School climate and culture impact on middle school students and their attendance

Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact school climate and culture has on student achievement, but little has been studied on how climate and culture impacts student attendance. This study focuses specifically on the teacher-student relationship, parent engagement, and school safety and how these three areas of emphasis affect student attendance. When students feel disconnected, parents are unengaged, and safety concerns are present within the school setting, attendance barriers are created for students. This mixed-methods explanatory approach provided researchers the opportunity to survey all middle school students and interview 10 individual students per grade level for further investigation into what barriers are present at Rural #0535 Middle School. Although the results from the student body were generally favorable, there were pockets of concern in each of the three areas that indicate the reasons why students are absent from school. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as chronic absenteeism, school leaders must identify ways to address the concerns identified within the investigations. Once identified, school administrators can begin to eliminate the obstacles that are hindering students from attending school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Feasibility Assessment of a School Nurse-Led Approach Using Chronic Absenteeism to Establish the School-Based Active Surveillance Process.

This article shares what was learned from the feasibility assessment of a nurse-led school-based active surveillance (SBAS) pilot to track chronic absenteeism using myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) as an exemplar. This pilot encompassed a 3-year period with training and feedback from school nurses (SNs) on data collection and ME/CFS. SNs found that the SBAS process helped them effectively identifying undiagnosed conditions. The assessment revealed the importance of focusing outreach efforts and establishing relationships with the school leadership in developing health policies and programs in the school setting. The pilot data were used to develop a manual to guide SNs for the SBAS process. This can be viewed as a model for SNs in establishing a surveillance to identify and track conditions like ME/CFS. With overlapping symptoms of Long COVID to ME/CFS, this assessment may provide insights for additional efforts to understand the impact of Long COVID on students' education.

School (Dis)Connectedness During Comprehensive Distance Learning: A Mixed-Methods Study

Previous studies suggest that students who attend school consistently are more likely to perceive a connection to their school, teacher, and peers. This mixed-methods study was set in a public middle school in the Pacific Northwest. Extant attendance data and responses to a researcher-generated survey of students who met the state's definition for chronic absenteeism were analyzed to explore changes in students' self-reported feelings of being connected to school, teacher relationships, peer relationships, and school climate before the COVID-19 pandemic and during Comprehensive Distance Learning (CDL). Survey responses from 105 middle school students, all identified as chronically absent in the current school year based on attendance data, suggest a decrease in the way in which positive school relationships are formed, peer relationships are nurtured and maintained, and school climate is cultivated during CDL. These changes have had a significant impact on the degree to which students feel connected to school in a virtual environment. Implications for practice are discussed. © 2022,Journal of School Administration Research and Development.All Rights Reserved.

School climate and culture impact on middle school students and their attendance

Numerous studies have been conducted on the impact school climate and culture has on student achievement, but little has been studied on how climate and culture impacts student attendance. This study focuses specifically on the teacher-student relationship, parent engagement, and school safety and how these three areas of emphasis affect student attendance. When students feel disconnected, parents are unengaged, and safety concerns are present within the school setting, attendance barriers are created for students. This mixed-methods explanatory approach provided researchers the opportunity to survey all middle school students and interview 10 individual students per grade level for further investigation into what barriers are present at Rural #0535 Middle School. Although the results from the student body were generally favorable, there were pockets of concern in each of the three areas that indicate the reasons why students are absent from school. With the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as chronic absenteeism, school leaders must identify ways to address the concerns identified within the investigations. Once identified, school administrators can begin to eliminate the obstacles that are hindering students from attending school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Five Years and Moving Forward: A Successful Joint Academic-Practice Public Partnership to Improve the Health of Hawaii's Schoolchildren.

BACKGROUND: In 2014, the Hawaii Department of Education (DOE), the only statewide school system in the United States, predominately enrolled children (keiki) from underserved communities and lacked school nurses or a school health program. Chronic absenteeism due to health concerns was identified as a barrier to academic success. METHODS: The DOE and a public university created Hawaii Keiki: Healthy and Ready to Learn (HK), a program to provide school-based services for 170 Title 1 schools in urban and rural settings and build momentum for statewide collective action. HK has maintained support from public and private entities to address student health. RESULTS: This paper describes 5 years of program development, implementation, and continuing challenges. Most recently in 2020-2021, HK pivoted in the face of school campus closings due to COVID-19 with strategic plans, including telehealth, to move forward in this changed school environment. CONCLUSIONS: The HK program has increased awareness of students' needs and is addressing the imperative to build health services within public schools. The multipronged approach of building awareness of need, providing direct services, educating future care providers, and supporting sound policy development, has an impact that goes beyond any one individual area.