Brightmoor Education Alliance Team
A sixth-grader with poor attendance is 75% more likely to drop out of high school than other students.
There is as much as a 50 percentage-point difference in the graduation rates of students who miss 0 to 5 days of school compared to those are absent 15 or more days.
The Brightmoor Education Action Team (BEAT) is one of two offshoots of the Present! in Brightmoor Attendance Movement. The other is Every School Day Counts Detroit (ESDCD), a coalition of several organizations focused on getting rid of Chronic Absence.
BEAT is a part of the 482forward coalition that focuses on building a network of activists fighting policy changes for schools that improve the equity and outcomes for children. Based upon a year-long listening campaign, BEAT has identified trauma as a significant barrier to children's educational attainment. Moreover, Adverse Childhood Experience Syndrome (ACES) and toxic stress were learned to be important ways that trauma contributes to the struggles fo our students and their parents. This TED talk by Dr. Nadine Burk Harris is a great introduction to this phenomenon.
Currently BEAT meets normally once a month on the third Monday at 6pm at City Covenant Church; however due to the COVID-19 restrictions, meetings are being reworked. Still, please join us. You can indicate your interest by completing our interest form, and we will get your information to Ms. Dawn Wilson Clark, the team lead for BEAT.