Attendance and Truancy

Mission Statement

The mission of the Attendance and Truancy Department is to support and guide CPS staff, students, families, and community in efforts to increase attendance, decrease truancy, strategically address barriers that result in truancy and ultimately enhance the academic success of all CPS students.

Goals

The Attendance and Truancy intends to accomplish its mission via

district wide awareness of attendance and truancy related codes, policies, and guidelines;
internal and external strategic resource alignment and collaboration; and
targeted strategic outreach and engagement.

Overview

As the district continues to implement academic initiatives to raise student achievement levels, daily student attendance must be considered by all schools as fundamental to the success of these initiatives and to student academic progress. One of the primary causes of student failure in school is poor attendance; thus, daily attendance is essential for student success in school. Increased student attendance also results in increased State funding provided through the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) funding formula. Accordingly, increased Average Daily Attendance in all schools positively impacts the quality of education CPS can provide all of its students.

The Attendance and Truancy Department creates and oversees the implementation of CPS' district wide attendance and truancy strategy, primarily via effective collaboration, partnership and communication with the designated Network Offices. CPS Network Offices are currently responsible for ensuring the quality, accuracy and integrity of the Network school based in addition to student level attendance and truancy related programs and adherence to state and district level governing policies and guidelines.

The Attendance and Truancy Department, located in Central Office, supports and guides and supports the Networks and the schools, oversees the Truancy Hotline, issues the Attendance Management Guidelines to Improve Attendance and Reduce Truancy manual, and develops and provides standardized district-wide attendance and truancy related trainings for the Network staff and School Attendance Clerks/Coordinators. The Department also operates as a central resource to research and resolve district level attendance or truancy related issues, provides knowledge about the various district-wide related internal tracking systems, and guidance on effective adherence with state and district level attendance and truancy related governing policies and guidelines.