september 14, 2026

Attendance affects school & life

You want your teen to start this school year off on the right foot. So, make it clear that you expect your student to attend and participate in each class.

When students skip classes, they are often thinking only about getting themselves out of some work. What they need to know is they may be keeping themselves out of much more—including future opportunities.

Attending class is not just about today, this grading period or even this school year. It’s an investment in your student’s future.

Encourage your teen to keep these things in mind:

Advanced classes and programs your teen may want to try in years to come may reject students who are known to skip class. Your teen must maintain a record of being a responsible student who shows up to class every day and on time.
Unexcused absences may be included on your teen's permanent school record, for colleges and prospective employers to see.

If your teen faces obstacles that make attendance a challenge, let the school know. Work with the teachers and the administration to find solutions.

review the rules as the school year begins

As your teen begins a new academic year, have a conversation together about rules. Make it clear that rules are necessary to create a safe and positive learning environment. Talk to your teen about:

Obeying school rules. Familiarize yourself with the school rules. Make sure your teen knows them, too. Say that you expect your teen to follow school rules and accept the consequences for breaking them. If you disagree with a rule or policy, discuss it with school administrators, but do not encourage your student to break it.
Following family rules. You may also be establishing new rules and expectations to accommodate changes in family schedules and situations, so review the rules at home, too. Discuss and agree on what the consequences will be if your teen breaks them.

Teens with families who establish rules and set boundaries are less likely to engage in risky behavior and more likely to have positive relationships with their parents. So, talk about rules now and set the stage for a great year.

support your teen's school success

No matter what challenges and accomplishments lie ahead for your student this year, having your support and encouragement will make a difference. Research shows that families of successful students:

Engage with their teen's education. These families keep doing many of the things they did when their students were younger. They are tuned-in to their teens' courses and progress. They monitor assignments and encourage their teens to take responsibility for learning.
Are aware of their teens' activities. It’s important for families to know where teens are going, who they’ll be with, and when they’ll be home. This is especially true for the hours students may be home alone while adults are at work.
Communicate with their teens. Whether it’s talking about issues like health, safety, drugs and dating, or having a conversation about values and beliefs, successful students’ families keep the lines of communication open.

When families do these three things, teens do better academically. They earn higher grades. They also report that they feel happier, safer and more stable.

persistence gets the job done

Few qualities will serve students better in school and life than sticking with a job until they have done their best. Success happens most often to people who do not allow themselves to become discouraged.

Here are some ways you can teach this very important lesson:

Talk about perseverance with your teen. Offer this reminder: We all make mistakes. What matters is that we learn from them and move forward.
Encourage positive self-talk. Saying things like “I am going to make it through this,” really does help a person keep going.
Praise progress and completion. When you see your teen working hard, make an encouraging comment, such as, “You’re really coming along with that!” When a tough task is complete, say, “That job wasn’t easy, but you kept at it. Well done.”
Suggest small rewards for hanging in there. Your teen might plan to take a short break or read something for pleasure after completing a tough task.
Be a role model. Pick a job that you’ve been putting off. Mention it your teen. Then say, “Today I am going to sit down and stay with this until I get it done.” Keep your word.

short works can motivate reluctant readers

By the time they are teens, most students can read … but many of them don't. Too many teens never learn to see reading as something they can do for fun.

Pleasure reading is an important way students can strengthen their reading skills. To help your teen get more out of reading for fun:

Suggest short works—collections of short stories or poems, for example. If your teen doesn't like one poem or story, it's OK to move on to another. There's no rule that says your teen has to read every story in the collection.
Encourage a routine. Ask your teen to commit to spending at least 20 minutes a day reading. Reading requires some patience—especially works in unfamiliar voices or styles.
Encourage your teen to keep reading once started. Some teens stop to look up every word they don't know and soon lose any understanding of what the overall text is about. Unless a word reappears often and your teen can't understand it, suggest just jotting an unfamiliar word down and continuing to read. Later, your teen can look up the meanings of those words.
Suggest skipping prefaces and other introductory material by other authors. These can sometimes be long and confusing. Your teen can go back and read them after finishing the main text of the book, when they will make more sense.
Look for other books by writers your teen likes. Your student may also enjoy reading biographies of favorite authors.

encourage your teen to communicate with teachers

Sometimes, your teen may want to approach a teacher to discuss an issue or ask for help. But your student may not be sure how, or what to say. If this is your teen's first year in the school, talking with teachers may feel a bit intimidating.

Remind your teen that teachers are eager to hear from students who are trying to do better in class. Few things are more important to a teacher than knowing a student is truly interested in learning the subject. If your teen isn’t sure how to communicate an issue well enough during class time, encourage speaking with the teacher directly.

If your teen is unable to talk to the teacher before or after class, suggest emailing the teacher and asking to set up a time to talk.

What should your teen say? Depending on the issue, your teen may want to ask questions like these:

Can you recommend a resource (other than the textbook) that can help me understand the lesson?
Can you explain this concept in a different way?
If you had to study for our upcoming test, how would you do it?
I have an idea for extra credit. Will you tell me what you think?

encourage belief that success is possible

The best kind of self-confidence comes from accomplishment. When your teen thinks about the school year to come, challenges may come to mind first. To help your student have the courage to face them, reinforce that your teen can succeed in school. Stress the benefits of having an education. Say that accomplishing learning goals will boost your teen's confidence.

Then, try these ideas with your teen:

Point to mentors and examples. No one is more important to your teen than you are. But teens benefit from knowing other people who believed in their own ability, worked hard and experienced the pride that comes with school success.
Help your student set specific goals. Saying “I will do better in school” only goes so far. Teens need to quickly experience evidence to back up these words. Your teen should set specific, small, short-term goals and gradually work up to bigger ones. A small goal: I will do all my assigned reading this week. A bigger one: I will bring up my next test grade by one letter.
Talk often about the benefits of completing high school. High school graduates have more job options—and better job options—than dropouts. They also have the chance to pursue further education, including college, technical school and training programs, that will further increase their options. This is a difficult task without a high school diploma.

Brought to you by:

Gwinnett County Public Schools

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