Student Disengagement & Chronic Absenteeism is now a Global Issue

Contributing factors such as post covid impacts, the digital revolution with technological accessibility leading to digital overload, families in transition, the affordability crisis and more are just a few factors that have lead to student disengagement as well as chronic absenteeism. In many areas student success rates are declining, learning gaps are apparent, and learners are struggling with focus as well as learning retention.

An opportunity is to create targeted school-based interventions for student disengagement and chronic absenteeism by addressing your data pool of students to label the "4 D" underlying factors such as:

Code 1: Disengagement (Learners do not see themselves in school and have lost the relevance of learning)

Code 2: Digital Overload (Students have habits that lead to lack of focus and diminished focus because of overexposure to digital technology such as cell phones, video gaming, social media, and more)

Code 3: Dislocation (Emotional, physical, and/or family upheaval related to transitions, trauma, food insecurities etc.)

Code 4: Deficit or Deficiency (Learning gaps that make school challenging or compounding learning gaps that result in learning deficiencies by being below grade level)

Students often describe the reasons for their absences in relation to chronic exhaustion with the struggle to get up in the morning, ongoing health issues, life events, and/or mental health (anxiety & depression) challenges. Even once students do attend school, they may suffer from issues of disengagement which can manifest as a lack of focus, fatigue/exhaustion, and digital overload whereby they struggle to not only focus but retain information. Schools have the opportunity to support students to tap into 20 qualities or soft skills that can be harnessed towards building habits that contribute to larger health mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

These 20 qualities include-

At Soft Skills Training Center, Dr. Patterson-Sterling (Educator & Counsellor) has transformed these twenty healthy qualities for youth into an engaging program to be used in schools as an intervention to assist with challenges around student disengagement as well as chronic absenteeism. Twenty is an online resource for Educators to use in their Grade 5 to 12 classrooms that includes 20 Qualities of Healthy Youth along with videos, exercises, and individual assessments that helps students to learn a toolbox of skills to deal with mental health stressors, challenges with focus and attention, digital overload, goal-setting, relational resilience, and critical thinking so that they can reengage in their learning as well as thrive while building their futures. This engaging resource includes 60 topics interwoven through six characters' experiences that students can access individually with their own log-in code or as a class through the teacher's copy.

Section 20.1- Contains Targeted Interventions Around Disengagement

Section 20.2- Contains Targeted Interventions & Strategies for Student Digital Overload

Section 20.3- Contains Targeted Interventions & Trauma-Informed Strategies for Students Managing Dislocation

Section 20.4- Contains Targeted Interventions & Strategies for Managing Learning Gaps. (Section 20.4A contains phonic reading exercises to support students obtain literacy or functional literacy if gaps are severe while Section 20.4B contains bonus modules on future planning and resiliency.

How To Integrate Twenty Into Your Classroom

Meet your social/emotional curricular outcomes and core competencies with soft skills training in a fun as well as engaging way for learners grades 5 to 12. Choose any of the 60 Modules with stories to use to explore soft skills training which include:

Build out activities for each module includes:

i) A tip sheet of strategies for each module for class discussion

ii) Goal Bus Plan Activity whereby students in small groups or individually create a story ending to each story by setting goals for the character by also creating challenges as ways to solve character's dilemmas in each section.

*Complete the first two goals above through the Free Teacher copy.

Or purchase individual program account keys for your students so that your students can access each module individually and unlock their own personalized:

iii) Mix It Up Quiz for each module

iv) Personal Reflection and Journal Writing for each module

v) Build out Story Writing for each module

*With individual student copies, students can complete this work individually or in small groups. Also, students can work together on building goal maps for each character story as they learn new soft skills and a toolbox of skills to deal with mental health stressors, challenges with focus and attention, digital overload, goal-setting, relational resilience, and critical thinking.

*Students who have learning gaps or have missed school can also benefit from individual copies as they work through the modules independently or even work on the bonus modules Section 20.4- Contains Targeted Interventions & Strategies for Managing Learning Gaps. (Section 20.4A contains phonic reading exercises to support students obtain literacy or functional literacy with the "Start From the Beginning Reading for Spelling" so that students can address literacy gaps by learning phonetic spelling. Also, Section 20.4B contains modules on future planning and resiliency.

*Instead of scrambling to create work for students who have periods of absences or are dealing with large learning gaps, give them an individual log in code to work through the Twenty program.

Make Twenty part of your schedule by having students in your class complete a section each week on "Motivational Mondays" and finish up with a discussion on "Finalization Fridays." There are many ways to integrate Twenty into your curriculum delivery.

Order your Free Teacher Copy today or order individual copies for your students which include:

- 50 yearly account keys for students ($50 CDN; $36 USD; £27). (Share with a teacher and split the cost)

-100 yearly account keys for your grade/school ($100 CDN; $73 USD; £54)

-Unlimited yearly account keys for your school ($300 CDN; $220USD; £162)

Order Your Free Teacher Copy

As Educators We Can Help...

Support students with digital overload who are disconnecting socially from their peers and school.

Help students get back their focus, soft skill work habits, and manage technological dependence.

Build on inquiry skills by learning how to map out goal setting through the power of stories.

Help young learners reconnect and be present in daily life while planning their future goals.

Help young learners to reconnect back to their why of learning and reclaim back their attendance rates.

Helping Youth Thrive in Education