A 30-member advisory council looking into chronic absenteeism in Iowa schools held its first meeting Tuesday.
A report issued in April by the Child and Family Policy Center indicates nine percent of Iowa’s kindergartners met the criteria of chronic absenteeism — or missing 10 percent or more of school days.
The governor’s special assistant for education, Linda Fandel, says those students fall far behind when it comes to reading.
“By the end of third grade, nearly 25 percent of students weren’t reading proficiently at the end of the 14-15 school year. That’s been a fairly consistent pattern,” Fandel says. She says they are hoping to cut the number of kids who lag behind.
“We’re focusing on students in kindergarten through third grade because kids who miss a lot of school in those grades often have more trouble learning to read and we want to establish good attendance habits early,” according to Fandel The group of educators, parents, legislators, business leaders and others is expected to make its recommendations in November.
(Thanks to Rob Dillard, Iowa Public Radio)