The Anchorage School Board has announced its first-ever incentive program throughout the district for students who show up to class every day.
Anchorage School District Superintendent Ed Graff says the board made the decision to try using incentives after reviewing data that proves student success rates are directly correlated with attendance.
"We think with a more robust policy from the school board, as well as incentives and a greater concentration and focus on getting students in the classroom, we're gonna see even greater results from attendance -- which, we know, will lead to increasing student achievement," Graff said.
It's part of the school board's attempt to help reach 90 percent attendance for all students for Destination 2020, a multi-year plan to increase student achievement by the year 2020.
The plan focuses on drawings for major prizes, to be held among students who have perfect attendance. Lithia Motors, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and communications provider GCI have donated items like a laptop computer, plane tickets, a trip to Disneyland for four -- and even a Jeep Patriot for one lucky ASD junior or senior.
Anchorage School Board President Tam Agosti-Gisler says the prizes are split into several categories.
"Kindergarteners who have no unexcused absences, their name will be entered in a drawing for a trip to Disneyland; for fifth and sixth graders, there's also a trip to Disneyland -- and for all grades K through 6, there's a potential of winning a Mac computer," Agosti-Gisler said. "At the high school level it gets even more lucrative."
ASD says over the last two years, less than 60 percent of high school seniors met the goal of attending school 90 percent of the time, meaning they'd missed more than 17 days of school each of those two years.
"Looking at our attendance data, we recognize that we have challenges with our students being in school," Graff said. "And reflecting on our data over the last year, we found that 11 out of our 13 grades saw marked improvement with our students' attendance, just in the brief time that we implemented Destination 2020."
Graff says that while the incentive program may play a role in raising attendance, getting students to school is ultimately a partnership between the district and the families it serves.
"We really believe that education is a shared responsibility, and we know that the first teacher is usually the parent," Graff said. "And so, working closely with our community agencies in working to demonstrate the importance of the school experience -- and the value that comes from having a student attend school on a regular basis -- is essential."
A Jeep Patriot will be parked at each of Anchorage's high schools during registration.
Contact Samantha Angaiak