It was an exciting day on February 28 at Quail Hollow Middle School with the kick-off of our new Attendance+ initiative! Hugo the Hornet was in the house, along with NBA In-Arena Host Ohavia Phillips, bringing all her energy to get the kids (and the big kids!) all hyped up for this special announcement!

Attendance+ is an innovative new program aimed at combatting the rise in chronic absenteeism in our schools. It is a rewards-based program that incentivizes students, families and teachers to actively engage in learning. Community partners donate resources and incentives, such as tickets to sporting events, museums and concerts, while CIS leverages those incentives to motivate behavioral change to improve overall school attendance.  It will be implemented across the 56 CMS schools in which CIS operates (45 of which are Title I schools). 

Attendance+ is a collaborative effort between CIS and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS), with support from Bank of America, the Charlotte Hornets, and other community partners. 

In support of the Attendance+ program, the Hornets and Bank of America have donated a book vending machine to Quail Hollow Middle School (one of the Title I schools where CIS serves), which will provide another form of student incentives and rewards. The vending machine is coin-operated, and students can receive tokens for meeting individual attendance goals determined by CIS Site Coordinators and school counselors/staff. There will be opportunities for other companies to follow suit to provide similar book vending machines in other CMS Title I schools.

 CMS reports that more than 1 in 4 students (29%) were chronically absent in the 2021-2022 school year, which is more than twice as high as before the COVID-19 pandemic. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year (or about 18 days in an 180-day school year).

“Chronic absenteeism has real-life consequences for students, families and society,” said CIS-Charlotte President and CEO Men Tchaas Ari, “but the good news is, chronic absenteeism can be reduced when the community comes together to intervene and rally around our kids. We are grateful to the many corporate partners who are leaning into this initiative to support our students.”

Join us! If you or your company would like to learn more about participating in Attendance+, please email Tilden Arnold or complete this Google Form.