Improvements in School Culture Can Increase Student Attendance
June 14, 2019
By: Amelia Harper
Source: Education Dive
Maurice J. Elias, a professor in the Psychology Department at Rutgers University and director of the Rutgers Social-Emotional Learning Lab, shared on Edutopia a two-step process for reducing chronic absenteeism. The first step involves identifying and overcoming barriers to school attendance and the second is creating a school environment that encourages student attendance.
He writes that when school leaders create a positive school culture, students are more likely to want to be at school. Reductions in negative factors, such as harassment, bullying, and unfair discipline practices can also help students feel safer. He writes that implementing social-emotional learning skills and support measures will help students feel as if the “school is their oasis, not their holding cell.”
Some of the key elements of positive school climate developed by the Social-Emotional Learning Alliance for New Jersey include the creation of a school environment that is inspiring, supportive, safe and healthy, respectful and engaging.