Supporting Attendance

By: Sabrina Kowal, AmeriCorps Promise Fellow serving at Minneapolis Public Schools

I found one of my students sitting in the attendance office, debating whether or not to call her mom to come pick her up. I asked why she was going to go home, and she said it's because she didn't want to be here, and she wished she hadn't come to school today at all. Her classes are overwhelming and she feels like she doesn't get along with her classmates. I gave her a shout out for putting in the effort to get here, even though she isn't feeling 100%. Then, I offered to take her to the library to pick out a book and have some independent reading time. She agreed to come with me and we read quietly for the rest of second period. At the end of class, she asked me to walk with her to her third hour math class."

Caring adult interventions by AmeriCorps Promise Fellows like Sabrina help students succeed in school and combat chronic school absenteeism. A recent study of the AmeriCorps Promise Fellow program find that students supported by the program attend an average of 5 additional days of school each year, with some student groups seeing even larger gains. Learn more about the benefits of having an AmeriCorps Promise Fellow serve students at your school!