This document from Attendance Works discusses the issue of chronic absenteeism in schools and provides data showing its negative impact on student achievement and graduation rates. It notes that as many as 10-15% of students miss a month of school annually, and in some cities a quarter of students miss that much. Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year and can begin as early as preschool. The document presents data linking chronic absenteeism to lower test scores and higher dropout rates. It also provides strategies and recommendations for improving attendance at multiple levels from universal approaches to targeted interventions.
America’s education system is based on the assumption that barring illness or an extraordinary event, students are in class every weekday. So strong is this assumption that it is not even measured. Indeed, it is the rare state education department, school district or principal that can tell you how many students have missed 10 percent or more of the school year or in the previous year missed a month or more school − two common definitions of chronic absence.
Kinvolved - Connecting families, schools, and communities through real-time d...Kinvolved
Kinvolved connects families, schools, and communities through shared, real-time student data to improve student achievement. Johns Hopkins University research proves that attendance, behavior, and course performance predict high school graduation by sixth grade. Developed based on these findings, Kinvolved's portfolio of technology tools allow stakeholders to share student data that inform appropriate rewards and interventions. The Kinvolved attendance tracker, currently available, allows teachers and leaders to easily record attendance, immediately alerts families of absences/lateness via SMS/email, and analyzes data to identify trends in student behavior. Kinvolved's family, school, CBO, and student workshops, available in person, virtually, or with pre-designed tools, support the technology's effectiveness and impact. Visit www.kinvolved.com to learn more.
America’s education system is based on the assumption that barring illness or an extraordinary event, students are in class every weekday. So strong is this assumption that it is not even measured. Indeed, it is the rare state education department, school district or principal that can tell you how many students have missed 10 percent or more of the school year or in the previous year missed a month or more school − two common definitions of chronic absence.
Kinvolved - Connecting families, schools, and communities through real-time d...Kinvolved
Kinvolved connects families, schools, and communities through shared, real-time student data to improve student achievement. Johns Hopkins University research proves that attendance, behavior, and course performance predict high school graduation by sixth grade. Developed based on these findings, Kinvolved's portfolio of technology tools allow stakeholders to share student data that inform appropriate rewards and interventions. The Kinvolved attendance tracker, currently available, allows teachers and leaders to easily record attendance, immediately alerts families of absences/lateness via SMS/email, and analyzes data to identify trends in student behavior. Kinvolved's family, school, CBO, and student workshops, available in person, virtually, or with pre-designed tools, support the technology's effectiveness and impact. Visit www.kinvolved.com to learn more.
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"Parents are partners" is a common phrase we hear at many colleges. But what does that mean? And where do you start?
CampusESP presented on this topic at MSACROA with Cyndy Hill, Director of Penn State's Parent Programs and suggested 5 strategies based on parent engagement data:
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Two major policy initiatives now include chronic absence as an accountability measure for schools in California, the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and California’s Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF). This session will feature Attendance Works,the nation’s leading expert on chronic absence, California education policy leaders, and school health experts who will provide an overview of the accountability measures, how they can be used to reinforce the importance of health for attendance, and how school-based health providers can support efforts to address chronic absence.
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7. 90% and even 95% ≠ A
High Levels of ADA Can Mask
Chronic Absence
7%
12% 13% 13%
15% 16%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
A B C D E F
Chronic Absence For 6 Elementary Schools
in Oakland, CA with @ 95% ADA in 2012
% Chronic Absence
7
98% ADA = little chronic absence
95% ADA = don’t know
93% ADA = significant chronic absence
20% 20% 20% 21%
23%
26%
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
A B C D E F
Chronic Absence for 6 Schools in New
York City with 90% ADA in 2011-12
% Chronic Absence
8. Truancy (unexcused absences)
Can Also Mask Chronic Absence
8
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Numberof Chronically Absent
Versus ChronicallyTruant Students
San Francisco Unified School District
# chronic absentees - 2010-2011
# students missing 10 days unexcused (as of May 16th 2011)
9. Sporadic – Not Just Consecutive –
Absences Matter
• A 407 alert is issued when a student misses 10 consecutive days or 20 days over a
40 day period. It misses more sporadic absence.
• 1 out of 5 elementary school children were chronically absent.
Source: Nauer, K. et al, Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families, Center for New York City
Affairs New School, Oct 2008
New York City Schools (2008)
9
10. Nationwide, as many as 10-15% of students (7.5 million)
miss nearly a month of school every year. That’s 135
million days of lost time in the classroom.
In some cities, as many as one in four students are
missing that much school.
Chronic absenteeism is a red alert that students are
headed for academic trouble and eventually for dropping
out of high school.
Poor attendance isn’t just a problem in high school. It can
start as early as kindergarten and pre-kindergarten.
10
Chronic Absence:
A Hidden National Crisis
11. The Campaign for Grade-Level Reading is focusing
on three challenges to reading success that are
amenable to community solutions:
• The Readiness Gap: Too many children from
low-income families begin school already far
behind.
• The Attendance Gap (Chronic Absence): Too
many children from low-income families miss
too many days of school.
• The Summer Slide (Summer Learning Loss): Too
many children lose ground over the summer
months.
11
The Campaign for
Grade-Level Reading
12. 12
Starting in preK, chronic absence affects learning and
school readiness. Attendance matters most for the
children who enter the farthest behind.
Analyses control for prior preschool experience, race, gender, neighborhood poverty and social status, special education status, ELL status, and
program type. Missing data points represent values with fewer than 30 students.
13. 13
Students with more years of chronic absenteeism,
starting in preK have lower 2nd grade scores
* Indicates that scores are significantly different from scores of students who are never chronically absent, at p<.05 level; **p<.01;
***p<.001
Some risk
At risk
14. 64%
43% 41%
17%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
No attendance risks Small attendance risks Moderate attendance risks High attendance risks
Percent Students Scoring Proficient or Advanced on 3rd Grade ELA
Based on Attendance in Kindergarten and in 1st Grade
Students Chronically Absent in Kindergarten and
1st Grade are Much Less Likely to Read Proficiently
in 3rd Grade
No risk Missed less than 5% of school in K & 1st
Small risk Missed 5-9% of days in both K & 1st
Moderate risk Missed 5-9% of days in 1 year &10 % in 1 year
High risk Missed 10% or more in K & 1st
Source: Applied Survey Research & Attendance Works (April 2011) 14
15. The Long-Term Impact of Chronic Kindergarten
Absence is Most Troubling for Poor Children
40
42
44
46
48
50
52
0-3.3% in K 3.3 - 6.6% in K 6.6-10.0% in K >=10.0% in K
Average
Academic
Performance
Absence Rate in Kindergarten
Reading
Math
Source: ECLS-K data analyzed by National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
Note: Average academic performance reflects results of direct cognitive assessments conducted
for ECLS-K.
5th Grade Math and Reading performance by K attendance for children living In poverty.
Academic performance was lower even if attendance had improved in 3rd grade.
15
16. 16
Multiple Years of Elementary Chronic Absence
= Worse Middle School Outcomes
Oakland Unified School District SY 2006-2012, Analysis By Attendance Works
Chronic absence in 1st
grade is also associated
with:
• Lower 6th grade test
scores
• Higher levels of
suspension
Years of Chronic Absence in Grades 1-5
Increase in
probability of
6th grade
chronic
absence
Each year of chronic absence in elementary school is associated with
a substantially higher probability of chronic absence in 6th grade
5.9x
7.8x
18.0x
17. The Effects of Chronic Absence on
Dropout Rates Are Cumulative
17
With every year of
chronic
absenteeism, a
higher percentage
of students
dropped out of
school.
http://www.utahdataalliance.org/downloads/ChronicAbsenteeismResearchBrief.pdf
18. Poor Attendance Is A Problem Across Income;
But Even More Important For Students In Poverty
18
Presentation to: The Interagency Council for Ending the Achievement
Gap November 7, 2013, CT State Dept of Education.
19. 0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
55-60 60-65 65-70 70-75 75-80 80-85 85-90 90-95 95-100
9th Grade Attendance Rate
Student Attendance and Postsecondary Success in
Pittsburgh Public Schools
(Source: Pittsburgh Public Schools)
Graduation Rate Postsecondary Enrollment Rate Postsecondary Persistence Rate
Emerging data suggests good
attendance = more success in college
19
20. 20
Why Are Students Chronically Absent?
Myths
Absences are only a
problem if they are
unexcused
Sporadic versus
consecutive absences
aren’t a problem
Attendance only
matters in the older
grades
Barriers
Lack of access to
health care
Poor
transportation
No safe path to school
Aversion
Child struggling
academically
Lack of engaging
instruction
Poor school climate
and ineffective school
discipline
Parents had negative
school experience
21. Hope
for a better future
+
Faith
that school will help you or your child succeed
+
Capacity
Resources, skills, knowledge needed to get to school
21
Going to School Every Day Reflects…
23. Increased Attendance Involves a 3-Tiered
Approach that Fits with Most Reform Efforts
A small fraction
of a school’s
students
Students who were chronically
absent in prior year or
starting to miss 20%
or more of school
Some
of a school’s
students
Students at risk for
chronic absence
All of
a school’s
students
All students
in the school
Recovery
Programs
Intervention
Programs
Universal/Preventive
Programs
High
Cost
Low
Cost
23
24. Variation Across Schools Helps Identify
Good Practice and Need for Intervention
Chronic Absence Levels Among Oakland Public Schools
(2009-10)
24
25. Students
& Families
Schools
Actionable
Data
Positive
Messaging
Capacity
Building
Shared
Accountability
Is accurate, accessible,
and regularly reported
Expands ability to
interpret data and work
together to adopt best
practices
Conveys why building a
habit of attendance is
important and what
chronic absence is
Ensures monitoring &
incentives to address
chronic absence
Community District
Ingredients for System-wide
Success & Sustainability
Strategic partnerships between
district and community partners
address specific attendance
barriers and mobilize support for
all ingredients 25
28. Key Message #1: Good attendance helps children
do well in school and eventually in the work place.
28
Key Messages
29. Key Message #2: Absences add up. Excused and
unexcused absences result in too much time lost in
the classroom.
29
Key Messages
30. Key Message #3: Chronic absence, missing 10
percent of the school year or more, affects the whole
classroom, not just the students who miss school.
30
Key Messages
31. Key Message #4: We need to monitor how many days
each student misses school for any reason — excused,
unexcused or suspensions — so we can intervene early.
31
Key Messages
32. Key Message #5: Chronic absence is a problem we
can solve when the whole community, including
parents and schools, gets involved.
32
Key Messages
33. Key Message #6: Relationship building is
fundamental to any strategy for improving student
attendance.
33
Key Messages
34. Key Message #7: Reducing chronic absence can
help close achievement gaps.
34
Key Messages
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
%
of
Active
Students
Grade Level
% Chronically Absent Students By Ethnicity
2011-12 School Year
African
American
Asian
Latino
White
35. Chronic Absence =
The Warning Light On A Car Dashboard
• Ignore it at your
personal peril!
• Address early or
potentially pay more
(lots more) later.
• The key is to ask why
is this blinking? What
could this mean?
35
The Parallels
36. www.attendanceworks.org
Attendance Works
Hedy Chang, Director
hedy@attendanceworks.org
Cecelia Leong, Associate Director
cecelia@attendanceworks.org
Phyllis Jordan, Communications Lead
phyllis@attendanceworks.org
301.656.0348
Sue Fothergill, Senior Policy Fellow
sue@attendanceworks.org
Elise Dizon-Ross, Manager, Research & Development
elise@attendanceworks.org
Editor's Notes
Unpacking attendance terms is critical because the word attendance encompasses multiple measures – each of which mean something different. If we aren’t clear about which attendance measure we are using, we can easily get confused and think we are talking about the same thing when we are not. Here are three of the most common measures. The first is ADA– which refers to the % of students who show up to school every day. It is often used for funding because it helps us know for example –how many desks do I need in my school in order to accommodate the typical number of students who show up every day. The second term is truancy – which typically refers only to unexcused absences. But, keep in mind truancy is defined differently across states In Maryland for example it is missing 20% of the school year due to unexcused absences. In California, it is a child who misses any 3 days without a valid excuse or is late to class by 30 minutes 3 times. In California, this low truancy figure triggers a note home so that parents know their child has been missing school. In many state, truancy is missing 10 days without an excuse. Regardless of the definition, truancy is typically used to begin identifying when a student may be breaking state compulsory education laws and to trigger the beginning of legal intervention. Chronic absence is a new term that Attendance Work has been promoting. It is based upon research. And, shows when has a child missed so much school that they are academically at risk.
Likewise, it is important to recognize the limitation of monitoring average daily attendance. Let’s say for example, you have a school with 200 students. If 190 show up to school – that is 95% attendance. But the 10 students who missed school that day are not the same 10 kids throughout the year. 95% attendance could be masking the fact that there are 60 students -- each of whom is missing about a month of school. . It all depends whether absences are due to most students missing a few days or excessive absences among a small but still significant minority of students. This slide shows variations in chronic absence across elementary schools in Oakland – all of whom had 95 – 95.5% Average Daily Attendance .
Here is a comparison of chronic absence and truancy – kids who missed 10 days without an excuse by near the end of a school year in San Franiisco. Take a look at kindergarten. chronic absence identified twice as many students than if they only looked at the truancy data.
Another reason chronic absence is overlooked is children don’t always miss too much school because of consecutive days of absence. Rather they miss – for example– one day every two weeks – which might be harder to track especially given the large size of classes these days. But these sporadic absences can still add up to too much time of lost instruction.
In New York, they were surprised to see chronic absence had been masked by the 407 process which had been created to address concerns about child abuse when a child– Nixmary Brown had been found dead in the basement. At the time, everyone asked didn’t anyone at school notice. The 407 alert is important– but it is not the same as identifying students at academic risk because they’ve missed too much school.
Its profound impact on early learning is why chronic absence is considered one of the 3 key pillars of the comprehensive approach to reading at 3rd grade espoused by the Campaign for Grade Level Reading -- along with reducing the gap in school readiness and reducing summer learning loss. This strategy offers ways for communities to partner with schools to move the needle on 3rd grade reading – even while longer term efforts to improve the quality instruction of classroom instruction take place.
Note– this is often where I will do the reading gap exercise in Bringing Attendance Home.
So, children who enter preschool with lower prior knowledge are more likely to be absent more, and the more they are absent, the lower their scores are. You can see this by the steeper slope of the blue curve at the bottom. The kids who need it the most too often get the least….
*** This is a group that schools than focus on intervening with. We know that these are more disadvantaged students, but here is a specific indicator – whether they are chronically absent (particularly once they move from prek into K) that schools that use to focus their outreach efforts.
See the stair step pattern. Every year of absence correlates with lower achievement. By the end of 2nd grade.. The kids with persistent chronic absence are in need of serious reading intervention.
This research conducted on a cohort of 640 students in San Mateo and Santa Clara offers evidence that chronic early absence can profoundly affect early school success. The bar on the far right shows only 17% of students chronically absent in both kindergarten and 1st read proficiently at the end of 3rd grade as compared to 64% of students who missed 5% or less of school in both K and 1.
In any case, what we know is that that when children are young – it is children in poverty, who don’t have the resources to make up for time lost on task, who are affected most profoundly. In addition, children in poverty are more likely to face the kind of barriers– poor transportation, unstable housing or homelessness, lack of access to health care, etc. that cause children to be chronically absent for more than 1 year. This data suggests that we are losing some children as early as kindergarten. And, if they missed so much school that they aren’t reading by the end of 3rd grade, then even though attendance improves– they still fall behind or can’t catch up because they can’t read to learn. These children are likely to be the hardest to reach and help.
This shows why we need to start tracking chronic absence as early as possible. WE fo und that being chronically absent in 1st grade was associated with 5.8 – nearly six times higher chronic absence in 6th grade. Lower test scores and higher suspensions. If a child was chronically absent any three years– then they had 18 times higher levels of chronic absence!! There are other kids who fall off track in middle or high school– something happens even though they did OK in elementary school that results in their not showing up regularly. But the kids who are most expensive to bring back – we possibly lost in K and 1st – and because we were looking at truancy- -we didn’t notice that they or their families needed our help. We missed the opportunity to interrupt chronic absence before– they are so far behind and already feeling that school is not a place where they can succeed.
Do you know what the single highest predictor of chronic absence is? It isn’t race, it isn’t income – it is prior year chronic absence. I am not saying that going to school will ensure that you will do well. It is only half the battle. But I am saying not showig up is a sure fire indicator of risk.
This is data from Utah– by middle school – chronic absence is sure fire indicator of drop out across students of all backgrounds. They found just one year of chronic absence – anytime between 8th and 1st grade -was associated with 3 times higher levels of drop out . Two years– and over half dropped out.
-How much better? Dark blue= % of students that graduate within 4 years, green enroll in college within 12 months, red persist from year 1 to year 2 of college
-Major things that jump out: hitting that 80% mark is huge (keep in mind, that’s 2 months/year)- doubles your chances of graduating
-hitting that 90% is huge, too: go from 70 to almost 90%
The good news is that chronic absence is a solvable problem. But knowing what will do the trick– requires understanding what leads to a student not coming to school. There are three major kind of reasons that students don’t go to school. It starts not with not making assumptions but taking the time to find out why a student or students are missing school . And, we have found it helpful to think about the possibilities in these big buckets. (Then go through some of the issues)
Remind people that aversion isn’t always a big issue.. Among young children, aversion may be a matter of separation anxiety– the nervousness that a young child feels if he or she is going to be cared – for the first time- -by someone who isn’t a family member. What by the way– do you think kids say when they are nervous or anxious about going to school? Mommy, I have a stomach ache… So then sometimes you make think this is a barrier related to health– when the issue is really aversion.
By the same token- it is important to keep in mind aversion can reflect much more serious systemic challenges such as poor school discipline policies that are pushing students out of school. Do you realize some places still, for example, suspend students for being truant?
Data combined with the insights of student and families can help you understand what are the causes of absences. If chronic absence is concentrated in a neighborhood - -see if there are safety or transportation issue. Or find out if chronic absence is correlated with high levels of asthma and families not feeling secure about the ability of school to deal with an asthmatic attack. If chronic absence is concentrated in a classroom– it could be a matter of poor and boring instruction. Or, perhaps a teacher struggling with a bullying issue and in need of support.
We think of going to school as reflecting whether families feel a sense of Hope in a better future, Faith that going to this school or being with this teacher will get you to a better future and capacity – the resources, knowledge to ensure your child gets to school every day.
If absenteeism is a big problem, it is important to understand where this might be breaking down. Is the problem a lack of Hope? For example, if a child lives in a violent community and they had a family member killed– hope could be a real challenge. In that case, then you need to find those inspiring examples– those community members that made it out of the violence who can help give the child and family hope that they too could have a better future. On the other hand, we also need to be careful that our interaction with families don’t cause families to lose hope or faith. Say for example, you have a family that lives in the poor end of town– but they believe so much in their child’s future that they are sending them to the better school across town… but public transportation keeps failing them. They are often late or don’t get there. If someone confront the family about the situation with a statement like how come you don’t care enough about school to get your child here on time? It will erode their faith that the school cares about their child and will help them attain a better future.
At same time, we know schools and communities can understand why kids aren’t in school and turn attendance around when they implement these five strategies with fidelity. How schools carry them out can be tailored to their own realities and strengths.
Then – I go through and offer examples of what each one of these might look like. I also clarify that recognizing good and improved attendance isn’t just providing perfect attendance awards for a semester or year– which doesn’t help to motivate improvement among the students with the most problematic attendance.
Improving attendance requires a 3 tiered approach. The challenge is that too many schools and communities are failing to invest in the first two tiers of universal and preventative. The strategies we just outlined– help to ensure an investment in the bottom two tiers – recognizing good and improved attendance as well as parent and student engagement are part of universal approaches. Personalized early outreach ensures intervention happens early. Investing in these bottom tiers is both more effective and less costly. And, if schools don’t, then the top of the pyramid becomes easily becomes overwhelmed.
Looking at data district wide is essential because it shows where we need to intervene because levels are extremely high. Consider the 9 elementary, 4 middle schools and 9 high schools with over 20% of their students who are chronically absent!! Something needs to happen differently in the schools.
At same time, we know schools and communities can understand why kids aren’t in school and turn attendance around when they implement these five strategies with fidelity. How schools carry them out can be tailored to their own realities and strengths.
Then – I go through and offer examples of what each one of these might look like. I also clarify that recognizing good and improved attendance isn’t just providing perfect attendance awards for a semester or year– which doesn’t help to motivate improvement among the students with the most problematic attendance.
If your district could use help with this work or would like to be kept informed of the latest tools and strategies, please encourage your superintendent to sign on to our Call to Action. If they do, they and their designated contacts, will automatically receive emails with resources and we create materials aimed at helping district administrators.
We also would like Superintendents to sign on – because it helps us make the case to state and federal officials that addressing chronic absence is an issue that has support and traction on the ground. It helps us advocate that they should help to provide needed capacity building and technical assistance resources.
Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this overview. We encourage you to refer to our web-site for additional resource or feel free to contact any member of the Attendance Works team. We appreciate your interest and commitment to improving student attendance so very child has the opportunity to learn, succeed and thrive.
