GaDOE recognizes schools with gains in attendance

Middle

1. North Whitfield Middle School (Whitfield County) 2. Clear Creek Middle School (Gilmer County) 3. Carver Road Middle School (Spalding County)

High

1. Atkinson County High School (Atkinson County)

2. Mitchell County High School (Mitchell County)

3.

Gordon Lee High School K-12

(Chickamauga City)

1. Taliaferro County K-12 School (Taliaferro County)

2. Woody Gap High/Elementary School (Union County) 3. Baker County K-12 School (Baker County) School attendance is essential to academic success, but too often students, parents, and schools don’t realize how quickly absences – excused or unexcused – can add up to academic trouble. For eighth graders in Georgia who miss less than six days of school, the graduation rate is 80 percent or higher. Those who miss 15 or more days have a substantially lower graduation rate of 38 percent.

Chronic absence is a problem we can fix when schools and communities work with students and families, starting in the early grades, to identify barriers to getting to school, help students overcome these barriers, and cultivate a culture of attendance that encourages showing up every day, even when it isn’t easy.

Every school day counts, and everyone can make a difference.