What is the cost of Student Absenteeism in your community?
What is student absenteeism costing your community? Source
As many as 7.5 million students miss at least one month of school every year, according to a 2012 report issued by John Hopkins' professor Bob Balfanz. The report also confirmed what many suspected -- chronic absenteeism is likely to be repeated year after year, unless action is taken to break the cycle.
Every district administrator knows the price chronically absent students pay for poor attendance -- fewer career choices, reduced peer-to-peer socialization, and the inability to benefit from a robust educational experience. But what about the costs to schools, districts and states?
Financial Costs of Chronic Absenteeism in Your School
Did you know Student Absenteeism costs the State of Florida $228,557,676 annually?
Florida Department of Education (FLDOE) data confirm how quickly losses escalate. For example, FLDOE records indicate Broward County’s Charles W Flanagan High School lost almost three-quarters of a million dollars ($722,006) directly attributed to chronic absenteeism during the 2011-2012 year school. 2
Florida schools stand to lose at least $1020 per chronically absent student; a retained student will cost the state more than $8700 based on FLDOE projections.2 These precious budgetary dollars could be spent on technology upgrades and professional development necessary to improve educational outcomes.
Along with the staggering financial losses, individual schools and districts face, the cost to society continues long after the education journey ends. The Children’s Aid Society cites research that reveals 75% of chronically absent sixth graders drop out before graduation and almost 80% of juveniles arrested in New York City have a history of poor attendance.3
Virtual Classrooms and Early Intervention
Negative behaviors begin during the early childhood school-based educational journey. A report issued by the University of Chicago Consortium of Chicago School research shows that more than a third of students under 5 years of age exhibited poor attendance behaviors during the 2011-12 school year.4
District administrators must act now to enable students with online teaching and cloud-based technology designed to reinvent the education experience. The cost to your school district and our collective society is too great to ignore.
- Reduce absenteeism by 50%
- Provide customized learning modules to improve student engagement
- Allow students to connect with virtual teachers outside normal school hours 24/7
- Enable student-centric one-on-one tutoring sessions to enhance comprehension
- Improve lecture effectiveness with live podcast and asynchronous audio/video lectures
By partnering with 24/7 Teach you can help save your district and the state more than $114 million in lost revenue per year. Are you ready to reinvent education at the local level? Contact an educational consultant for more information.
References:
1) The Importance of Being In School:A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation's Public Schools
2) http://www.writeraccess.com/upload/Cost%20of%20absenteeism%2Exlsx
3) NCCS Works with NYC Mayor’s Task Force on Truancy and Absenteeism
Additional resource: http://www.fldoe.org/eias/eiaspubs/pubstudent.asp