Migrant Children Miss School as Families Are Scattered Across the City
Documented | “It is critical to create a stable environment for the kids,” said Jennifer Pringle, the director of the learners in temporary housing project at Advocates for Children, an organization focused on children’s access to education. “Not knowing where you’re going to go day to day, where you’re going to be — you can imagine, it’s going to be difficult for the kids to engage in learning with that hanging over your head.”
Advocates note that even missing a few weeks of school can be detrimental, especially for young children. Chronic absenteeism, which is measured as missing 10% or more of the school year (which is about three and a half to four weeks of school), is associated with various negative educational outcomes, Pringle said. “Those early years in school are really critical in terms of learning early literacy skills, learning how to read,” Pringle said, noting that many of the migrant children have already had gaps in their formal education. Lee el artículo