Never Late Nate: An Attendance Superhero

Around 1 in 4 Baltimore City pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students are chronically absent, meaning they miss 10% or more of the school year (Baltimore Student Attendance Campaign (November 1, 2011). Opportunity Scan: Attendance in the Early Grades (PreK-3)). Chronic absenteeism in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten can predict lower test scores, poor attendance and retention in later grades. (Attendance Works. Attendance in the Early Grades.)

Unfortunately, few tools exist to raise awareness of the importance of attendance in the early grades and to support students and parents in building healthy attendance habits.

When students in Wide Angle Youth Media’s Design Team learned about the shockingly high absenteeism rate among Baltimore’s youngest learners, they felt compelled to do something about it. Their solution? Kid friendly attendance superheroes, Never Late Nate and Never Late Kate.

Never Late Nate is a campaign created by the Wide Angle Design Team in collaboration with students, teachers, and non-profits. To insure the success of the campaign, students in the Design Team read articles on the importance of school attendance in the early grades, brainstormed ideas, explored best practices for kid-friendly design, created student personas, met with teachers and early childhood experts, and conducted a focus group with pre-kindergarten students.

Our Never Late Nate toolkit below includes a short animated series, a free Never Late Nate game, an attendance activity book, and downloadable resources such as classroom posters and daily checklists.