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Administrators and counselors had consistently monitored student attendance at John Burroughs High School in Burbank, California. Any student with more than a third unexcused absences in any one class was brought into the office and the parents were notified. Principal Emilio Urioste could easily see on his computer that some of the students with attendance problems also had very low grades and discipline issues. Urioste knew these students needed closer attention and began to refer to them as “intensive care kids.” Urioste felt that in their case a Student Study Team (SST) meeting was not the best initial approach. Those meetings often took a long time to schedule with parents and did not have the most thorough or timely follow-up.
Urioste decided to use technology to monitor the students. Once identified, Urioste brings each student to his office to explain his concern and the monitoring process that will be used. He explains the process to students using a medical analogy: if they went to a doctor and their blood test showed a problem, there would be monitoring and follow-up visits to solve the problem. Urioste continues: “Based on data, we have identified a problem, and all of your teachers and I will be closely monitoring you and having follow-up meetings to help resolve it.” He also calls home with the same message for parents. Then, each week Urioste asks all those students' teachers to fill out a brief feedback form via e-mail with questions about homework, classroom behavior, and attendance. Urioste finds that since e-mail seems to be so easy for teachers, they often write much more in the comments than is required. Urioste shares all that information with parents each week. Then, if they need to have an SST, there is much more information available.
Knowing this kind of concerted attention is being paid to students, that detailed information is being communicated to their parents, is having a positive effect on student behavior. Parents are much more aware of their child's situation, getting very specific feedback. Teachers and administrators are pleased they are keeping students form falling through the cracks.
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