ion using an automatic computer program which calls parents daily to notify them of their child's absence; b) a six-day absence notification letter; c) teacher referral of the student to the student affairs office on the fifth consecutive absence; and d) teacher communication with parents via a letter or a telephone call to report excessive, unexcused, or unexplained absences.
Evidence that Thomas Jefferson High School's ninth graders are having a problem regarding student attendance can be seen in the fact that while the overall student attendance rate during the 1995-1996 school term was 91.6 percent, the attendance rate of the ninth grade class was only 86.6 percent. In addition, of the 500 students comprising the 1995-1996 class of ninth graders at Thomas Jefferson High school, approximately 140 (28%) were retained at their current grade level; this represented the highest school-wide rate of retained students in all of the four student groups compri
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