Student Attendance and Academic · PDF fileStudent Attendance and Academic Achievement ... Any...
Transcript of Student Attendance and Academic · PDF fileStudent Attendance and Academic Achievement ... Any...
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?
Washington State Board of Education
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.
Washington State Board of Education
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.
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
Second Important Idea
Attendance rates and patterns differ by student characteristics.
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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.
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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
Washington State Board of Education
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.
Washington State Board of Education
Contact Information
Please contact [email protected] if you have questions or comments about this work.
Washington State Board of Education