For many kids, school is more than predictable.

It is safe. It is stable. It is where friendships form, confidence grows, and pathways to opportunity begin.

For kids with sickle cell, school rarely feels that way.

Instead, it often becomes an obstacle course. One shaped by pain crises that arrive without warning, fatigue that makes sitting through a full day exhausting, and hospital stays that pull them out of classrooms just as lessons are building. School continues moving forward, even when their bodies cannot.

Over time, the impact compounds.

Children with sickle cell miss significantly more school than their peers. Many are retained a grade, and research shows that students who experience grade retention are far more likely to disengage from school altogether. Nearly one in three students with sickle cell does not graduate from high school.

These outcomes are not about ability.

They are about access, continuity, and support.

Despite having a chronic medical condition that directly affects learning and attendance, many children with sickle cell do not have an IEP, a 504 Plan, or a health plan that reflects their daily reality. Families are left to explain sickle cell over and over again to teachers and administrators who may have little understanding of how the disease affects learning.

What should be a place of belonging can slowly become a place of stress.

We see children who love learning begin to withdraw. Not because they are incapable, but because school has become another space where they have to fight to be understood.

This is where SickleWell steps in.

The SickleWell Foundation's Education Uninterrupted Campaign is about protecting a child’s right to learn without being penalized for their health. It is about ensuring that sickle cell does not quietly derail a child’s future simply because the right supports were missing at the right time.

What Your Gift Makes Possible

Your support allows us to step in where systems fall short and help children stay connected to learning:

Supporting IEP and 504 planning and advocacy so accommodations reflect real health and learning needs
Providing tutoring and academic support when illness disrupts attendance
Offering school-based awareness resources so teachers and staff know how to support students with sickle cell
Walking alongside families as they navigate the intersection of chronic illness and education

This work is not about extra help.

It is about equity, dignity, and continuity.

Because when education is interrupted again and again, the impact stretches far beyond childhood.

And when education is protected, it becomes a foundation for health literacy, confidence, and long-term opportunity.

Education Uninterrupted

Support School Success for Kids with Sickle Cell

Team Members