As Oregon lawmakers consider complicated ways to overhaul the state's public education system, a new study points to a very basic problem for schools. Many schools are struggling to get kids to show up. A new study finds nearly one-quarter of Oregon school kids are "chronically absent."

Chronically absent students miss at least one day of school every other week, on average. Today's statewide analysis from ECO Northwest showing the extent of Oregon's problem is new. But schools have been aware of that attendance problems for years.

Original Source | The Republic
By Donna Gordon Blankinship, Associated Press, Wednesday February 1, 2012

A quarter of Oregon's public school children miss at least 10 percent of the school year, according to a new analysis of state education data by a coalition of nonprofits that believes school attendance is closely tied to student achievement.

Chronic absence, which is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year, is also an early indicator that a student will eventually drop out of school, said Hedy Chang, director of Attendance Works, a national organization that focuses on improving attendance.

Attendance Works paid for the analysis of Oregon state student data, which was scheduled to be released to the public on Thursday.

Oregon's on-time high school graduation rate is stuck at a stubborn 66 percent.

Education Week ranked us a miserable 46th among all states for our K-12 achievement. And this generation of young Oregonians is likely to be the first to be less educated - fewer diplomas, fewer degrees, lower skills - than their parents and than their peers around the United States.

The status quo should not be acceptable to any of us who want strong communities, a healthy economy and successful children.

Changing that status quo starts with our youngest learners. Some 40,000 babies are born each year in Oregon. Let me ask you to imagine one of them.

Original Source | medicalxpress.com
By University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Thursday January 19, 2012

Adults who participated in a high quality early childhood education program in the 1970s are still benefiting from their early experiences in a variety of ways, according to a new study.

The study provides new data from the long-running, highly regarded Abecedarian Project, which is led by the FPG Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Researchers have followed participants from early childhood through adolescence and young adulthood, generating a comprehensive and rare set of longitudinal data.

Parents of children enrolled in Head Start programs spend more time reading, attending museums, and engaging in academic activities with their children, according to a December 2011 paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Fathers who don't live with their children spend more time with children when the children have enrolled in Head Start, and continue to do so even after the children have left the program.