Here to Learn

I'm sure it's no surprise that we want your student to be here every day. It's simple, we need students in the classroom in order to teach them. It makes sense right? Unfortunately, many students in our district will fall into the category of chronically absent before we even reach the halfway mark of this school year. Of course, things happen that require students to miss school. We don't want students to come to school if there is a medical concern. We understand that situations arise when a student may miss a day for other reasons. What we ask for from families is that they have an awareness that what might start off as a few missed days, can quickly add up to a week or weeks which has a negative impact on student learning. Also, please know that we at WMS are here to help.  Our goal is to ensure that your student wants to be here. We put great effort into our school culture and hope that this a a place that all students feel safe, welcome and supported.  If there is something contributing to your students absences that we can assist with, we will.  
Did you know?

  • Chronic absenteeism in the middle school is the #1 indicator of a potential drop out student later in high school, above achievement, above race, and above socio-economic indicators.*
  •  A study of New York City data finds that “While relative improvements or declines in students’ test scores are predictive of students’ progress towards graduation, changes in attendance during the middle grades are also equally, if not more, predictive of the likelihood that students will be on-track in ninth grade to graduate from high school within four years” (Kieffer, Marinell, and Stephenson, 2011).**

  •  Analyses of data from multiple states and school districts, many conducted in partnership between the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University and the National Governors Association, have consistently found chronic absenteeism to be among the strongest predictor of dropping out of high school, stronger even than suspensions, test scores, and being overage for grade, after having controlled for student demographics and backgrounds (Byrnes & Reyna 2012).**

           * This data was taken from an article in Education Week, published Oct. 7, 2014 entitled:  "Chronic Absenteeism Can Devastate K-12 Learning"
           **This data were taken from a Literature review conducted by John Hopkins University entitled:  "The Importance of Being In School:  A Report      
                on Absenteeism In the Nation's Public Schools" published in May, 2012
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