Logging Daily Attendance- The Key to Academic Success

Did you know that nationally, as many as 7.5 million students miss 10 percent of school days in excused and unexcused absences every year? That’s 135 million days of school. As you know, a single missed school day is one a student never gets back. Each time a student misses a day of school, the entire class is affected. Good attendance is important at every grade level. It is important to instill this in children at the elementary level. In our community of partnership, learning and achievement, we work together to make sure all students can reach their academic goals and that begins with daily attendance.

At PA Virtual, we monitor attendance in three ways.

First, our students are required to log into Blackboard every school day, Monday through Friday, to record their daily attendance. We encourage our students to make logging into Blackboard part of their morning routine. Every day at noon, our Family Support Coordinators check attendance. If your child has not logged into Blackboard by noon, we will call and send you an email encouraging you to have your student login for afternoon classes.

Second, if your student is engaged in live, synchronous classes, their teacher will be monitoring their attendance. Our teachers strive to make every lesson rich and engaging. It is essential to your student's academic success to be ready for class each day and to participate in these great opportunities.

Finally, our parents help us track our students' academic hours through the Online School. Students in Kindergarten through 6th grade are required to log 900 total academic hours throughout the course of the school year. Seventh through 12th graders are required to log 990 total academic hours. By tracking your student's academic hours through the K12 Online School, you help our teachers to know how best to support your student's academic goals.

We know your student's academic success is important to you. That's why we will continue to commit ourselves to helping your student make positive decisions that support their academic goals. The simplest decision your student can make is logging daily attendance.