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Increasing Student Achievement by Focusing on Student Attendance

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Comprehensive High Schools 3 Academies/Specialty High Schools 2 Middle Schools 8 Elementary Schools 20 Early Childhood Schools - 3 A portrait of Irving Independent School District

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Irving Independent School District 2013 2014 Total student enrollment 35,259 13% African American 72% Hispanic 10% White 5% Other Economically Disadvantages 81% At-risk 70% Enrolled in Bilingual/ESL 39% Attendance Rate 2013 2014 95.7%

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Attendance Success Initiative (ASI) Replaced and commercial program used by the district in years past Eleven administrators selected to pilot the program Instructional leaders Parent/student advocates Experienced in the community Program rationale Instructional implications Average Daily Attendance (ADA) Changes in truancy law

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Attendance Success Initiative (ASI) Housed on campuses throughout the district Supervised by campus operations Caseload selection process All levels Pk-12 Students with attendance 60 89% At-risk of failure, retention, and dropping out ~150 kids per manager Free to travel and conduct home/community visits as needed Open communication with campus principals

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Distinctly different from truancy officers Prevention vs. punishment Incentives vs. consequences Parent and student support Access to administrative resources and tools Technology Global access (grades, attendance, facilities, demographics) Customized reports Dashboard Attendance Success Initiative (ASI)

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ASI Dashboard

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ASI Pre and Post Cognos Report

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ASI Six Weeks District Report

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Based on our 2 nd period ADA

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From an instructional lens, by paying attention to second period attendance what were we missing? Attendance Success Initiative (ASI)

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Avoid Smokescreens Looking at overall campus percentages can give a false sense of security.

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Current Campus Attendance Rates Campus NameCurrent Attendance % Bowie Middle School 96.85% Crockett Middle School 97.44% Travis Middle School 97.11% Lamar Middle School 97.54% Austin Middle School 97.65% Houston Middle School 97.49% DeZavala Middle School 97.45% Johnson Middle School 97.44%

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MAJOR QUESTIONS How are attendance issues really impacting instruction? Are we missing RTI opportunities? How does RTI fit into early student attendance trends? How can isolating attendance issues improve student performance?

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Data Trends Lets look at our sample campus file. Note the impact that attendance has on the various courses represented. What do you notice?

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Attendance Trends Johnson Middle School Sample Campus File 1

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Attendance Trends Travis Middle School

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Why is this important? Too many of our students are slipping...

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Why is this important? Gaps in knowledge must be bridged.

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The STAAR & AYP Connection Index 1 & Index 2 Student Groups The Growth Measure Level II Scores & Level III Scores Required Improvement Student Groups The Growth Measure Math, Reading, Participation AYP

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The STAAR & AYP Connection 4 Student Groups 1.Special Education 2.Economically Disadvantaged 3.Limited English Proficient 4.Hispanic

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An AYP Example

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An AYP Example Hispanic Group Needed 84% to Meet Standard 83% of the Tested Students Met Standard Missed Required Improvement by 7 Students

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An AYP Example Seat Time Missed On the referenced campus... 140 Periods worth of seat time has been missed in Read 6, ELAR 6, ELAR 7, ELAR 8 (combined) already in 1 st 6-weeks.

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A STAAR Example Index 1

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A STAAR Example Index 1 Cont. Seat Time Missed: ELAR227 Periods Math80 Periods Science82 Periods Social Studies27 Periods All Combined = 416 Periods of Seat Time Missed

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Lost in Transition

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The Effects of Attendance Improvements

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What is your school-wide plan?

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Comments & Questions How does this information change the way we look at the impact of attendance?

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Recommendations for next year Need to keep your ADA period in mind when.. Working the master schedule Consider STAAR and EOC tested subjects Look at student habits and schedule on individual basis Senior outs may need to change some schedules if they cant get to their 2 nd pd class Continue to monitor student attendance, pay attention to why students are absent to their ADA period

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Recommendations for next year Re-educating students and parents about being in school at least 90% We do this by. Back-to-school meetings talk about attendance policy and the 90% rule Not good enough just to pass your classes need to be in school 90%, a.k.a seat time APV policy attendance policy violation and consequences Last option - going to court for non-attendance

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Recommendations for next year Attendance procedures need to be understood by all Teachers need to understand the importance and impact of ADA before school year starts Attendance is a school wide effort everyone needs to own this as well as speak the same language Attendance clerks need to code properly Attendance must be at the forefront with staff, students and parents must be present to win

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Recommendations for next year Attendance staff must communicate vertically Transitions must be managed- elementary students going to middle school and middle school students going to high school Each campus should share information with the receiving school regarding all student issues including attendance Plan meetings during the current school year to include parents, students and current year teachers to discuss needed interventions for the coming year

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Other Added Values McKinney Vento Homeless Program Project Pass Connect with the community Bring assistance to students F/R lunch, clothing, laptops, transportation Face of the district we do home visits to verify their living situation and to see if they qualify Continue to make home visits throughout the year

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Other Added Values The HOME VISIT Very powerful tool log all of our visits Cant get in contact with parents Truancy Dropout recovery Courtesy visit for the campus, verify address McKinney Vento Most important we go to the parents in most cases they dont expect that we will do a home visit

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Attendance Initiatives Parent and Student Conferences review attendance and grades Making parents aware of attendance laws, getting credit and going to court Attendance Contract Attendance Tracker Make personal phone calls to students in the morning Text students using Google Voice All of our contacts are documented in eSchool

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Resources www.attendanceinstitute.org Dr. Elaine Allensworth UChicago CCSR

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Comments & Questions

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