Jones Elementary Principal Bradley Griffin recently awarded “brag tags” to a group of students with improved attendance and asked why it’s so important to go to school.
“Because when you are on time, you don’t miss stuff and you don’t need to do it all over,” third-grader Zoe Bain responded.
“That’s exactly right,” Griffin said before giving the girl a high-five. “That makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?”
The elementary school, at 1515 S. 71st East Ave., is one of several that have implemented incentive strategies this year in an effort to reverse concerning attendance trends.
Tulsa Public Schools’ third-quarter review, which was released this week, shows the district still has a long way to go.
The average daily attendance rate through three quarters was 91.7%, while the chronic absenteeism rate was 28.5%. Both numbers are slightly worse than where they were at the same time last year. They’re also slightly behind the district’s goals for this year.
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Despite the meager success, TPS officials are optimistic about the progress being made at some traditionally underperforming schools.
Griffin said there’s been a renewed urgency at Jones to improve chronic absenteeism, which refers to students who miss at least 10% of school days.
On the 40th day of the 2017-18 school year, the school’s chronic absenteeism rate was 13.4%. It rose to 14.9% at the beginning of 2018-19 and climbed to 23% in December.
“We noticed we were really going to plummet in our chronic attendance,” Griffin said. “So we tried to find different ways to encourage our students to want to come to school every day.”
One of those ways has been to give “brag tags” to students for improving their attendance. Griffin came up with a color-coded system in which kids are rewarded for success.
Those who progress from red (chronically absent) to yellow (at risk) receive a brag tag and get to go to a quarterly attendance dance. Those who progress from yellow to green (on track) receive another tag that lets them go to the zoo.
Since he began handing out the brag tags, Griffin has seen the chronic absenteeism rate drop to 21.3%. Although that’s still high, he said it’s much better than the 33.3% that the school ended at last year. It also means Jones has met its goal to lower its rate by at least 10%.
“(Meeting that goal) means everything to me,” he said. “It means that my children will be more on track. We’re all happier seeing our students at school every day. It makes things easier.
“When students aren’t at school, they’re missing that work, and then we have to try to find a way to make it up. If they’re here, we’re all on the same page.”
Rogers College Junior High also has seen a sharp improvement this year. Since January, the school’s attendance has moved from 93.8% to 95%, and its chronic absenteeism rate has decreased from 17.6% to 12.5%, said Phyllis Lovett, an instructional leadership director at TPS.
The attendance team at Rogers meets each week to identify students who are struggling and develop strategies to get them to school. Lovett said school officials have reached out to families of chronically absent students almost 600 times this year — sometimes through home visits.
“They have focused on a specific group of students and families to pinpoint why these students are chronically absent and to really provide the wrap-around services necessary to help them come to school,” she said.
Meanwhile, the district’s suspension rate through three quarters is 5.4%, compared to 7.4% last year. Its goal is 6.8%.
TPS third-quarter attendance numbers
| Category | 2017-18 | 2018-19 through third quarter | Goal |
| Avg. daily attendance | 91.9% | 91.7% | 92% |
| Chronic absenteeism | 28% | 28.5% | 28.4% |
| Suspensions | 7.4% | 5.4% | 6.8% |
