At 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, you'll find Mark Gaither standing on Gough Street in southeast Baltimore. He's outsideWolfe Street Academy, the neighborhood elementary school where he's the principal.
Gaither has a huge umbrella in case it rains, and thick gloves for when it snows. He's here each morning to greet students and families as they come to school ā which should make for at least 225 "good mornings."
This daily greeting is one part of the school's strategy to fix chronic absence and turn around what was once a failing school.
Absenteeism will be front-and-center today at the U.S. Department of Education, which hosts an online summit on strategies to combat chronic absence.
Chronic absence is defined as missing more than 10 percent of the school year ā just two days a month. Research shows that such students are way more likely to fall behind and, eventually, drop out. Addressing the problem goes way beyond skipping school; a mix of truancy entangled with illnesses and family problems.
[For more of this story, written by Elissa Nadworny, go to http://www.npr.org/sections/ed...-get-kids-to-show-up]
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