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AN D R E W PAR R , S TAT E B O AR D O F E D U C AT I O NJ AN U ARY 7 , 2 0 1 5

T U M WAT E R , WAS H I N G T O N

Student Attendance and Academic Achievement

Washington State Board of Education

Three Main Ideas and One Key Question

Idea 1 - Attendance (time with an instructor) is related to educational outcomes

Idea 2 - Attendance rates differ by student characteristics Idea 3 - The current focus is on chronic absenteeism and

truancy…but any absence for any reason is negatively correlated with achievement

Key Question – what is the role of attendance in policy and accountability systems?


Working Definitions

Unexcused Absence: any absence not meeting the criteria for an excused absence

Excused Absence: an absence verified by a parent, guardian, or other adult… (medical, religious/cultural, disciplinary, and others)

Regular Attendance: missing 5 or fewer days per school year Truancy: more than 10 unexcused absences in the school year Chronic Absentee: 18 to 35 absences in a school year Excessively Chronic Absentee: 36 or more absences in a school

year

There is an intuitive connection between attendance and outcomes but minimal experimental - causal evidence.


First Important Idea

Attendance (time with an instructor) is related to educational outcomes.

Let’s take a look at some national data and then some Washington data supporting this relationship.


Florida HSPEAttendance Related to Student Performance

Source: (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012) The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools.

Reading

Math


Baltimore Graduation RatesAttendance Related to Student-Level Outcomes

Source: Baltimore Educational Research Consortium, 2011). Destination Graduation: Sixth Grade Early Warning Indicators for Baltimore City Schools: Their Prevalence and Impact

0

20

40

60

80

100

Less than 10 11 to 19 20 to 39 40 or more

Perc

ent G

radu

atin

g

Days Absent in Sixth Grade

Graduation Rateby 6th Grade Absences


Georgia Graduation RatesAbsences Related to Student-Level Outcomes

J.D. Barge, (2011). Student Attendance and Student Achievement 2011. Georgia Department of Education. Find the full presentation at http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Policy/Pages/Student-Attendance-Improvement.aspx

78.7374.69

64.66

52.33

30.89

0

20

40

60

80

100

0 Days 1 to 5 Days 6 to 10 Days 11 to 14 Days 15 or More Days

4-Ye

ar G

radu

atio

n Ra

te

8th Grade Absences


http://www.gadoe.org/External-Affairs-and-Policy/Policy/Pages/Student-Attendance-Improvement.aspx

Washington Index DataAbsences Related to School-Level Outcomes

0.00

0.25

0.50

0.75

1.00

1.25

1.50

Tier 1 Tier 2 Tier 3 Tier 4 Tier 5 Tier 6

Med

ian

Perc

ent

Unexcused Absence Rate by Index Tier Level

M = 0.33 percent


Second Important Idea

Attendance rates and patterns differ by student characteristics.


Unexcused Absence Rates by ESEA Subgroup

In Washington, the FRL student group shows the highest unexcused absence rate in elementary and middle schools.

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Med

ian

Perc

ent

Unexcused Absence Rateby Subgroup

M = 0.33 percent


Full Day Absences by Subgroupfor Any Reason

Elementary and Middle Schools Elementary and Middle Schools

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Asian White PacificIslander &Hawaiian

Two orMore Races

HispanicLatino

BlackAfrican

American

NativeAmerican

Days

Abs

ent

Average Full-Day Absencesby Race/Ethnicity

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Not SWD SWD Not FRL FRL Not ELL ELL

Days

Abs

ent

Average Full-Day Absencesby ESEA Subgroup


Unexcused Absence Disproportionality

A disproportionality value of zero means that a subgroup contributes the expected percentage of unexcused absences at schools.

A disproportionately high percentage of unexcused absences are attributed to the students qualifying for FRL.

Example: a school comprised of 51 percent FRL students would have 75 percent of the unexcused absences attributed to the FRL group.

In this measure, a negative value is undesirable.

-30 -25 -20 -15 -10 -5 0 5 10

FRL

SWD

ELL

Hispanic/Latino

Native American

Pacific Islander

Two or More

Black/African American

Asian

White

Disproportionality Value


Third Important Idea

Any absence (or lost instruction) for any reason is negatively correlated with achievement but…

Chronic absenteeism and truancy are especially destructive and widespread.


Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy

Elementary and Middle Schools

16 percent of FRL students are chronically absent in elementary and middle school.

High Schools

31 percent of FRL students are chronically absent in high school.

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy for 2013-14 by Subgroup

Truant Chronically Absent

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

High School Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy for 2013-14 by Subgroup

Truant Chronically Absent


Disproportionality based on Poverty Status

51% 49%45%

55%

85%

15%

73%

27%

72%

28%

62%

38%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Elementary-FRL Elementary-NonFRL High School-FRL High School-NonFRL

Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy Disproportionality for 2013-14 by Poverty Status

Students

Truant

Chronically Absent


Real Students at a Real School

“Were you the person responsible for the Chronic Absenteeism and Truancy data Memo set to be featured this week in the January State Board of Education Board meeting? If so I wanted to tell you that your memo was deeply encouraging for me.

I haven’t heard anyone in Washington State discussing these powerful findings on Chronic Absenteeism. It encouraged me to know that the Washington State Board of Education is coming on board with the important focus on Chronic Absenteeism.

When [we] examined the prevalence of Chronic Absenteeism in our school-we were floored! We started the 2014-2015 school year with 83+ students with very concerning attendance patterns: All of which were ‘excused absences by parents/guardians.”

What changed at this school?Washington State Board of Education

Case Study – An I-5 Elementary School

District policy is to initiate formal action in cases of excessive excused absences (20% of school days). The practice below resulted in the identification and close monitoring of 20 students: Close monitoring at 15% excused absences Parent conference and “contract” at 17% excused absences Truancy petition at 20% absences when contract is violated

School policy was put into place to initiate close monitoring of students with 10-15% excused absences The problematic attendance list increased from 20 to 85 students This was 5.6% of the school population to 22.8% of the school population

Under the current intervention plan, 45 of the 85 students (53%) have perfect attendance


Debunking Myths About Student Attendance

Myth 1 - Missing a few days of school each year is normal and doesn’t matter that much. Any absence is negatively associate with academic performance and starts shaping

attitudes about school Myth -2 We don’t need to worry about attendance until middle or high

school. Absenteeism is more prevalent in middle and high school, but it affects large numbers of

younger students. Myth 3 - Most schools already monitor student absences.

When schools and school districts analyze all absences (unexcused, excused, and suspensions) they are often surprised at how many students are missing 10 days or more each school year.

Myth 4 - Because families are ultimately responsible for children getting to school, there’s not much schools can do to improve attendance. Student attendance improves when school staff members, parents, students, health and

social services and others come together to review data, identify issues related to cause and effect, and then develop strategies to improve student attendance.


Contact Information

Please contact [email protected] if you have questions or comments about this work.


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