attendance research team wins trustee character award

the attendance research team, led by dr. christina van barneveld, was awarded the lakehead public schools’ “trustee character award” for their work in developing data templates to illustrate student attendance data for elementary and secondary schools.

members of the attendance research team – christina van barneveld, sophie lis, john loovere, eric fredrickson, andrea pugliese, anika guthrie, rick cicigoi, rebeccah boban and colleen kappel – have developed detailed templates that provide easy access to student attendance data that each school can use to examine areas of need and strength.

“when presented to school staff, the templates spark a valuable conversation about barriers to regular student attendance and the correlates of student absenteeism. data gathered from this research is critical to the ongoing work of school and school board staff to improve student attendance. the work of the attendance research team is a model for the region and has generated interest from other school boards and the ministry of education,” explained lakehead public schools trustee ellen chambers during the presentation of the award.

(pictured below, left to right: heather harris, rick cicigoi, rebeccah boban, sophie lis, christina van barneveld, john loovere, eric frederickson, and anika guthrie. not pictured are team members andrea pugliese and colleen kappel.)