RIDE launches new tool to fight school absenteeism

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — The Rhode Island Department of Education is partnering with Harvard University to launch its attendance “nudge” tool statewide.

More than 120 schools across the state already say they plan to use it.

“It allows them to track the attendance, to see patterns, to actually address the attendance instead of just recording it,” said RI State Education Commissioner Angelica Infante–Green. “And also giving parents the ability to know — you know, sometimes parents don’t know when their high school kid goes to school or not — but also what it means.”

Commissioner Infante–Green says it means having a better understanding of which students are endangering their futures.

“We have very clear data that if students are not on track with absenteeism they’re not going to read on grade level, and they’ll have a higher rate of dropping out of high school,” she said.

Providence schools have some of the state’s worst rates of absenteeism.

“What we have to do is figure out the why, and then how do we fix it, how do we address it?” Providence Teachers Union President Maribeth Calabro. “What can we do to support those students and those families to get them into the school?”

Calabro says the teacher absenteeism tool ride is also developing would show teachers missing days due to illness — and she’s concerned about their privacy.

But overall she says she supports the effort.

The student attendance portal is available for use right now.

The commissioner says the teacher attendance portal should be ready to launch in the next few weeks.

© WLNE-TV / ABC6 2019