America’s Public Schools are on their Last Legs
The proportion of students attending a school with ‘chronic absenteeism’ has doubled since pre-pandemic times...
PUBLIUS SPECIAL GUEST: Robert Bortins, is the CEO of Classical Conversations, which supports classical, Christian homeschoolers in all fifty states and in thirty foreign countries.
Teachers might be saying “Bueller? Bueller? Bueller?” more these days as school absences rise nationwide.
The proportion of students who go to schools with high or extreme levels of chronic absenteeism jumped from 26% in the 2017-2018 school year to 66% in 2021-22 school year, according to an analysis of government data from Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University and Attendance Works. It’s not just one day of pretending to be sick while watching Judge Judy; to be considered chronically absent, a student has to miss at least 10% of school days. During the most recent surveyed year, about 14.7 million students (or 29.7%) fell into this category.
Pre-pandemic, absenteeism issues were largely based in high school, but this new research shows the crisis is now hitting elementary and middle schools—evidence of the pandemic's toll on the school system, if you ask Hedy N. Chang, executive director at Attendance Works. It’s “a sign that the positive conditions of learning, that are critical to motivating students to attend, have been eroded at school,” Chang tells Fortune.
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ABOUT CC: Classical Conversations is a proven Christian homeschool program created by parents for parents. We do this through a Christ-centered and family-friendly approach to homeschooling that makes everything biblical and hospitable, focused on three simple key areas: Classical, Christian and Community
BIO: Chief Executive Officer of Classical Conversations, Inc. is a job that Robert Bortins was born to…literally. Dissatisfied with the education options she found as a new mom, Leigh Bortins decided first to homeschool her four sons, and then decided to develop her own curriculum, with Robert, her oldest son, as her first pupil.
Then, in 1997 Leigh began teaching a once-a-week, classical-model rhetoric program in the basement of her home with Robert and 10 of his friends. Classical Conversations’ Challenge I program was born, and a service of home-centered educational options for parents began. From kindergarten through high school, Leigh home-educated Robert and his three younger brothers.
Fast forward a few years, and Robert earned a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Clemson University in 2006. After graduating, he worked as a management trainee for UPS and as a plant engineer for Easy Gardener, a Jobes company. In 2011 he returned to the family business, Classical Conversations, Inc., to develop a marketing program. He was then appointed CEO of the family-owned company in 2012. In the years since Robert Bortins became CEO of Classical Conversations, the company has grown by 300 percent and become the world’s largest classical homeschooling organization.
Robert is a member of the board of directors of Homeschool Now USA, the Carolinas Rugby Union and the Clemson University Rugby Foundation Board. He is also a member of C12 Group, the largest professional development network of Christian CEOs and executives. Under Robert’s leadership, Classical Conversations has been named a Certified Best Christian Workplace by BCWI for four years in a row. Robert and his wife, April, live in Southern Pines with their two young children and a third on the way in May of 2020. In his free time Robert enjoys coaching rugby and playing golf.
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Robert Bortins, is the CEO of Classical Conversations, which supports classical, Christian homeschoolers in all fifty states and in thirty foreign countries.