To Get Attendance Rates Back Up, Colorado Schools May Need To Rethink Curriculum

Image created by Alexis Kenyon with help from Dall-E

3 years into the pandemic, school attendance rates are still at record lows across the country. In Colorado, according to the Department of Education, 1 in 3 students are chronically absent meaning they miss over 10% of school days. Chronic absenteeism across the state correlates with lower graduation rates, disciplinary problems, and lower test scores. Likewise, low attendance, for 9th graders in Colorado, is a better predictor of graduation rates than test scores.

KGNU’s Alexis Kenyon spoke with Dr. Joshua Childs, an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas and a CU Boulder graduate about how school systems and educators are facing a reckoning.

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To Get Attendance Rates Back Up, Colorado Schools May Need To Rethink Curriculum Alexis Kenyon

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Alexis Kenyon

Alexis Kenyon is a radio reporter with more than 15 years of experience creating compelling, sound-rich radio stories for news outlets across the country.