§ 22-12A-2. Definitions

As used in the Attendance for Success Act: A. “ absent ” means not in attendance for a class or school day for any reason, whether excused or not; provided that “absent” does not apply to participation in interscholastic extracurricular activities; B. “ attendance improvement plan ” means a tiered data-informed system for public schools and school districts to identify students who are chronically or excessively absent and to aid public schools in developing whole-school prevention strategies and targeted interventions. Each of the tiers is defined as follows: (1) “ whole school prevention ” means universal, whole-school prevention strategies for all students, including students who have missed less than five percent of classes or school days for any reason; (2) “ individualized prevention ” means targeted prevention strategies for individual students who are missing five percent or more but less than ten percent of classes or school days for any reason; (3) “ early intervention ” means interventions for students who are missing ten percent or more but less than twenty percent of classes or school days for any reason; and (4) “ intensive support ” means interventions for students who are missing twenty percent or more of classes or school days for any reason; C. “ attendance team ” means a group of school-based administrators, teachers, staff, other school personnel and community members who collaborate to implement an attendance improvement plan; D. “ chronic absence rate ” means the percentage of students, in the aggregate and disaggregated by the subgroups required for reporting pursuant to the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, in a public school and a school district who have been enrolled for at least ten days and who have missed ten percent or more of school days since the beginning of the school year; E. “ chronically absent ” or “ chronic absenteeism ” means that a student has been absent for ten percent or more of classes or school days for any reason, whether excused or not, when enrolled for more than ten days; F. “ excessively absent ” or “ excessive absenteeism ” means a student who is identified as needing intensive support and has not responded to intervention efforts implemented by the public school; G. “ excused absence ” means absence from a class or school day for a death in the family, medical absence, religious instruction or tribal obligations or any other allowable excuse pursuant to the policies of the local school board; H. “ interscholastic extracurricular activities ” means those activities sponsored by a public school or an organization whose principal purpose is the regulation, direction, administration and supervision of interscholastic extracurricular activities in public schools; I. “ local school board ” includes the governing body of a charter school; J. “ medical absence ” or “ medically absent ” means that a student is not in attendance for a class or a school day for a parent- or doctor-authorized medical reason or the student is a pregnant or parenting student; K. “ school day ” means a portion of the school day that is at least one-half of a student's approved program; L. “ school district ” includes a charter school; M. “ school principal ” includes the head administrator of a charter school; and N. “ unexcused absence ” means an absence from a class or school day for which the student does not have an allowable excuse pursuant to the Attendance for Success Act or policies of the local school board.