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Attendance
In 2015, the Cleveland Metropolitan School District launched a communitywide campaign to change attitudes about attendance.
The schools were improving under The Cleveland Plan, a customized blueprint for education reform in the city, but the District, like others across the country, suffered from chronic absenteeism.
Families had to do their parts, CEO Eric Gordon said. Students can’t learn if they are not in class.
District data supported the case: Students who missed more than 10 days in a year – just one day per month – scored an average of 12 points lower on state reading tests and 15 points lower on math tests. They were 9 percent less likely to meet Ohio’s Third Grade Reading Guarantee and earn promotion to fourth grade. High school students were 34 percent less likely to graduate.
The “Get 2 School. You Can Make It!” campaign drove home the message with billboards and yard signs. Community partners, led by the Cleveland Browns Foundation, showed their support.
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Browns, Arby's reward students for attendance (Video)
12/22/2021 -- Before CMSD began its winter break, students at several schools received special treats. Some saw a performance of selections from "The Nutcracker." Others received lunch from Arby's.
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Student committee tackles attendance, vaccination hesitancy
10/12/2021 -- Due to COVID-19 restrictions at Windows on the River, only 132 students from his Student Advisory Committee attended, instead of the usual 420, but the power of their voice was just as strong.
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Arby's donates $100,000 to help schools boost attendance (Photo gallery)
12/10/2019 -- A grant from the Arby’s Foundation will help four CMSD schools identify barriers to attendance and help families find solutions. Practices developed at the schools can be used across the District.
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CMSD campaign inspires Browns statewide attendance push (Video)
8/5/2019 -- The Cleveland Browns Foundation has launched a statewide attendance initiative that was inspired by CMSD’s “Get 2 School, You Can Make It!” campaign. The foundation, lead partner in CMSD’s drive to improve attendance, has teamed with the Ohio Department of Education and Proving Ground at Harvard University to start the Get 2 School, Stay in the Game! Network.
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Attendance campaign begins blitz
1/7/2019 -- The “Get 2 School. You Can Make It!” attendance campaign will put up 30 billboards across the District and air spots don Radio One stations throughout January. Ads also will appear on RTA buses.
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Attendance campaign reaches goal for 3rd year
6/28/2018 -- The “Get 2 School. You Can Make It!” campaign helped to decrease the number of students with “off-track” attendance by more than 10 percent when compared with the average of the previous three years. The goal was 7.5 percent.
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CMSD to host absenteeism summit
4/7/2017 -- In a report released last September, Attendance Works said data showed that 6.5 million students nationwide missed three weeks of school or more during the 2013-14 school year. The report found a correlation between absenteeism and poverty, stemming from problems such as a lack of proper health care or affordable housing.
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Commuter ads praise attendance gains
1/27/2017 -- District students have improved their attendance, and if some RTA passengers have not heard the news yet, they soon will. Starting Feb. 1, when buses pass one of 10 select schools, a recording of Browns players Cameron Erving or Xavier Cooper will announce the school by name.
