Transcript Slide 1

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Director, Hedy Chang, [email protected]
www.AttendanceWorks.org
REVISED January 2011
The 3 As School Success
Framework
• Attendance Every Day
• Achievement Every Year
• Attainment Over Time
Developed by Annie E Casey Foundation & America’s Promise Alliance
For more info go to
www.americaspromise.org/parentengagement
Chronic Absence: missing 10% or more of
school over an academic year for any reason.
Research shows 10% is associated with declining
academic performance. No standard definition
exists.
Severe Chronic Absence: missing 20% or more
of school over an academic year for any reason.
Satisfactory Attendance: missing 5% or less
over an academic year for any reason.
Truancy: refers only to unexcused absences.
Average Daily Attendance: the percent of
enrolled students who attend school each day.
When is Attendance
Problematic?
Chronic Absence
(=> 10% absence)
Warning Signs
(<10% but > 5%
absence)
Satisfactory
Attendance
(=<5% absence)
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Myths to Dispel
#1: Attending Kindergarten doesn’t
really matter for academic success.
#2: Missing school isn’t a big problem
until middle or high school.
#3: Most educators monitor chronic
absence
#4: Because attendance is a family
responsibility, we cannot do anything
to address chronic absence.
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Early Impact on Academics
Chronic K absence is associated with lower
academic performance in 1st grade for all
children, especially reading for Latino children.
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Source: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
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Chronic K Absence
Affects 5th Grade
Among poor children, chronic absence in
kindergarten predicted lower 5th grade
achievement.
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Source: Chang & Romero, 2008
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Poor Attendance Predicts Drop
Out by 6th Grade
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Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium
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By 9th Grade, Attendance Can Predict
Graduation Better than Test Scores
On Time Graduation Correlation to 9th Grade Attendance
Chronic Absence
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Source: Allensworth & Easton, What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools,
Consortium on Chicago School Research at U of C, July 2007
Chronic Absence Can Reach
High Levels
New York City Schools
COMPARING CHRONIC ABSENCE MEASURES PK-12
A 407 alert is issued when 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.
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Source: Nauer K et al, Strengthening Schools by Strengthening
Families, Center for New York City Affair,s New School, Oct 2008
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Most Do Not Monitor
Chronic Absence
• Most schools only track average daily
attendance and truancy. Both can
mask chronic absence.
Chronic Absence Rates Variance
Baltimore School vs with Attendance Rates > 95%
20.00%
16.59%
15.00%
13.19%
14.02%
14.81%
8.85% 8.96%
10.00%
5.99%
5.00%
3.41% 3.48%
0.68%
0.00%
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Most Do Not Monitor
Chronic Absence
• Data rarely used to examine
problematic attendance patterns (e.g.
by classroom, grade, school,
neighborhood or sub-population.
• Individual student attendance is not
required by current federal laws (e.g.
NCLB, RTT).
• Most states do not report on chronic
absence though a few exceptions
exist.
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Schools + Communities
CAN Make a Difference
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Characteristics of Effective Strategies
Partner with community agencies to help parents
carry out their responsibility to get children to school.
Make attendance a priority, set targets and monitor
progress over time.
Examine factors contributing to chronic absence,
especially from parent and student perspectives.
Clearly communicate expectations to parents.
Begin early, ideally in Pre-K.
Combine universal and targeted strategies.
Offer positive supports before punitive action.
Source: Present, Engaged & Accounted For
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A Comprehensive
Programmatic Response
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Begins with Universal Supports
Students
Universal Attendance Supports
•Safe, inviting classroom and school
environment
•Engaging opening activities
•Consistent attendance messages
• Intentional family participation
•Regular, explicit teaching of attendance
expectations and skills
System of Reinforcement
•School-wide incentive systems
• Classroom incentive systems
Parent Communication Systems
•Attendance emphasized in all communications
•Rapid parent contact for unexplained absence
•Positive contact when positive trends noted
Individual Assessment/Community Supports
•Identify barriers and provide support
•Provide mentoring
•Interagency Staffing
•Case management and wrap-around services
Legal Consequences
•Attendance Officer Support
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Adapted from Scott Perry, Attendance Audit, Southern Oregon
Education Service District
For Practice
1.
Create attendance data team to regularly review
patterns of good attendance & chronic absence by
grade, classroom and sub-population.
2.
Offer attendance incentives school-wide.
3.
Educate parents, starting ideally in pre-K, that
attendance matters & encourage them to help
each other get to school.
4.
Reach out to chronically absent students & their
families & find out barriers to attendance.
5.
Partner with community agencies and parents to
promote attendance & address barriers.
6.
Include strategies to improve attendance in
annual school improvement plan.
Policy Implications
1. Track absences for individual students,
starting in pre-K
2. Adopt standardized definition of absence at
local, state and federal level.
3. Include attendance in longitudinal student data
systems.
4. Calculate & report on chronic absence by
district, school, grade & sub-population (along
with other attendance measures). Include in
data dashboards and other electronic
communications.
5. Establish school & district attendance teams to
review data and develop programmatic and
policy responses.
Policy Implications
6. Address chronic absence in school
improvement plans.
7. Offer incentives for schools, educators and
community partners (e.g. preK, afterschool,
etc.) to improve attendance and reduce
chronic absence.
8. Invest in professional development to help
educators recognize chronic absence as an
early warning sign and adopt strategies for
improving attendance.
9. Use chronic absence to guide allocation of
relevant community resources (e.g. pre-K,
health care & insurance, afterschool,
free tax prep & EITC outreach).