Absenteeism in Tennessee schoolsAbsenteeism in Tennessee schools Mary BatiwallaMary Batiwalla Office...

Absenteeism in Tennessee schoolsMary Batiwalla

Office of Research and Policy

Agenda

Absenteeism definitions Absenteeism in the state Chronically absent students Lost instructional time due to disciplinary

action The relationship between attendance and

student outcomes

3

Absenteeism definitions

Definitions of terms Absent: Student is marked not present at school, for either

unexcused or excused reasons. According to the state attendance policy, a student who is absent for half of the school day should be marked absent.

Excused absent: A student is absent due to excused reasons. This usually requires documentation. However, what constitutes an excused absence is determined by district policy*.

Unexcused absent: A student is absent due to unexcused reasons. District policy defines an unexcused absence*.

Chronic absenteeism: absence rate greater than 10%.In a 180-day school year, a student is missing more

than 18 days.

*Excused or unexcused absences are a matter of local school board policy as long as the local policy is not in conflict with state law, State Board of Education Rules, Regulations and Minimum Standards and the Student Membership and Attendance Accountability Procedures Manual. (NOTE: See School Approved Activities Section D-104 and B-105)

5

Absenteeism in the state

On average, Tennessee students missed 8 days of school last year.

P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

Excused Unexcused

Aver

age

num

ber o

f abs

ence

s

Each bar represents a grade level.

Attendance has been stable across the last six school years.

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 201490%

91%

92%

93%

94%

95%

96%

97%

98%

99%

100%

94.3% 94.4% 94.5% 94.7% 94.4% 94.5%

95.1% 95.1% 95.1% 95.4%95.0% 95.2%

92.4%93.0% 93.0% 93.0% 93.0% 93.0%

All grades (P3-12) K-8 HS

Att

enda

nce

Rate

8

However, the attendance rate hides the fact that some students are missing a lot of school.

P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

16.1%

23.6%

12.6%

10.1%8.6% 7.9% 8.2% 8.7%

10.2%11.6%

12.8%

16.0%17.6%

19.4%

25.4%

Perc

ent o

f chr

onic

ally

abs

ent s

tude

nts

Each bar represents a grade level.

9

Chronically absent students

Some student subgroups are overrepresented in the chronically

absent student population.

All White Black Hispanic ED Not ED ELL SWD0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

14%

16%

18%

20%

13.1%12.2%

17.1%

10.5%

17.5%

6.9%8.3%

16.7%

Perc

ent

of s

tude

nt s

ubgr

oup

that

is c

hron

ical

ly a

bsen

t

About half of chronically absent students in the 3rd and 9th grades have been chronically absent for multiple

years in a row.

3rd graders n=6,045 9th graders n=12,6420%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

51.4% 50.3%

20.5% 22.6%

7.9% 11.0%

20.2% 16.1%

1 year 2 years 3 years 4 or more years

Perc

ent o

f chr

onic

ally

abs

ent

stud

ents

Students missing two or more days in August are five times as likely as

their peers to be chronically absent.

Less than two days

Two days Three days Four or more days

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

8.7%

31.4%

45.9%

67.0%

Perc

ent o

f stu

dent

s w

ho a

re c

hron

ical

ly a

bsen

t

13

The percent of chronically absent studentsdiffers substantially across districts.

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Perc

ent o

f chr

onic

ally

abs

ent s

tude

nts

Each bar represents a district.

14

Lost instructional time due

to disciplinary action

15

Disciplinary actions are actions that result

in the removal of a student for more than half of an instructional day.

In school suspension: The student was removed from his or her regular classroom and assigned to an in-school suspension program for 10 or fewer days.

Out of school suspension: The student was removed from his or her regular classroom and barred from school grounds for 10 or fewer days and did not receive educational services.

Expulsion: The student was expelled from all school district settings, for more than 10 days, with total cessation of educational services.

Change of Placement: The student was assigned to another school facility or program (for more than 10 days) that allowed him/her to continue to participate in the general curriculum at a school setting.

16

On an average school day, about 5,000 Tennessee students are absent from their classroom due to a disciplinary

action.

Average dis-ciplinary ac-

tion

In School Suspension

Out of School Suspension

Explusion0

5

10

15

20

25

30

2.6 1.7 3.1

25.2

Ave

rage

num

ber o

f ins

truc

tiona

l da

ys m

isse

d pe

r dis

cipl

inar

y ac

tion

17

The vast majority of students receive disciplinary actions

due to violation of school rules.

84.5%

7.4%

1.7% 1.3% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9%

Violating rulesFightingBullyingThreatAssault of studentTheftPossession/Use drugsOther

18

The type of disciplinary action differs by the disciplinary reason.

All

Violating rules

Fighting

Bullying

Threat

Assault o

f student

Theft

Possessi

on/Use dru

gs0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

ISS OSSExplusion Change of Placement

Perc

ent o

f stu

dent

s

19

The number of instructional days missed varies by the disciplinary reason.

Violating r

ules

Fighting

Bullying

Threat

Assault o

f stu

dentTheft

Possessi

on/Use

drugs

02468

101214161820

2.2 3.3 3.16.3 4.9 3.2

18.8

Num

ber o

f ins

truc

tiona

l day

s m

isse

d

20

In 2013, one in four 9th graders experienced at least one disciplinary action.

P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

Perc

ent o

f stu

dent

s w

ith

a le

ast

one

disc

iplin

ary

actio

n

Each bar represents a grade level.

21

The relationship between attendance and student

outcomes

22

As absences increase in freshman year, the likelihood that a student will

graduate on time decreases.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%93.5%

89.9%84.5%

77.8%71.4%

65.9%

50.2%

Perc

ent o

f coh

ort g

radu

ating

on

time

23

Students are less likely to score a 21 or higher on the ACT if

they are chronically absent.

Not chronically absent Chronically absent0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

38.1%

19.0%

Perc

ent o

f stu

dent

s sc

orin

g a

21 o

n th

e A

CT

24

Even when we control for prior achievement, chronically absent

students are less likely to score a 21 or higher on the ACT.

Not chronically absent Chronically absent0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

35.6%

25.3%

Perc

ent o

f 2nd

qua

rtile

stu

dent

s sc

orin

g a

21 o

r hig

her o

n th

e A

CT

25

Students who are chronically absent score proficient or advanced on math TCAP at much lower rates than their

peers.

Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

16.1%

33.3%

29.1%

21.5%

33.2%

38.5%

19.8%

8.5%

All Chronic

Perc

ent o

f stu

dent

s

26

Takeaways

Students are missing lots of instructional time, especially in P4 and high school.

Attendance rates mask the issues the state and some districts are having with chronic absenteeism.

About half of chronically absent students are chronically absent for two or more years in a row.

Students who miss school early in the year are very likely to chronically absent.

Students lose considerable amounts of instructional time due to disciplinary actions.

Absenteeism has a negative relationship with student success on achievement measures.

27

Appendix

28

Disciplinary action disparities across student

groupsNote: The following slides focus only on 9th graders. However, these trends are similar across all grades.

29

Some student subgroups are overrepresented in student population with at least one disciplinary action.

All 9th grade

students

White Black Hispanic ED Not ED ELL SWD Male Female 0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

40%

45%

50%

25.4%

17.6%

45.9%

30.1%

35.9%

13.1%

32.5% 32.8%30.2%

20.3%

Perc

ent

of s

tude

nt s

ubgr

oup

wit

h at

leas

t on

e di

scip

linar

y ac

tion

30

Black students make up 25% of the 9th grade student body across the state

but more than 80% of expulsions.

9th Gra

de Racial/E

thnic Dist

ribution

Any Disc

ipline

In school S

uspensio

n

Out of s

chool S

uspensio

n

Explusio

n

Change of Place

ment0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

25.4%45.8% 41.3%

57.9%

80.7%

37.2%

5.6%

6.7%7.1%

6.4%

4.6%

2.4%

66.9%

46.3% 50.2%34.9%

13.7%

60.0% OtherWhiteHispanicBlack

Perc

ent o

f Stu

dent

s

31

Black females receive about one more day of out of school suspension for fighting compared to white males.

Suspension

Non-black males

Black males Black femalesNon-black females