Learning Opportunities

Consistent school attendance has become a challenge for many students and families. In fact, American research indicates that chronic absences have doubled (and in some areas tripled!) since the pandemic. While there are no easy solutions, this conference will focus on Alberta trends, challenges, strategies and successes to reconnect students and their families back to school. Following a keynote presentation that highlights the need for strong relational connections, breakout sessions are presented by professionals who are working to re-engage students and their families throughout the province. Our day will end with a 30-minute Call to Action as we use the information gleaned from the day to make a plan for student success.

Keynote Speaker (0830 to 0930)

Making Connections with Students and Families

Debbie Pushor, author of Portals of Promise: Transforming Beliefs and Practices through a Curriculum of Parents and Living as Mapmakers: Charting a Course with Children Guided by Parent Knowledge will open the day by differentiating between “schoolcentric” approaches to student attendance and “family centric” approaches

Key to addressing issues of student attendance is an honest examination of our own beliefs and assumptions about students and families and a focus on looking inward, rather than outward. 

The objectives of this one-hour keynote session will include: 

• explore the possibilities we create when we think vertically as opposed to laterally,
• interrupt the language we use to talk about students and families (e.g. a hard to reach parent vs a parent we do not yet have a relationship with),
• elaborate on what it means to be a “guest host” on a school landscape,
• discuss the importance of extending invitations to students and families with specificity and in multiple ways, multiple times.

Key to addressing issues of attendance and retention is an honest examination of our own beliefs and assumptions about students and families and a focus on looking inward, rather than outward.