compensate for some of the adversity<\/strong> kids in contact with CPS might be experiencing outside of school.<\/p>\n\u201cAbsenteeism reflects many challenges that children and youth experience. Our study suggests that youth with CPS contact face elevated risks,\u201d he added. \u201cBut an important piece of that puzzle, as schools think about how to engage students and families, is their connection to school. This is important because school connectedness is malleable and modifiable.\u201d<\/p>\n
For example, he said, past studies have found that positive relationships with teachers, inclusive school climates and extracurricular activities all help kids feel safe, valued and connected to their school.<\/p>\n
While school connectedness explained some of the attendance gap between kids with CPS contact and their peers, the study found that on its own, school connectedness doesn\u2019t effectively reduce attendance gaps between youth with CPS contact and their peers who haven\u2019t interacted with the system. In other words, while school connectedness interventions don\u2019t necessarily benefit kids with CPS contact more than others, they benefit all children equally.<\/p>\n
\u201cSchool connectedness is one piece of the puzzle, but it ultimately can\u2019t be the only answer to the adversity these kids face,\u201d Ansari said. \u201cIt has to be one piece of a larger toolkit.\u201d The toolkit, he explained, should also address issues like housing and income instability, food insecurity, and mental and physical health disparities<\/strong> that students and their families are navigating.<\/p>\n\u201cMany families have to cut meals, and when kids come to school hungry, they\u2019re less likely to be engaged. \u2026 If kids don\u2019t have a school bus, they have to walk, and sometimes families don\u2019t feel comfortable with that because of traffic safety or crime. There are a lot of issues at play, largely driven by poverty,\u201d Ansari said.<\/p>\n
For kids involved with CPS who are dealing with potential abuse and neglect in their homes, school can serve \u201cas a resource and a getaway \u2014 a way out in terms of pursuing higher education and moving on to greater opportunities. But it cannot counteract all these other historical and ongoing forces happening at the same time,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
While schools are often viewed primarily as academic institutions, the relationships between students, teachers and peers are essential to this toolkit. \u201cThe social-relational aspect of education is really important,\u201d Ansari said. \u201cWe need to keep that in mind as we strategize around tackling absenteeism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The study was co-authored by Kierra M.P. Sattler from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.<\/p>\n
#<\/p>\n
Contact: Arya Ansari, ansari.81@osu.edu<\/p>\n
Written by Elizabeth Weinstein, weinstein.137@osu.edu<\/p>\n
\n\n
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JOURNAL<\/h4>\n
Children and Youth Services Review<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
COLUMBUS, Ohio \u2014 Across the country, kids are settling into new school year routines. Parents buy backpacks, teachers arrange desks and lesson plans, and friends reconnect. But in recent years, empty chairs are becoming a more common sight \u2014 especially in classrooms where students are already facing the most adversity. When kids regularly miss school,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":34778,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[352,1037,891,5,349,319,9,338],"tags":[70,179,45,160,62],"class_list":["post-34777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abuse-2","category-children","category-education","category-emotions","category-happiness-2","category-learning-2","category-parenting","category-stress-2","tag-adolescence","tag-attention","tag-children","tag-developmental","tag-stress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34777"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34777\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34779,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34777\/revisions\/34779"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}