Every morning, the principal of Jefferson City's Lewis and Clark Middle School stands at the front entrance and greets every student. All the teachers stand outside their classrooms and say "good morning" as kids file in.
It sounds insignificant, said Principal Sherri Elliott-Thomas, but atmosphere has a huge impact on student attendance, something the district is working to improve.
"It's eye contact with a lot of adults, so it's easier to tell if someone had a hard morning, and we triage it," she said. "We tell them, "Good morning, we're glad you're here,' every day. Kids are looking for that now, and it sounds like it's not about attendance; but with middle school kids, it's all about relationships."
Faculty met recently to discuss attendance tactics, mostly positive reinforcement to get students excited about coming to school.
Overall, the district scored a 7.5 out of 10 for attendance on the Annual Performance Report, which is collected by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Attendance is one of five scoring categories that make up 140 points possible.
In order to receive the full 10 points, 90 percent of students had to attend school 90 percent of the time. At JCPS, 85.5 percent of student attended school 90 percent of the time or more.
However, the 90 percent rule can be deceiving, as the score doesn't reflect a school's raw data.
At Jefferson City High School, the raw attendance data shows about 93 percent of students are attending class every day, said Principal Bob James. However, on the APR, the school scored 0 out of 10 points because the data shows only 74.6 percent of students attended school 90 percent of the time or more.
A school's ultimate goal is to reach a 97 percent raw attendance rate, which comes down to reaching out to a handful of students who are missing class.
James is kicking off a two-prong approach to up its attendance: in-reach and outreach.
The in-reach includes a slideshow presentation in the cafeteria showing weekly attendance rates, "attendance matters" posters displayed throughout the school and community, or students using a high attendance rate to pay for a school dance ticket.
The outreach includes getting the community and businesses involved in sending a message about the importance of attendance.
"We have a small portion of students that are chronically absent," James said. "I can't teach a student that's not here, but if they're here, I have a chance."
Low attendance isn't just associated with laziness, he said. Some students are facing socio-economic boundaries that make it emotionally or physically difficult for them to come to school.
James said he's had students who didn't come to class because they didn't have clean clothes or felt self-conscious because they hadn't gotten a haircut in a while.
The school does whatever it can to help their students in need. School isn't just about learning; it's about helping close the gap for impoverished students. Making them feel welcome and comfortable in school improves their attendance and affects their grades and tests scores in return.
When James started at the high school this year, he made a point of arranging two people to be part-time truancy officers. The officers send letters home to students who have several absences and do home visits if necessary.
The officers have even given students rides to school to ensure they come.
At Lewis and Clark, every grade level has a 30-minute celebration with music and snacks at the end of January. Elliott-Thomas tries to bring in the high school dance or cheerleading team so students can see what their older peers are involved in.
They have a monthly grade level attendance competition and an honors awards assembly recognizing students with 95 percent attendance or better.
The school has also held Blazer Court every Thursday since 2005. Supreme Court Judge Mary Russell meets with at least nine students every week for a semester to talk about their attendance, tardies, missing assignments and behavior.
"I'm coming in with my robe on, and I present a different voice on why (attendance) is important," Russell said. "I'm not saying anything different than the principal or teachers, but I'm someone on the outside and a different figure of authority, so they might listen."
Elliott-Thomas said the students enrolled in Blazer Court usually see gains in attendance. The students with the highest continued improvements gets to visit Judge Russell at the Supreme Court and she reads off their name as a graduate of Blazer Court.
Elliott-Thomas said the positive reinforcement methods are an attempt to get the students to school before referring them to juvenile court.
At East Elementary, Principal Julia Martin gives the class with the highest attendance a trophy, and the weekly attendance rates are posted outside each classroom.
"Attendance is awarded monthly for students with perfect attendance," she said. "I tell them a famous baker has made cookies and I pull 10 to 20 names out of a hat for cookies. Really, it's just me bringing them in, but they get excited about it."
Some of the classrooms spell out "attendance" by flipping over one letter for each day every student attends class. After they spell out the whole word, the class has a celebration.
"It's a little peer pressure for some," she said. "If you're sick, we understand, but we want you to make an effort."
Two years ago, the school also hired a social worker, who addresses attendance issues at the school. Students who are missing a lot of school have a letter sent home. If poor attendance continues, the social worker does a home visit to see if anything can be done.
In the last several years, Martin said she's seen huge gains in attendance.
However, attendance can be difficult to enforce.
James said one issue with Missouri's attendance law is that it's non-specific. The law only says students have to "regularly attend" school. There aren't any days associated with what "regularly attend" means.
Based on DESE's 90 percent attendance rule, that means students can miss nine days of school a semester and still be within the 90 percent attendance 90 percent of the time.
"That's a lot of missed school," James said.
A chronic attendance problem at the high school is defined as missing more than nine days a semester, but there isn't a number that lawfully holds parents or students accountable to attending school, he said.
"What's disappointing (about the law) is, "What does that mean?'" James said. "It makes it hard for authorities to enforce that."