Missed ClassesMissed Opportunities

BLACKBOARD CONNECT

POLK COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

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Webinar Guest Speakers

Blackboard Connect• Jennie Breister, Product Marketing Manager

Polk County Schools• Ann Marshall, Safe Schools Supervisor• Marie Moore, Info Tech Support Technician/ Discipline Data

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•Enhancing students achievement with greater parental

involvement.

•Providing leadership to keep your schools safe.

•Strengthening support from your school communities.

•Improving attendance and enforcing accountability.

•Increasing funding to better serve students, staff

and families.

Connecting your District by:

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Mass Communication in Action

Sample Attendance Message: “Hello from Principal Jennie Breister at Bedford Elementary. Please listen to the following important message concerning your child’s attendance in school today. School attendance is critical to your child's academic and future success. Except when your child is sick, please make every attempt to get them to school on time, and ready to learn every day. We appreciate your efforts and support.”

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Top Notch Service

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Research shows that students who attend school every day pass CA state tests in reading and math at much higher rates than students who attend school less than 85% of the time. Higher attendance equals higher achievement for all students.

- San Diego Unified School District Research & Reporting Department

The Impact of Attendanceon Student Achievement

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Impact at an Early Age

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The Bottom Line Average Daily Attendance ADAExample states measuring ADA: California, Texas, Virginia

• Total number of days of student attendance Total number of days in regular school year

•Different than enrollment (number of students enrolled on a given day in the fall). (ADA lower: move, illness, etc.)

•State uses school district's ADA to determine its general purpose (revenue limit) and other funding.

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The Bottom Line Annual Count Day or Count PeriodExample states: Michigan, Florida

• Annual Count Day – one to two days per year used to calculate the bulk of state per-pupil aid.

• New state law in MI - attendance accounts for 90% of state aid, up from 75% in prior years. (Other 10% based on count from previous February).

• Count period - ten-day window to account for students absent on those days.

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Attendance - Critical to Student Success• Blackboard supports districts’ efforts to boost

attendance aimed at both student achievement and revenue generation.

• Seamless integration with student information systems and an automated, easy-to-use interface.

• More than 360 K-12 districts across the country actively use Connect for attendance.

• In 2010, Blackboard delivered 1.4 million attendance messages to 70.8 million phones and 12.5 million e-mail addresses.

Polk County School DistrictPolk County Public Schools Mission:To ensure rigorous, relevant learning

experiences that result in high achievement for our students.

Polk School District Overview

166 schools 95,719 students (Pre-K-12th grade) 8th largest in Florida 31st largest district in U.S. (in pool of 14,000+) Over 13,450 full time employees

(Polk’s largest employer) 66% of students are eligible for free and reduced

price school meals (state average is about 40%)

Polk School District

September 28, 200612:19 p.m.

Communication changed for Polk County Schools

Polk School District

• School funding in Florida is based on FTE.

• Students are counted twice during the year.

• Students must be in attendance during count period in order to receive funding.

Polk School District

What we want:Every student in school every day.

What we know:If a student is not in attendance at least 85% of the time, achievement at grade level is compromised.

• In 2010, the district sent 27,515 attendance messages to 1.14 million phones and more than 229,000 e-mails addresses.

• Currently 89 of our 148 regular school sites send a daily attendance message.

• Personal goal - to add one school each week.

• Attendance messages are one way to ensure the safety of our students and that achievement levels are on the rise.

Attendance in Polk School District

Polk School District

Lakeland Senior High School

Enrollment: 202853.8 - White25.3 % - Black15.2 % - Hispanic53.5 % - Economically disadvantaged

Lakeland High School Attendance Improvement

From 23,333 absences in 2006-07 To 6,046 absences in 2010-11

“As a principal, I look for opportunities to strengthen the school’s relationship with our parents and students. Connect-Ed allows me to communicate important information about school happenings, emergency announcements and students’ daily attendance. Empowering families with up-to-date information has helped me to shift accountability to them and engage them more in our school community.”

Tracy Collins Principal, LHS

VISION:RELIABLE, COST-EFFECTIVE WAYS TO INCREASE ADA AND FOSTER STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN AN ERA OF RESTRICTIVE BUDGETS

La Mesa, CA • 12,700 STUDENTS

WWW.LMSVSD.K12.CA.US

ACHIEVEMENTS Automated attendance

notification yielded an ADA increase of $450,000 in state funding in the first year alone

0.75% improvement comparing first year Period 1 (P1), August to December, to second year P1 attendance

Seamless integration with existing SIS, enabling district to fully automate daily and period attendance without changing procedures

“Our figures showed us that the [Blackboard Connect] system paid for itself many times over. It helps us clear up absences: kids know they can’t be truant because their parents are going to receive a call.”

Brian Marshall, Superintendent

La Mesa-Spring Valley School District

VISION:TO INCREASE STUDENT ATTENDANCE AND SUCCESS, WHILE STAYING WITHIN BUDGET CONSTRAINTS

Wilmington, NC • 24,000 STUDENTS

www.nhcs.k12.nc.us

“Often, a parent will contact the school with a message along the lines of ‘Thank you for letting me know, I wasn’t aware that my child missed school today.’ By improving communications, our schools are able to establish relationships with parents that reinforce the school’s dedication to student success.”

Valita Quattlebaum, Chief Communications Officer

New Hanover County Schools

ACHIEVEMENTS

Leveraged existing technology in response to budget constraints

Developed a process to integrate daily attendance data from their existing student information system into the AlertNow service

Improved communication established parent relationships, increased safety and led to more students in the classroom ready to learn

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Q&A

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For more information

Ann Marshall, ann.marshall@polk-fl.net Safe Schools Supervisor

Learn more about Blackboard Connect and other technology solutions for K-12 schools and districts:www.blackboard.com/connect or www.blackboard.com/k12