Dedicated to empowering students with the knowledge, character and skills necessary to lead choice-filled lives, KIPP Columbus affords learners the opportunity to take control of their future – beginning with strong attendance. Taking the initiative, KIPP has creatively utilized public campaigns such as Get 2 School, Stay in the Game! to generate awareness and celebrate students for their commitment to each day. Serving as a member of the Get 2 School Network's Learning Community, KIPP Columbus exemplifies how schools and districts can proactively incorporate network resources available on the Get2School.org site into their day-to-day attendance initiatives.

At KIPP, improved attendance has played a significant role in enhancing the overall academic experience of many students. Since the introduction of campaign materials and unique opportunities geared towards increasing attendance, the school has experienced an uptick in classroom engagement, students mastering content and participation in extracurricular teams and clubs.

Each day of missed school is accompanied by hours of missed content, and at KIPP, some instructional units are as short as two weeks in length. This means that if a student is absent 10 or more days in a school year, they're essentially missing an entire academic unit in each class. The first step in the school's amplified approach has been to make attendance data more transparent and easily accessible to both students and families. Effectively breaking down data in digestible, bite-sized ways has helped establish a shared understanding between families regarding the impact of missed learning.

In addition to carving out time to discuss data in-person, much of the school's recent attendance-related success can be attributed to bi-weekly updates to its nearly 2,000 students. These updates detail each individual's attendance patterns and where they stand in relation to school-wide averages. Arming students with their attendance data has proven to be motivational, highlighting the correlation between consistency and accomplishment.

Please join us in celebrating KIPP Columbus for their commitment to strong attendance and student achievement.

Want to learn how you can make school attendance a priority in your community? Visit Get2School.org, check out the online resources and take the attendance pledge!