Kayla is a third grade girl. She has 3 older siblings and 2 younger siblings. All are currently in the school system. All 7 students suffer from the same problem; they are constantly absent from school. Kayla’s grades have plummeted. At the beginning of the school year Kayla was an average student with areas of concern in reading. She showed documented progression in her Dibels and Weekly tests. In November, Kayla’s dad lost his job and has had little luck finding a long term position. He tries to find jobs in neighboring towns. Kayla’s mom has picked up a position at the neighborhood steakhouse/bar. She now works nights. There have been signs of alcohol abuse by dad and the older siblings are responsible for getting the younger siblings to school. Kayla and her siblings have all been referred to the Student Assistant Team (SAT). The team is wondering if the surge of absences this semester will have a long term effect on Kayla and are trying to decide what if anything they can do for her or her siblings. This scenario is not uncommon for many districts. Absenteeism has become an epidemic that is getting out of control. Many districts are now finding that the absent children are not just affecting the outcome of their grades but can also affect their peer’s grades, teacher’s plans, and standardized testing results. Why are children absent? There are four main variables for absences in school. Those factors include family, school, economic and student variables. As Kayla’s life, family problems can change the dynamics of a situation. There is an apparent lack of parental supervision of the children. Other family problems can include drugs, alcohol, mental illness and domestic violence. All of these can stop a... ... middle of paper ... ...rnor Heineman Signs Bill Updating Nebraska Truancy Statutes. May 11, 2011. Retrieved November 29, 2011, from. http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/columns/2011/05/11 Heineman, Governor Dave (2011). Back to School. Retrieved December 1, 2011, from http://www.governor.nebraska.gov/columns/2011/08/12_back_to_school.html Magee, Maureen. (2010). Sign On San Diego. School Absenteeism has its Costs. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/aug/28/school-absenteeism-has-financial-social-costs/ Scotts Bluff Star-Herald (2011). Kearney Hub. Truancy Solution. Retrieved November 30, 2011, from http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/opinion/article_d9ded5ee-c751-11e0-88c5 SDA Public Schools (2011). Importance of School Attendance and Being to School on Time. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from http://www.sdarockets.org
Susie works as an 8th grade science teacher in a title one school in San Antonio. She teaches co-teach classes which means she works with the students who are intellectually below average and need the extra assistance and extra push. With her, she has another certified teacher, Jenny, who aids her in the classroom. My mom, aside from her co-teacher, has a teaching partner that works in the same department as her, and they coordinate lesson plans and teaching principles. Dennis, her teaching partner, is a diligent worker and helps with preparing power points for him and my mom to utilize. My mom however, has struggled with the lack of assistance in her classroom ever since Jenny became her co-teacher in 2013. Jenny is Dennis’ wife. The ethical
Kayla lives with her parents and two siblings. Kayla was first referred for psychoeducational testing when she was in fifth grade and this was done by her teacher. Kayla has a history of cutting school and not doing any of school work. Even she has been given a second chance to resubmit her work, she still doesn’t do it. One class in particular TV Production, Kayla has never attended and the teacher feels that Kayla should have been dropped. Kayla also never attends Physical Education. Kayla’s father and paternal uncle have a history of ADHD, Bipolar Disorder and possibly learning disabilities. Kayla’s father has been on medication for his disorders. Unfortunately, Kayla’s father is currently unemployed and depends on Kayla’s to provide for
Education: Benny continues to attend South Amboy Elementary School in South Amboy. He is currently in the third grade regular education. When Benny was first placed in the Rodriguez home. He was not enrolled in school when he resides with his biological parents. Benny struggle with writing and did not have the opportunity to develop healthy peer relationships because this youth’s mother reported that she “home schooled him” without the approval of the school district they resided in. Since Benny has been enrolled into the South Amboy Elementary School his academic progress has improved but he is still below average for his grade level. Mrs. Rodriguez has requested for Benny to be evaluated by South Amboy Special Service. CM will follow up with
The class was filled with loud, inattentive children. When the school-children became disruptive, the teacher would just continue to teach like nothing happened; she mentioned to me on the side that, “It is their loss if they are not paying attention to the lesson…I am not going to stop the lesson just because of two or three of the children.” Those scholars are an interruption to the other students who are actually paying attention and trying to learn; Ms. Stone could have sent them to the hall for distractions. If the school-children were verbally being preoccupied, they were technologically sidetracked. Some pupils were playing games on their iPads, and diverting the attention from some of the other students. The grades were so bad that Ms. Stone had to throw away the quizzes and prompt the class for “pop quiz” with the same material on it for the next day. My anticipation for the class lessons were also incorrect; homework was submitted online, course notes were given and completed to the pupils via the teacher, and the assignment was online to complete and submit online. The learners accessed the homework AND the required textbook online with the iPad the school provided. Only a handful of the scholars were accepting the mathematical challenge in that classroom, and those scholars were the sophomores of the
There is a seemingly shy or introverted girl in an eighth grade class that has been having some various difficulties in navigating her education. She does not participate much, and does everything in her power to avoid drawing attention to herself or being noticed in class. She also does not divulge much personal information to the teacher. In addition to all of this, she has been somewhat ignored in class, both by the teacher and by the students. Furthermore, she seems to have problems at home. Her parents have strong, dominant personalities and have argued with school leadership about their daughter. This is her second stepmother, and she does not get to spend much time with her biological mother. Finally, she has also been diagnosed with ADD.
Attendance is an important factor in children’s school success. Studies have shown that students who attend school regularly scores higher on test than their peers who are frequently absent (Epstein pg 309). Illness is one of the leading causes of absenteeism among school age kids. Therefore keeping kids healthy and teaching them ways to stay healthy will aid in avoiding missing school related to illness.
Nathalie is a ten-year-old female who lives with her parents and older sister. She was referred to counseling for school refusal behavior. She has been getting home schooled for two years. She could be very resistant, and display tantrums when people attempt to get her to school or study her lessons. Her primary caregiver is her mother who is a house worker. Family business failed years ago and then her father found another job and works usually away from the home. Her mother had a serious car accident about seven years ago and has been dealing with its effects since then. School Refusal Assessment Checklist (SRAS-R) and Child Behavioral Checklist (CBCL) Parents version were administered. According to assessment results, Nathalie’s primary
The literature review research and articles ranged in dates from 1995 to 2013. These articles are composed of over 50 studies, with the results being compared and evaluated over a vast time. The researchers examined the students’ permanent school records, documented the students’ gender, socioeconomic status, grade retained or intervened, teacher assigned grades, reading and mathematics, and the students’ standardized test scores (Rust & Wallace, 1993). Grade appropriate standardized test...
Few resources in the school to dedicate to improving parent connectedness to the school, financial skills or parent support for their children’s academic growth.
How many students are reported to be failing in America? According to the U.S Department of Education (2015), there are about 50 million students across America and 7,000 of them drop out of school each day as a result of academic lag. Moreover, students all over America are failing thanks to the current federal, state, and local systems. In their high school years, many students begin or continue to fail their classes, and the United States Department of Education needs to do something about it. The nation needs to rebuild the federal, state, and local support systems for failing students. Reasons why the current support systems may
Throughout my school career, I always had perfect attendance, until moving houses I accumulated a total of 45 tardies which is equivalent to 15 absences. Not only was I tardy all the time, I was also unable to participate in afterschool activities because if I did then I will arrive in my house at
This makes me think that Kennedy is experiencing problems outside of the classroom, however they are manifesting inside of the classroom. My first concern would be for the safety of Kennedy.I would not jump to conclusions that her problems stems from familial problems due to the disconnection of the phone line, it could be a coincidence of her parents phone number to be disconnected. Kennedy's classroom behavioral concerns could emerge from household concerns, recent loss of a love one, environmental concerns, bullying, etc and I would not want to approach the situation without bias. Yet, I do believe that Kennedy is having a crisis that needs to be addressed. My reason being is that Kennedy is having a hard time focusing in class, she is
There are many issues and goals presented with those involved in this specific case. To begin, there are several issues with the young girl’s family relationship, more importantly, her mother. With this said, although there are no signs of abuse, and the relationship seems to be positive, her mother shows several signs of neglect (Martinek & Walling, 1995). One example of the present signs of neglect include the young girl attending school wearing dirty clothes and showing a dirty appearance. The young girl is also known to go to school unprepared and does not attend class with the needed materials (Martinek & Walling, 1995). Mothers are known to be nurturing to their kids and always look out for them while providing the necessary care for them. These qualities are not present in the young girl’s mother who may have led to her condition of learned helplessness. Along with the young girl’s family relationship, her relationship involving her teachers are observed as well. Her teachers face several concerns dealing with her behavior and her problem for learning. Particular difficulties and concerns her teachers often come across
Everyone has different problems in life. When students face different types of stressors like the ones I have listed above, it allows the student to lose focus with their education. Occasionally, it causes the student to fail. This is something that needs to be prevented. It is so important that the teacher and faculty need to understand that situations do happen. Each situation plays a role in student behavior. Things can be fixed if everyone comes together and works with the student and family. These situations cannot be controlled. Being able to know that things happen is the start in understanding. Here are some different type of resources that can help the parents and families that deal with stressors like the ones above:
There are a number of truancy prevention programs that shown to be effective. Bulack et al (2011) suggests the following strategies for reducing truancy; parental involvement in preventative actions, firm penalties, incentives, consequences, and support that are significant to both child and parent, the program should work closely with various community resources, such as law enforcement, social services, mental health services, and mentors. Support from within the school system, including administrators to commit to supporting youth, to help keep them in school, and ongoing evaluation of the students’ progress (Bulach, Lunenburg, & Potter, 2011)