Transcript Slide 1

A Webinar Presentation:
Voices School Readiness and School Success
Advisory Committees
________________________________________
Presenters:
Hedy Chang, Elizabeth Burke Bryant,
Charlie Bruner, Jack Kresnak, and Brad Strong.
[email protected]
www.chronicabsence.net
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 Parent
Engagement Toolkit
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Chronic Absence: missing 10% or more of school
over the course of an academic year for any reason.
Research shows 10% is associated with declining
academic performance. No standard definition exists.
Good Attendance:missing 5% or less over the course
of an academic year for any reason.
Truancy: refers only to unexcused absences and is
defined by each state, according to NCLB.
Average Daily Attendance: the percent of enrolled
students who attend school each day.
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Myth 1
Attending Kindergarten
regularly doesn’t really
matter.
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Reality: Chronic K Absence
Affects Academics
Chronic K absence is associated with lower academic
performance in 1st grade for all children, especially
reading for Latino children.
Source: National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP)
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Reality: Chronic K Absence
Affects Academics
Among poor children, chronic absence in
kindergarten predicted lower 5th grade achievement
Source: National Center for Children In Poverty
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Reality: Poor 6th Grade
Attendance Predicts Drop Out
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Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium
Myth 2
We don’t need to worry about
large numbers of students
missing school until middle or
high school.
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Reality: Chronic Absence Can
Reach High Levels
Nationwide, 1 out of 10 K & 1st graders are chronically
absent. (Source: NCCPP)
Chronic early absence can be even higher in some
localities. (Across 9 districts, ranged from 5% to 25% of K3 graders). (Source: Present, Engaged & Accounted For)
Chronic Early Absence Across Localities
30.0%
26.7%
25.0%
22.7%
20.0%
17.4%
15.0%
13.79%
12.9%
12.0%
10.0%
8.6%
6.0%
5.4%
5.0%
0.0%
%
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Locality
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Chronic Absence Levels in New York City Schools
COMPARING CHRONIC ABSENCE MEASURES PK-12
Note: 407 is issued when student misses10 consecutive days or 20 days
over a 40 day period.
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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Reality: Chronic Early Absence Can
Reach High Levels
• Education of all children can be adversely affected
when teachers divert attention to meet the needs of
chronically absent children.
• Addressing chronic absence can improve ADA which
would increase resources available to all students.
• Chronic early absence could be a sign to intervene
before problems are more entrenched.
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Myth 3
Most educators regularly
monitor when students are
chronically absent.
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Reality: Most Do Not Monitor
Chronic Absence
• Schools typically only track data on average daily
attendance and truancy (unexcused absence).
• But both can mask chronic absence.
• Especially in the early grades, children are not
likely to be home without the knowledge of an
adult who can call in to say they will be absent.
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Reality: Most Do Not Monitor
Chronic Absence
• Even if schools ID truant or chronically absent
students, data is rarely used to examine
problematic attendance patterns (e.g. by
classroom, grade, school, neighborhood or subpopulation).
• Educators may overlook sporadic vs. consecutive
absences.
• Absences/attendance are not always built into
longitudinal student data systems. ( Not required
by the America Competes Act or NCLB.)
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Myth 4
Because families are ultimately
responsible for children getting
to school every day, schools
can’t do anything to address
chronic absence.
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Reality: 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 chronic absence a priority, set attendance targets
and monitor progress over time.
Examine factors contributing to chronic absence,
especially from parent perspective
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
A Comprehensive Programmatic
Response
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Tailored Approaches are Most
Effective
1.
When chronic absence occurs in the early years,
consider the role that schools, families and
communities each might play in contributing to and
addressing attendance.
2.
As children grow older, pay more attention to issues
affecting youth as well (e.g. boredom in school,
family responsibilities, peer pressure.)
3.
Key factors contributing to chronic absence can vary
by community.
4.
High levels of chronic absence suggest systemic
challenges affecting the school or community.
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IMPLICATIONS FOR
ACTION
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At School Level
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 that attendance matters starting in
Kindergarten & encourage families 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 resources (i.e. afterschool, preschool
and health programs) to promote attendance & address
barriers.
6.
Include strategies to improve attendance in annual school
improvement plan
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At District Level
6.
Create incentives for schools and administrators to improve
attendance and reduce chronic absence.
7.
Invest in professional development around using chronic
absence as an early warning sign.
8.
Invest in outreach counselors to support attendance work.
9.
Encourage community and public agencies to target
relevant resources to schools with high chronic absence
levels.
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At District Level
1.
Track absences electronically.
2.
Calculate and publicly report the levels of good
attendance & chronic absence district-wide, by
school, grade and sub-groups.
3.
Ensure underperforming schools with high levels of
chronic absence identify barriers to attendance and
address issue in school improvement plans.
4.
Include good attendance & chronic absence (along
with ADA & truancy) in data dashboards, school
report cards and other forms of electronic
communications.
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At State Level
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1.
Inclusion of absence data in longitudinal student
data base.
2.
State assistance with generating annual reports on
attendance including chronic absence.
3.
Use of federal funds (Race to the Top, School
Improvement Grants) to pay for the addition of
absences to state and local data systems,
professional development on responding to early
warning signs including chronic absence,
formation of school community collaboratives to
improve attendance & achievement.
Part III:
Examples of Taking
Action
Rhode Island, California, Iowa
2010 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook
Chronic Early Absence Indicator
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 During the 2008-2009 school year, 10% of Rhode Island children in grades K-3
were chronically absent (i.e. absent 18 days or more). In Rhode Island’s core
cities, 16% of children in grades K-3 were chronically absent.
 Almost one in four (23%) of Rhode Island children in grades K-3 missed 12 or
more days of school during the 2008-2009 school year.
Statewide Activity – California
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 California Background
 Statewide Longitudinal Data System
 Hurdles - State Mandate Law & Collection/Reporting
 The Chronic Absence and Attendance Partnership
 Statewide Coalition in California
 Broad Representation
Education and Children’s Advocates
 Civil Rights Advocates
 Health, Business and Law Enforcement

Statewide Levers – California
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 Policy and Advocacy Efforts
 IES Statewide Longitudinal Data System - Application
 Race to the Top – Application
 School Improvement Grant – Toolkit
 Education / Communication Efforts
 Legislation – Senate Bill 1357
 Defines Chronic Absence, Enables Statewide Longitudinal Data
System to Collect Attendance Data, Includes Chronic Absence
Reporting in “Annual Report on Dropouts in California” and
establishes intent to create an “Early Warning System” – contingent
on funding & voluntary reporting
 Passed California State Senate
CFPC Experience – Iowa
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 Des Moines Community
Data showing CSA, not ADA, “eye-opener”)
 Relevant to family-centered school work on individual
child basis
 Relevant to school-community dialogue and action in
high absenteeism areas
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 State

Not on the state’s thinking for its longitudinal data
base but state receptive to approach (if simple, annual
measure: days enrolled - days attended)
CFPC Experience – National
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 Federal Institute for Educational Sciences
(longitudinal database) could play regulatory and
technical assistance role on this and on early
childhood data incorporation (and very
approachable)
 Data Quality Campaign could play technical,
educational, and interest group role in supporting,
particularly working with early childhood groups
(and very approachable)
 Voices/Kids Count could play leadership advocacy
role at administrative and Congressional level
(especially around ESEA reauthorization)