GROVE HILL — The Clarke County Board of Education received updates on efforts to boost student attendance and on Jackson High School’s plans to improve ACT scores at its Aug. 25 meeting.
The Attendance Problem
The school system’s Anna Traweek discussed the district’s efforts to address chronic absenteeism and truancy, emphasizing the connection between regular attendance and academic achievement.
“When students miss school, they miss instruction,” Traweek said. “They also miss interventions that we provide for our students who may be struggling and they miss opportunities to succeed.”
Under the state’s accountability measures, 18 or more missed school days constitutes chronic absenteeism — regardless of whether the absences are excused or unexcused.
That threshold is worth understanding clearly, because it surprises many parents. A student with a documented medical reason for every absence still counts as chronically absent at 18 days. The measure is built around instructional time lost, not fault.
A Broad Approach
Traweek said the district is using a wide-ranging approach involving schools, parents, mental health coordinators, nurses, teachers, juvenile court, law enforcement and other community partners.
The presence of nurses and mental health coordinators on that list points to something districts have increasingly recognized: chronic absence is frequently a symptom rather than a behavior. Untreated health conditions, anxiety, transportation instability and family crises account for a substantial share of missed days, and none of them respond to enforcement alone.
September Emphasis and New Levers
Clarke County plans to place additional emphasis on attendance during September, which is Attendance Awareness Month.
The district will tie attendance and behavior information to students seeking to obtain driver’s licenses or learner’s permits, and will work to identify attendance problems earlier rather than waiting until the end of the school year, Traweek said.
Linking driving privileges to school attendance is a mechanism Alabama law provides, and for high school students it is among the more effective levers available — a consequence that matters immediately to a 15- or 16-year-old in a way that a letter home does not.
The shift toward earlier identification addresses the structural weakness in most attendance systems. A student who reaches 18 absences in April has already lost the instruction; a system that flags the pattern in October still has most of the year to change it.
Jackson High’s ACT Plan
Jackson High Principal Dr. Charles Alford outlined the school’s ACT strategic plan, an initiative he has used for several years to improve student performance on the college entrance exam.
The school plans to make ACT test day, scheduled for March 16, a major event. Alford said the school will provide breakfast for juniors, station fire trucks outside and bring in community support to emphasize the importance of the test.
Treating a standardized test like a home game is a deliberate strategy. Test performance is affected by how seriously students take the exam, and a school that surrounds test day with visible community investment is signaling to juniors that the results matter to more people than themselves.
Data, Meetings and Goals
Alford said teachers and students are being encouraged to understand their individual data and set goals for improvement.
The school holds regular meetings Monday through Thursday, with teachers meeting for approximately 30 minutes to discuss ways to improve instruction.
Paying for Point Gains
The school has established several incentives. Students who demonstrate effort on the test can earn a trip to tour the University of South Alabama.
Students who increase their scores by at least three points in any of the five ACT sections can earn $10 per section, with a maximum of $50 per student.
Alford said Jackson High School paid out more than $2,000 in incentives last year.
That figure is informative in itself. At a maximum of $50 per student, $2,000 represents a meaningful number of students posting three-point section gains — the program is producing measurable movement rather than paying out to a handful of high performers.
The Report Card Target
The school’s goal is to reach an 82 on the state report card, which Alford said would represent an eight-point increase and would be the highest score Jackson High has recorded.
An eight-point gain on the state report card is a substantial target. The composite draws on academic achievement, growth, chronic absenteeism, graduation rate and college and career readiness — which is why the attendance work Traweek described and the ACT push Alford outlined are not separate initiatives so much as two inputs into the same measure.
Other Business
The board approved renewing the Alabama Association of School Boards’ general liability and errors and omissions liability coverage for 2026-27 for $1,000.
The board approved bills and accounts totaling $1,134,435.31 and payroll totaling $2,070,273.76.
Superintendent Ashlie Flowers recognized Grove Hill Elementary School for receiving recognition from Alabama State Superintendent Eric Mackey after the school’s overall ACAP scores in English language arts and math exceeded the state proficiency averages.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of the Clarke County Board of Education is Sept. 10 at 4 p.m., and will include a public hearing on the proposed fiscal year 2027 budget.