoods.

The work to help all children “cannot be the schools’ responsibility, alone,” write leaders in the campaign by the United Way of Greater Kansas City, SchoolSmartKC and Turn the Page Kansas CIty.

“It requires the collaboration of our whole community.”

The “Learning Everday Together” campaign has created a resource site with instructional and motivational videos, PowerPoint presentations in English and Spanish to share with families and the community, and other ways to share the message to encourage community-wide action.

• To access the teaching aids and the campaign promotional materals, go to: turnthepagekc.org/school-attendance.

LINC has collected other resources.

• Find help for many needs, including education help at kclinc.org/help

• Or find education aids at kclinc.org/onlineactivities

Ten Facts About School Attendance

From Attendance Works and the Learning Together Every Day campaign.

1. Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.

2. Over 8 million U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year.

3. Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent.

4. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.

5. By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.

6. Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That’s just two days a month and that’s known as chronic absence.

7. Students who live in communities with high levels of poverty are four times more likely to be chronically absent than others often for reasons beyond their control, such as unstable housing, unreliable transportation, and a lack of access to health care.

8. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating.

9. Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students.

10. Most school districts and states don’t look at all the right data to improve school attendance. They track how many students show up every day and how many are skipping school without an excuse, but not how many are missing so many days in excused and unexcused absence that they are headed off track academically.