Chloe Nanos

CIED 1003-901
Article Summary
A New School Year Brings Renewed Focus On Attendance
By Elissa Nadworny
August 30, 2016 4:44 AM
Published on nprEd
This article began by describing the attendance issues that a specific elementary school in
St. Louis faces each year. Students are chronically absent from school, and the principal wanted
to figure out why. By identifying the children that are consistently absent, they figured out that
students were gone because they did not have clean uniforms to wear to school. To fix this
problem, the principal of the school had a few washers and dryers installed in the school and
gave families access to them. Not only did this help the attendance issue, it also made the
families feel more welcome and comfortable in the school. This article also explained that
attendance is an issue in elementary schools across the nation. The author explained that students
who continuously miss class are more likely to fall behind or drop out of school in the future.
The article suggests the solution of making the students and their families feel more comfortable
at the school, as a possible fix to the attendance problems.

Book Summary
Home Advantage: Social Class and Parental Intervention in Elementary Education
By Annette Lareau
Published in 2000
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
This book is reporting and explaining research about whether or not a familys social
class influences their involvement in their students education process. In the book, the author
does confirm that she believes social class does have an effect on involvement in education. This
opinion is proved by a case study between families with students that attend working class
elementary schools and upper middle class elementary schools. The researchers follow several
students over the span of two years while they are in elementary school. The book explains that
the major differences in involvement come from the point of view of the parent. The parents in
the two different types of schools view the teachers job and their job as parents differently.