NPR Ed – Elissa Nadworny
“At 7:30 a.m. Monday through Friday, you’ll find Mark Gaither standing on Gough Street in southeast Baltimore. He’s outside Wolfe Street Academy, the neighborhood elementary school where he’s the principal. Gaither has a huge umbrella in case it rains, and thick gloves for when it snows. He’s here each morning to greet students and families as they come to school — which should make for at least 225 “good mornings.” This daily greeting is one part of the school’s strategy to fix chronic absence and turn around what was once a failing school. Absenteeism will be front and center today at the U.S. Department of Education, which hosts an online summit on strategies to combat chronic absence.”(more)