Kids Who Skip School Are Tracked By Gps - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet printable pdf download

Vale Middle School Reading Article

Kids Who Skip School are Tracked by GPS

Instructions: COMPLETE ALL QUESTIONS AND MARGIN NOTES

Read the following article carefully and make notes in the margin as you read.

Your notes should include:

o Comments that show that you understand the article. (A summary or statement of the main

idea of important sections may serve this purpose.)

o Questions you have that show what you are wondering about as you read.

o Notes that differentiate between fact and opinion.

o Observations about how the writer’s strategies (organization, word choice, perspective,

support) and choices affect the article.

Your margin notes are part of your score for this assessment.

Student ____________________________Class Period__________________

Notes on my thoughts,

Kids Who Skip School are Tracked by GPS

reactions and questions as I

read:

ANAHEIM – Frustrated by students habitually skipping class, police and school officials in

Anaheim are turning to GPS tracking to ensure they come to class.

The Anaheim Union High School District is the first in California to test Global Positioning System

technology as part of a six-week pilot program that began last week, officials said.

Seventh- and eighth-graders with four unexcused absences or more this school year are

assigned to carry a handheld GPS device, about the size of a cell phone.

Each morning on schooldays, they get an automated phone call reminding them that they need to

get to school on time.

Then, five times a day, they are required to enter a code that tracks their locations – as they leave

for school, when they arrive at school, at lunchtime, when they leave school and at 8 p.m.

The students are also assigned an adult coach who calls them at least three times a week to see

how they are doing and help them find effective ways to make sure they get to class on time.

Students and their parents volunteer for the monitoring as a way to avoid continuation school or

prosecution with a potential stay in juvenile hall.

"The idea is for this not to feel like a punishment, but an intervention to help them develop better

habits and get to school," said Miller Sylvan, regional director for AIM Truancy Solutions.

The GPS devices cost $300-$400 each. Overall, the six-week program costs about $8 per day for

each student, or $18,000.

The program is paid for by a state grant. Students who routinely skip school are prime candidates

to join gangs, police say.

Because schools lose about $35 per day for each absent student, the program can pay for itself

and more if students return to class consistently, Miller said.

It has been well received in places like San Antonio and Baltimore. Where the GPS technology

Kids Who Skip School Are Tracked By Gps - Middle School Reading Article Worksheet