There is wide agreement that chronic school absence jeopardizes student performance and predicts dropout (Neild and Balfanz 2006; Allensworth and Easton 2007). Research suggests that the reverse might also be true: that a positive relationship can exist between school attendance and academic success. However, few studies have confirmed this assumption. For example, Roby (2004) demonstrated a strong, positive relationship between student achievement as measured by the
Ohio Proficiency Tests and annual building attendance averages. And Lamdin (1996) showed that students with better attendance score higher on achievement tests than their more frequently absent peers. But Borland and Howsen (1998) argued that Lamdin’s results were biased because of his failure to include measures of student innate ability and competition in the analysis of student performance. Attendance is associated with school and family factors as well, such as the presence of an engaging learning experience; stable, experienced, and skilled teachers; and actively engaged parents (Chang and Romero 1998). Similarly, Allensworth and Easton (2007) note that student attendance and achievement are better in schools characterized by supportive relationships between teachers and students and a perception among students that the work they are doing in high school is preparing them for the future. Despite evidence of a relationship between attendance and student performance, it takes more than being in school to produce high student achievement.
Listed below are several references, along with author-provided abstracts and links (where available). We offer these resources for your own review, as we have not done an evaluation of the publications themselves.
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References
Allensworth, E. M., and Easton, J. Q. (2007). What matters for staying on-track and graduating in
Chicago public high schools. Chicago, IL: Consortium on Chicago School Research at the
University of Chicago. Retrieved January 1, 2011, from http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/07%20What%20Matters%20Final.pdf
Summary: Building on earlier CCSR research of “on-track indicators” that demonstrated a connection between failing freshman classes and dropping out, the authors found that a number of freshman-year factors can be used to predict high school graduation. Grades are as predictive as ontrack indicators; almost all students with a “B” average or better at the end of their freshman year graduate, compared to only a quarter of those with a “D” average. The research also revealed how critical attendance is for freshman success. Conventional wisdom holds that eighth grade test scores are good predictors of students’ likelihood to do well in high school courses. However, course attendance is eight times more predictive of course failure in the freshman year than test scores. Just one week of absence is associated with a much greater likelihood of failure, regardless of incoming achievement. The authors also examine how school practices affect students’ grades, failure rates, and attendance. Students’ grades and attendance are particularly better than expected in schools characterized by two features—supportive relationships between teachers and students, and a perception among students that the work they are doing in high school is preparing them for the future.
Borland, M. V., and Howsen, R. M. (1998). Effect of student attendance on performance: Comment on Lamdin. The Journal of Educational Research, 91(4), 195–197.
Abstract: Evidence that student attendance has a positive and significant effect on student performance was reported by Lamdin (1996). Our comment suggests that Lamdin’s results are biased because of his failure to include measures of student innate ability and competition in the explanation of student performance. When these two variables are taken into account, student attendance is shown to be insignificant in terms of its effect on student performance. Thus, policies designed to increase student attendance may result in an inappropriate use of education resources.
Chang, H. N., and Romero, M. (2008). Present, engaged and accounted for: The critical importance of
addressing chronic absence in the early grades. New York: National Center for Children in
Poverty, Columbia University. Retrieved January 1, 2011, from http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_837.pdf
Summary: This report seeks to raise awareness of the critical importance of chronic early absence, synthesize available data on the scope of the challenge, and share emerging insights about how schools and communities can use chronic early absence to identify and address challenges affecting the social, educational, and physical well-being of children and their families before problems become intractable. While parents are responsible for getting their children to school every day, schools and communities need to recognize and address the barriers and challenges that may inhibit them from doing so, especially when they are living in poverty. Large numbers of chronically absent students could indicate systemic problems that affect the quality of the educational experience and/or the healthy functioning of the entire community.
Gottfried, M. A. (2010). Evaluating the relationship between student attendance and achievement in urban elementary and middle schools: An instrumental variables approach. American
Educational Research Journal, 47(2), 434–465.
Abstract: Researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and parents have assumed a positive relationship between school attendance and academic success. And yet, among the vast body of empirical research examining how input factors relate to academic outcomes, few investigations have honed in on the precision of the relationship between individual attendance and student
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achievement. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into this relationship. Specifically, this study has evaluated the hypothesis that the number of days a student was present in school positively affected learning outcomes. To assess this, a unique empirical approach was taken in order to evaluate a comprehensive dataset of elementary and middle school students in the
Philadelphia School District. Employing a fixed effects framework and instrumental variables strategy, this study provides evidence from a quasi-experimental design geared at estimating the causal impact of attendance on multiple measures of achievement, including GPA and standardized reading and math test performance. The results consistently indicate positive and statistically significant relationships between student attendance and academic achievement for both elementary and middle school students.
Lamdin, D. J. (1996). Evidence of student attendance as an independent variable in education production functions. The Journal of Educational Research, 89(3), 155–162.
Abstract: Most student performance studies using the production function or input-output approach do not consider student attendance as an independent variable. Data from Baltimore
County public elementary schools indicate that student attendance positively and consistently correlates to standardized achievement test performance. Student socioeconomic status is also an important factor.
National Forum on Education Statistics. (2009). Every school day counts: The forum guide to
collecting and using attendance data (NFES 2009–804). Washington, DC: U.S. Department of
Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved January 4, 2011, from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009804.pdf
Summary: This Forum guide offers best practice suggestions on collecting and using student attendance data to improve performance. It includes a standard set of codes to make attendance data comparable across districts and states. There are real-life examples of how attendance information has been used by school districts.
Neild, R. C., and Balfanz, R. (2006). Unfulfilled promise: The dimensions and characteristics of
Philadelphia’s dropout crisis, 2000–2005. Baltimore: Center for Social Organization of
Schools, Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved on January 5, 2011, from http://www.csos.jhu.edu/new/Neild_Balfanz_06.pdf
Summary: This report uses a unique set of data obtained from the Kids Integrated Data System
(KIDS), which is housed at the University of Pennsylvania’s Cartographic Modeling Laboratory. The
KIDS system merges individual-level data on young people from the School District of Philadelphia and the city’s social service agencies, including the Department of Public Health, the Department of
Human Services, and the Office of Emergency Shelter and Services. The resulting de-identified data allow us to follow cohorts of students over multiple years, examining their educational outcomes as well as the predictors of graduation and dropout. This report addresses three central sets of questions: 1) How many students in grades 6 through 12 drop out of Philadelphia’s public schools in a single year? What are the key characteristics of these students, including their age, grade, race/ethnicity, gender, type of school attended, and neighborhood of residence? 2) What percentage of 9th graders graduates within four years, five years, or six years of starting high school? What has been the trend in these cohort graduation rates over the past five years? What are the trends in cohort graduation rates for males and females and for students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds? 3) Which student characteristics, knowable or potentially knowable by school personnel and agency staff, can identify students as being at high risk of dropping out of high school?
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Roby, D. E. (2004). Research on school attendance and student achievement: A study of Ohio schools. Educational Research Quarterly, 28(1), 3–16. Retrieved December 9, 2010, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ714746.pdf
Abstract: The research and analysis completed for this study focuses on one variable and its relationship to student achievement: schoolwide student attendance. It is a variable that is often overlooked or taken for granted as an interesting but meaningless statistic, however, the positive impact of good school attendance on academic achievement may be greater than historically thought (Johnston 2000; Lamdin 1996). Coutts (1998) suggests student attendance should be charted and monitored weekly, since high attendance rates are indicators of effective schools. The initial focus of this research study was to determine if there was a significant, positive relationship between student achievement in Ohio schools, as measured by the Ohio Proficiency Tests, and student attendance in grades 4, 6, 9, and 12. All data used for this study were taken directly from the ODE website. The study is based on the most recent information available to the public (1999 data) for school building proficiency test and attendance averages. This overview study of school attendance and its relationship to student achievement provides an initial forum for discussion, debate, and further research. Continued studies may provide additional information that may lead to strategies for improving student attendance and academic achievement.
Other resources
Attendance Works http://www.attendanceworks.org/
Formerly known as Attendance Counts, Attendance Works is a national and state initiative that promotes awareness of the important role that school attendance plays in achieving academic success. It aims to ensure that every school in every state not only tracks chronic absence data for its individual students but also intervenes to help those children and schools. Our three objectives are:
 Build public awareness and political will about the need to address chronic absence. This includes extensive media outreach as well as working with key national organizations to spread the word about why this issue matters and explore the role federal government can play. It also includes explaining the critical difference between chronic absence and truancy.
 Foster state campaigns by developing coalitions to advance state and local policies that promote tracking attendance for individual students and reporting on chronic absence to ensure schools, especially if they are low-performing, will intervene to improve student
 attendance.
Encourage local practice by providing technical assistance and tools to help communities, schools, and school districts monitor and work together to address chronic absence. This includes creating peer learning networks and tapping skills and assets available from state and national organizations.
National Center for School Engagement http://www.schoolengagement.org/
The National Center for School Engagement (NCSE) has generated many resources about school attendance, attachment, and achievement. NCSE provides training and technical assistance, research and evaluation to school districts, law enforcement agencies, courts, as well as state and federal agencies.
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Methods
The research summarized here was located by searching the Education Resources Information
Center (ERIC) and Google/Google Scholar electronic databases. In addition, the Institute of
Education Sciences (IES) resources were queried, including the Regional Educational Laboratory
Program (REL); IES Practice Guides; What Works Clearinghouse (WWC); Doing What Works
(DWW); and IES Centers. A review of the resulting documents’ bibliographies yielded additional references.
This memorandum is one in a series of quick-turnaround responses to specific questions posed by educators and policymakers in the western region (Arizona, California, Nevada, Utah), which is served by the Regional Educational
Laboratory West (REL West) at WestEd. This memorandum was prepared by REL West under a contract with the U.S.
Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences (IES), Contract ED-06-CO-0014, administered by WestEd. Its content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of IES or the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
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WestEd — a national nonpartisan, nonprofit research, development, and service agency — works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity, and improve learning for children, youth, and adults.
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REL West at WestEd • 730 Harrison Street • San Francisco, CA 94107 • 866.853.1831 • relwest@WestEd.org • http://relwest.wested.org
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