________________________________________ Presenters:

Hedy Chang, Elizabeth Burke Bryant, Charlie Bruner, Jack Kresnak, and Brad Strong.

hnchang@earthlink.net www.chronicabsence.net

A Webinar Presentation:Voices School Readiness and School Success

Advisory Committees

The 3 As School Success Framework

• Attendance Every Day

• Achievement Every Year

• Attainment Over TimeDeveloped by Annie E Casey Foundation & America’s Promise Alliance for Parent Engagement

Toolkit

2

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.

Definitions

3

Attending Kindergarten regularly doesn’t really matter.

Myth 1

4

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)

Reality: Chronic K Absence Affects Academics

5

Among poor children, chronic absence in kindergarten predicted lower 5th grade achievement.

Source: National Center for Children In Poverty

Reality: Chronic K Absence Affects Academics

6

Reality: Poor 6th Grade Attendance Predicts Drop Out

Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium7

We don’t need to worry about large numbers of students missing school until middle or high school.

Myth 2

8

Chronic Early Absence Across Localities

17.4%

12.9%

6.0%

13.79%

8.6%

12.0%

26.7%

22.7%

5.4%

0.0%

5.0%

10.0%

15.0%

20.0%

25.0%

30.0%

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Locality%

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 K-3 graders). (Source: Present, Engaged & Accounted For)

Reality: Chronic Absence Can Reach High Levels

9

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

10

• 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.

Reality: Chronic Early Absence Can Reach High Levels

11

Most educators regularly monitor when students are chronically absent.

Myth 3

12

• 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.

Reality: Most Do Not Monitor Chronic Absence

13

• 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 sub-population).

• 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.)

Reality: Most Do Not Monitor Chronic Absence

14

Because families are ultimately responsible for children getting to school every day, schools can’t do anything to address chronic absence.

Myth 4

15

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

Reality: Schools + Communities CAN Make a Difference

16

A Comprehensive Programmatic Response

17

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.

Tailored Approaches are Most Effective

18

IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTION

Part II:

19

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

At School Level

20

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.

At District Level

21

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.

At District Level

22

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.

At State Level

23

Part III: Examples of Taking

ActionRhode Island, California, Iowa

2010 Rhode Island Kids Count FactbookChronic Early Absence Indicator

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.

25

Statewide Activity – California

Califo

rnia

Back

gro

un

d

Sta

tew

ide L

on

gitu

din

al

Data

Syste

m

Hu

rdle

s - Sta

te M

an

date

L

aw

& C

olle

ction

/Rep

ortin

g

Th

e C

hro

nic A

bse

nce

an

d A

tten

dan

ce

Partn

ersh

ip

Sta

tew

ide C

oalitio

n in

C

alifo

rnia

Bro

ad

Rep

rese

nta

tion

Ed

uca

tion

an

d C

hild

ren

’s A

dvo

cate

sC

ivil Rig

hts A

dvo

cate

sH

ealth

, Bu

siness a

nd

Law

E

nfo

rcem

en

t

26

Statewide Levers – California

Policy a

nd

Ad

voca

cy Eff

orts

IES

Sta

tew

ide L

on

gitu

din

al

Data

Syste

m - A

pp

licatio

n

Race

to th

e T

op

– Ap

plica

tion

S

chool Im

pro

vem

en

t Gra

nt –

Toolk

it

Ed

uca

tion

/ Com

mu

nica

tion

E

fforts

Leg

islatio

n – S

en

ate

Bill

13

57

Defi

nes C

hro

nic A

bse

nce

, E

nab

les S

tate

wid

e

Lon

gitu

din

al D

ata

Syste

m to

C

olle

ct Atte

nd

an

ce D

ata

, In

clud

es C

hro

nic A

bse

nce

R

ep

ortin

g in

“An

nu

al R

ep

ort

on

Dro

pou

ts in C

alifo

rnia

” an

d e

stab

lishes in

ten

t to

create

an

“Early W

arn

ing

S

ystem

” – con

ting

en

t on

fu

nd

ing

& vo

lun

tary re

portin

g

Passe

d C

alifo

rnia

Sta

te

Sen

ate

27

CFPC Experience – Iowa

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

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)

28

CFPC Experience – National

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)

29