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How to get absentee students their diploma? Add lots of caring.

Darlene Montano recently found herself writing a letter to the superintendent of Albuquerque Public Schools in New Mexico.

She wanted to tell him about the profound effect a high school counselor, Brenna McJimsey, had on her son, Marcos. Without Ms. McJimsey’s constant encouragement and progress monitoring, she says her son likely would not be graduating this spring. Marcos fell behind and almost called it quits, in part because he was supporting his mother after a car accident.

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Facing chronic absenteeism, how are high schools helping students cross the graduation finish line? Often, it comes down to three words: connection, flexibility, and relevance.

Staggering increases in chronic absenteeism among students, educators say, could torpedo diploma attainment if steps aren’t taken to curb the problem and get teens back on track. And, as some schools are finding out, students are succeeding after building connections with peers or trusted adults and being offered more flexibility.

Ms. McJimsey says she makes it a point to treat each student with humanity and establish trust. When she noticed a string of absences, she would reach out to Marcos with a simple message: “The more you keep doing [school], the  closer you’re going to get.”

Marcos, now 19, says in his case, his rapport with the counselor made all the difference.

“She made me believe in myself for once,” he says.

As Jared Aaron progressed through school in Atlanta, graduation served as a North Star – until a family move his junior year disrupted that pathway.

When he eventually registered at Benjamin E. Mays High School, he knew he had a lot of ground to make up, having missed a year of school. 

“My initial graduation thought was to be at least top 20% of my class [and] get all A’s and B’s,” he says. After he fell behind, he realized he was “going to have to work harder” to finish high school.

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Facing chronic absenteeism, how are high schools helping students cross the graduation finish line? Often, it comes down to three words: connection, flexibility, and relevance.

On Thursday, Jared plans to accept his diploma alongside his senior class peers. He finished on time, a feat he attributes to Phoenix Academy in Atlanta Public Schools. It’s a program that serves students at risk of not graduating by providing extra support through a blended learning environment.

Staggering increases in chronic absenteeism among students, educators say, could torpedo diploma attainment if steps aren’t taken to curb the problem and get teens back on track. And, as some schools are finding out, students are succeeding after building connections with peers or trusted adults and being offered more flexibility.

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