Great attendance is the foundation for success in the classroom, and it’s a topic the District is tackling through its Represent Every Day campaign.  One school that has heard Superintendent Hopson’s goal of improving attendance and decreasing chronic absences, missing 18 days or more of school, is Dunbar Elementary.

Under the watchful eye of their "Head Coach," Christopher Edwards, a fifth-year visual art teacher, Dunbar has students excited about coming to school. A quick glance at the @DunbarES Twitter handle, you’ll see there’s no shortage of #PresentPandas ready to seize the day or...#RepresentEveryDay.

We caught up with Mr. Edwards to learn how they’re building a "school is cool" culture at Dunbar and what students think about the Represent Every Day initiative.

How have students responded to the "Represent Every Day" campaign? How about parents?
Our students have responded extremely positively to the Represent Every Day campaign. We held a kick-off pep rally the first day of September to get students excited about coming to school. Here at Dunbar we call our attendance program "Present Pandas." Our Present Pandas love to hear their name being called over the intercom and to see their pictures on our website and twitter. The parents of our pandas have been very enthusiastic about the campaign and several have volunteered to help in any way possible. We are also working with our adopters to see what incentives we can reward our parents with for making sure that their students are in class every day.

What’s attendance been like so far this year?

Our attendance this year has greatly improved. Our attendance rate is currently at 96%, which is a major improvement from last year. We are really putting our hearts behind this campaign to make sure that we have a school full of Present Pandas.

What is your school doing to encourage students Represent Every Day?

We have a lot of incentives in place for our students. One in particular that has motivated both students and staff to "Grit Grind and Go to School" is our jean day incentive. If a class has 100 percent attendance for the week, including their teacher, they can wear jeans on Fridays. We’ve already had many classes earn a jeans day, and the kids are so excited to come to school so that they can wear their jeans. We have also built a basketball case in front of our main office that holds a basketball that represents each class. When a class has perfect attendance, their class gets a sticker on their basketball. Our pandas love to check out their section's basketball to make sure they’re in the lead.

Why is it important for students to Represent Every Day?

It's so important for our students to be in school every day so that they don’t fall behind on any of their work. Student achievement is our number one goal and our Pandas must be present so that they can participate in learning. It doesn't sound like much, but a student who misses just 2 days a month are likely to fall behind. Over time, this chronic absenteeism can add up to an entire year of school missed.

What are three tips you can share with other schools and teacher to boost attendance in their classrooms?

• Talk about attendance every day. Make sure to keep it on your students' and parents' minds constantly and remind them how important their child's education is to their teachers.
   
• Follow through with incentives. We all know it's easy to fall behind when we have a multitude of incentives going on, but it's so important to follow through and make sure that students are rewarded for coming to school.
   
• Target chronically absent students. In every school there is that one group of students that are always present, another group that is mostly present, and then a small group of students that are chronically absent. That small group of chronically absent students can really affect the attendance rate of a school and their individual education. Targeting these students, finding out the reason they are chronically absent, and offering the students and parents a solution is essential to improving your schools attendance.