Over the last few years, a marked transformation has occurred in education. Long-standing research on how to best teach children to read was acknowledged. School districts around the country embraced the "science of reading" – an interdisciplinary body of knowledge about reading and writing. Thankfully, our local districts have begun to make this long-overdue change. Springfield District 186, for example, will roll out a new K-8 classroom literacy curriculum plus an evidence-based intervention curriculum. The future of literacy looks bright.
This future, however, may dim as local districts are weighed down by chronic absenteeism. According to the Illinois State Board of Education report card, in the 2022-23 school year, 43% of Springfield District 186 students missed 10 days or more of school. In our elementary schools, chronic absenteeism rates ranged from 25%-55%. Middle school rates varied between 25%-60% and in our high schools, 32%-60% of students were chronically absent...