press release | Dec. 11, 2024
Read the latest news stories, press releases, and opinion pieces to keep you informed about the state of education in the U.S., the ways we deliver on our mission, and the impact of our work on students’ lives. For media requests, please contact: Whitney Faison, 315-420-6049, [email protected].
Latest News
Aug. 28, 2024
Communities In Schools Takes on Chronic Absenteeism Nationwide in Powerful New Campaign Featuring “The Longest Roll Call”
Communities In Schools (CIS) has launched the new “Being Present Matters” public service campaign highlighting the nationwide epidemic of chronic absenteeism and the solutions CIS offers to eradicate it.
press release | Dec. 11, 2024
opinion | Dec. 9, 2024
opinion | Dec. 2, 2024
Opinions
How to Help Students Find Their Way Back to Regular School Attendance
According to the latest data, 2 out of 5 Chicago Public Schools students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 academic year. That means they missed 18 or more school days. The district’s 40% chronic absence rate is 16 points higher than before the pandemic, and it represents more than 2 million missed school days. Like so many social challenges impacting our city, the phenomenon is unevenly spread.
Opinion | Dec. 9, 2024 Read more of How to Help Students Find Their Way Back to Regular School Attendance
Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Requires Collective Action
As someone with more than 20 years of experience in youth development in DC, I have witnessed firsthand the importance of collective action in driving positive student outcomes, especially for our most vulnerable populations. As students across the District return to school, our city must come together to deal with a crisis that, if left unaddressed, will have long-term consequences for our children and our community.
Opinion | Dec. 2, 2024 Read more of Tackling Chronic Absenteeism Requires Collective Action
Being Present Matters: The Fight to End Chronic Absenteeism
This month, as 50 million public school students across the U.S. return to the classroom, it’s clear that the pandemic’s impact on students and families isn’t over. Four years after the shutdowns of 2020, millions of students are academically behind.
Opinion | Sept. 30, 2024 Read more of Being Present Matters: The Fight to End Chronic Absenteeism
There’s an urgent need for “wraparound services” to support low-income students in Pennsylvania
Not all students have an equal chance to succeed. The socioeconomic achievement gap is a real phenomenon in which lower-income children are significantly less likely to succeed than their wealthier classmates. Poverty affects children’s brain development, causing challenges in paying attention and retaining information. Low-income students also attend schools with insufficient funding and resources, such as quality teachers.
Opinion | Feb. 5, 2024 Read more of There’s an urgent need for “wraparound services” to support low-income students in Pennsylvania
Chronic absenteeism doesn’t have just one solution — it has many
Chronic absenteeism has emerged as one of the most severe problems facing American students and educators today. In this op-ed, Rey Saldaña, President and CEO of CIS National, and Debbie Palacios, Executive Director of CIS of Southern Nevada, discuss how solving this problem starts by understanding what’s keeping students away and removing those barriers.
Opinion | Jan. 4, 2024 Read more of Chronic absenteeism doesn’t have just one solution — it has many
Improving Student Opportunities
In this op-ed, President and CEO of Communities In Schools Rey Saldaña talks about how education leaders should take a proactive, systems approach to redesign how they plan to meet student needs.
Opinion | May 9, 2023 Read more of Improving Student Opportunities
What MacKenzie Scott’s Gift Means to Me and the Organization I Chair
MacKenzie Scott’s supremely generous gift to Communities in Schools was remarkable in many ways. I serve as board chair of the education nonprofit, and her donation spoke to me as both a woman and a philanthropist who for decades has worked to ensure that every student, regardless of race, ZIP Code, or history of marginalization, has what they need to succeed in school and beyond.
Opinion | Feb. 16, 2022 Read more of What MacKenzie Scott’s Gift Means to Me and the Organization I Chair
Two Steps to Put Students on the Right Path
At least three million students have gone missing from classrooms across the nation during the pandemic. In this op-ed, Rey Saldaña talks about how we need a plan to help every school find its missing students, keep kids in school, and put them on a path toward graduation.
Opinion | Nov. 21, 2021 Read more of Two Steps to Put Students on the Right Path
3 Million Kids Missing From School Because of COVID-19 Is a Travesty
Check out this coauthored op-ed written by Rey Saldaña and Shaquille O’Neal on how low-income students are experiencing learning loss and chronic absenteeism at higher rates – but how proper funding and proven whole-child supports models can set students up for success.
Opinion | March 5, 2021 Read more of 3 Million Kids Missing From School Because of COVID-19 Is a Travesty
