2015 FASSA- Chronic Absenteeism as
a Barrier to Student Achievement
Amber Brundage
9/18/15
abrundage@usf.edu
Objectives
• Know what chronic absenteeism is and the
implications
• Know the rates of chronic absenteeism for
your district and schools within the district
• Understand strategies and tools that can help
you combat chronic absenteeism as a barrier
• Develop action steps for….
Advance Organizer
• Chronic Absenteeism Overview
– Definition
– Identification
– Prevalence
• Implications of Chronic Absenteeism
– Academic
– Graduation/Post-secondary
– Community
• Responding to Chronic Absenteeism
– Problem Solving Model
• District and School Examples
– Examples
– Resources
Attendance Background Information
• Florida Law (Section 1003.21, Florida Statutes)
states:
– all children who are either six years of age, who will be
six years old by February 1 of any school year, or who are
older than six years of age but who have not attained
the age of 16 years, must attend school regularly during
the entire school term.
– A student who attains the age of 16 years during the
school year is not subject to compulsory attendance
beyond the date of which the student attains that age if
he/she files a formal declaration of intent to terminate
school enrollment with the school district.
What is Chronic Absenteeism (CA)?
• No standard definition
– Often based on total number of days missed
• Doesn’t differentiate reasons for absences
• States vary in threshold for number of days (15-21)
• Frequently defined as:
– Missing 10% or more of instructional days
• Florida one of few states that collect data on CA
– FL reports students missing 21 or more days per year
How Do We Identify Students who are CA?
• The use of Early Warning Systems (EWS)
attendance indicator
– 18+ days annually
– 9+days per semester
– 4-5 days per quarter
• Previous year data- create a “watch list”
• September Attendance- Olson, 2014
– 0-2 Days
– 2+ Days
– 4+ Days
Make a Prediction
• Poll Anywhere Question about how many
students in FL are chronically absent
Attendance Works – Chronic
Absenteeism Video
• http://www.attendanceworks.org/new-videoattendance-works-a-community-imperative/
• https://vimeo.com/63614396
How does this differ from truancy?
• Truancy typically defined as specified number or
frequency of unexcused absences within a given time
period
– Often an underestimate of the absenteeism magnitude
• Florida law defines "habitual truant" as a student who
has 15 or more unexcused absences within 90 calendar
days with or without the knowledge or consent of the
student's parent or guardian, and who is subject to
compulsory school attendance.
What is the prevalence of CA nationally?
• Based on national research, conservative
estimates:
– 10% of US students miss 21+ days of school per year
– 14-15% of US students miss 18+ days of school per
year
5-7.5 Million students each year!!
Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012
What is the prevalence of CA in FL?
• According to data reported to FL DOE during
the 2013/2014 school year, 9.5% of K-12
students were absent 21+ days
292,297 students
What does 292, 297 look like?
88,548
82,300
65,890
54, 559 out of 76,100
2013-14 Chronic Absenteeism Rates by District
0 – 9.9%
10% – 14.9%
15% – 19.9%
20% – 30%
Source: Education Information and Accountability Services, Florida
Department of Education
Who is CA- Rates by Grade
Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012
Who is CA- by Demographics
Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012
What are Legal Requirements for
Attendance- District Level?
• Florida law (Section 1003.26, Florida Statutes) specifies steps
for enforcement of regular school attendance. It is the
responsibility of the school district superintendent to enforce
school attendance of all children who are subject to
compulsory school age requirements. The responsibility
includes:
– Develop policies and procedures to ensure that schools respond in
a timely manner to each unexcused absence, or absence for which
the reason is unknown.
– Contact the home for every unexcused absence or absence for
which the reason is unknown, to obtain parent justification for the
absence.
– Evaluate each justification and, based on district policy, determine
whether the absence is excused or unexcused; if excused, allow
the student to make up assigned work without academic penalty.
Legal Requirements Continued
• Track excused and unexcused absences.
• Identify and refer students who may be developing a pattern of
nonattendance to the school child study team for intervention
services.
• Schedule a meeting with certain identified parents to discuss
their child's attendance.
• Implement prevention and intervention strategies to address
truancy and attendance issues as required for drivers' licenses
and related requirements for habitual truants.
• Send a notice to the superintendent of schools and to the
district home education contact regarding patterns of
nonattendance for specific students.
• Refer habitual truancy cases to the case staffing committee
and/or child-in-need- of-services provider for assistance
What are Legal Requirements for
Attendance- School-Level?
• The policies must provide that public schools track
excused and unexcused absences and contact the
home in the case of an unexcused absence from
school, or an absence from school for which the
reason is unknown, to prevent the development of
patterns of nonattendance.
School Requirements Continued
• Each public school shall implement the following
steps to promote and enforce regular school
attendance:
– (1) CONTACT, REFER, AND ENFORCE.—
– (a) Upon each unexcused absence, or absence for which
the reason is unknown, the school principal or his or her
designee shall contact the student’s parent to determine
the reason for the absence. If the absence is an excused
absence, as defined by district school board policy, the
school shall provide opportunities for the student to
make up assigned work and not receive an academic
penalty unless the work is not made up within a
reasonable time.
School Requirements Continued
• If a student has had:
– at least five unexcused absences,
– or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a calendar
month
– or 10 unexcused absences,
– or absences for which the reasons are unknown, within a 90-calendarday period
– The student’s primary teacher shall report to the school principal or his
or her designee that the student may be exhibiting a pattern of
nonattendance.
– The principal shall, unless there is clear evidence that the absences are
not a pattern of nonattendance, refer the case to the school’s child
study team to determine if early patterns of truancy are developing.
– If the child study team finds that a pattern of nonattendance is
developing, whether the absences are excused or not:
• a meeting with the parent must be scheduled to identify potential remedies,
and the principal shall notify the district school superintendent and the school
district contact for home education programs that the referred student is
exhibiting a pattern of nonattendance.
School Requirements Continued
• If an initial meeting does not resolve the problem, the child
study team shall implement the following:
1.
Frequent attempts at communication between the teacher and the
family.
2. Evaluation for alternative education programs.
3. Attendance contracts.
• The child study team may, but is not required to, implement
other interventions, including referral to other agencies for
family services or recommendation for filing a truancy petition
pursuant to s. 984.151.
• (d) The child study team shall be diligent in facilitating
intervention services and shall report the case to the district
school superintendent only when all reasonable efforts to
resolve the nonattendance behavior are exhausted.
I
IMPLICATIONS OF CHRONIC
ABSENTEEISM
What are the Academic Implications of CA?
• Student CA in Kindergarten have lower academic
performance in 1st
– 2 X’s greater impact for low SES (Chang & Romero, 2008)
• Baltimore study found those who were CA in Pre-K and
K more likely to be:
– CA in later grades
– Retained
– Lower achievement levels (Connolly & Olson, 2012)
• A study by GA DOE found that 3% increase (5 days) in
attendance would have led to more than 55,000
students to pass ELA, reading or math standardized
tests in grades 3-8 most impactful for those who
missed 5-10 days of school (Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012)
Implications of CA- Continued
• Students with chronic absenteeism in middle
grades are at high risk for course failure in
high school (Allensworth, Gwynne, Moore & de la Torre, 2014)
• Among 9th graders, attendance was the
strongest predictor of course performance
which was the strongest predictor of
graduation (Allensworth & Easton 2007)
Florida CA and FCAT Scores
Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012
What are the Implications for Dropout- Utah
2010 Graduating Cohort?
Henderson, Hill, & Norton, 2014
What are the Graduation & Post-Secondary
Implications for Students with CA- National Center for
Educational Statistics ELS 2002?
Balfanz & Byrnes, 2012
What are the Community Implications for CA?
• Data from New York and Rhode Island show that
3/4ths of those with Juvenile Justice involvement
had a history of CA (www.ridatahub.org)
• Higher daytime crime rates
– Data from California found that 60% of juvenile crime
happened between 8am-3pm when students should have
been in school
• In FL 10/11 school-year roughly 83,500 students did
not graduate with their cohort which will translate
into loss of:
• 4000 new jobs
• $597 million in GSP (American Bar Association Commission on Youth At Risk,
2012)
RESPONDING TO CHRONIC
ABSENTEEISM
How do we respond to CA?
Define the Problem/Goal
• Step One –
Critical
Elements
– Desired goal(s)
– Current student(s)
performance level(s)
– Current performance
of comparable group
– Gap analysis
• Attendance Application:
– What is our desired goal?
• 80% of students with 95% or better
attendance (9 or fewer absences per year)
• 5% or fewer students chronically absent
(18+ days)
– What is current performance?
• What percentage of students have 95% or
greater attendance? (Tier 1)
• What percentage of students are
chronically absent? (Tier 1)
– What is the current performance of
comparable group?
•
•
•
•
•
District-wide
Regionally
School
Grade-level
Sub-group
Look for outliers- positive and negative
– What is the gap between current
performance and the goal?
Analyze the Problem
• Step Two –
Critical Elements
– Generate
evidence based
hypotheses
• Frameworks of
domains to
generate
hypotheses
– Validate/invalidate
hypotheses
Attendance Application:
• Generate evidence based hypotheses:
Balfanz & Byrnes (2012) 3 reasons:
– Can’t- something prevents them from attending (illness,
transportation, child care or family obligations)
– Won’t- avoidance of interactions or events at school
(affective or perceptions physical/psychological safety
issues)
– Don’t- would rather be somewhere else or do not
make the effort to attend school (engagement)
Systems Hypotheses
– Policies
– Procedures/Practices
• Validate/invalidate hypotheses
– Collect data to determine the reasons for
absences:
•
•
•
•
Surveys
Self-Assessments
Interviews
Policy/practice analysis
Develop and Implement a Plan
• Step Three – Critical
Elements
– Link instruction/intervention
to validated hypotheses
– Specific action plans (what,
when, where, who, support)
– Monitoring for fidelity
– Integrate within tiers
Attendance Application:
• Match intervention type
and intensity to need
across tiers
• Develop specific action
plans at various levels:
–
–
–
–
–
–
District
School
Grade-level
Class
Subgroup
Student
Intervention Options- Tier 1
• District or school-wide attendance goals
• Increased focus on collection, monitoring and reporting of attendance data to all
stakeholders
– Students
– Family
– Community
•
•
•
•
•
•
Public recognition of good and improved attendance
Homeroom/Class attendance competitions
School health programs
Social-emotional curriculum
Anti-violence/bullying curriculum
Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
–
–
–
–
Flexible pacing
Student learning communities
Students as instructional problem solvers
Multiple engagement options and instructional scaffold tools to meet student needs
• Restorative Justice Process
• Transportation support
• District and school policies that support attendance
– Suspension due to absences
– Make-up work
– Tardy policies
Intervention Options Tiers 2 & 3
• Attendance/re-engagement contracts
– Restorative Justice approach
• Wake-up calls
• Mentors
– Specific protocols
• Peer attendance buddy
• Check & Connect
• Daily Check-in
– Phone call when absent
•
•
•
•
•
Connection with physical/dental and mental health providers
Alternate transportation options
Counseling groups
Community agency supports
Academic interventions
Evaluate the Response to Instruction/Intervention
• Step Four –
Critical
Elements
– Monitor
progress with
appropriate
frequency
– Establish
Positive,
Questionable,
or Poor
response
– Make
appropriate
instructional
decisions
based on
established
response
Attendance Application:
– Monitoring may be at individual or aggregate
level
• Reduction in absences
– Frequency
– Duration
• Does the intervention intensity match the
need????
– Depending on Tier/intensity of intervention
progress monitoring may be:
• Daily
Weekly
• Quarterly Semester
Monthly
Annually
– Evaluation of the system
• Intervention effectiveness
– Reduction in students who are off-track for
attendance or are CA for at least 70%
• System monitoring and response to CA
– Self Assessment
– Number/percentage of CA students receiving
interventions with intensity matched to need
DISTRICT AND SCHOOL EXAMPLES
District Example- Background
• District exploration started as questions
attendance in general and as an off-shoot of
work at a specific school
– Attendance reporting practices
– Attendance as a Tier 1 issue
– School specific concerns
What is the percent of students absent by threshold?
For each school level (Elementary, Middle, High)
Average Percent of Students by Days Absent
40%
35%
35%
33%
31%
29%
Percent of Students
30%
25%
22%
21%
20%
20%
21%
19%
18%
MS
16%
15%
HS
12%
10%
9%
10%
7%
5%
0%
0-4
4-9
10-14
Days Absent
15-19
ES
20+
What is the percent of students proficient by threshold?
For each school level (Elementary, Middle, High)
Percent of Students Proficient by Absent Threshold
60.00%
56%
56%
56%
52%
50.00%
51%
49%
46%
44%
41%
41%
40%
40.00%
36%
35%
31%
30.00%
ES
27%
MS
HS
20.00%
10.00%
0.00%
0-4
5-9
10-14
15-19
20+
What is the difference in average absences by GPA
when calculating by days compared to by period?
Average Absences by GPA
40
Traditional
36
By Period
Avearge Number of Absences
35
30
25
27
23
20
20
16
14
15
11
10
7
5
0
0-1.09
1.1-2.09
2.1-3.09
GPA
3.1-4.0
Recommendation #1
Student Engagement Workgroup
Purpose
Membership
Use Early Warning Systems to review
trend data, answer key questions,
categorize regions and school based on
tiered levels of need, make
recommendations for changes to policies
and procedures, communicate with
regional teams and student services PLC
teams, develop strategic plan, monitor
effectiveness of school plans
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Timelines: Feb, Apr, Jun
Other Factors
Community Involvement
Data Systems (tools and timelines)
Status and scope of SE interventions
LCED
Principal (High School)
Principal (Elementary)
High School AP
Middle School AP
Elementary AP
USEP Representative
School Social Worker (Itinerant)
School Social Worker (School Based)
School Nurse
School Counselor
School Psychologist
SSAP Teacher
Information Services Representative
OSSPS Supervisor – ESE Division
Classroom Teacher (High School)
Classroom Teacher (Elementary)
Recommendation #2
Data Analysis and PS with Schools
Barriers
• Defining attendance (How is
attendance defined for datainformed decisions and balanced
with state definitions)
• Recording attendance with
respect to data quality
• Accessing data (data team – who)
• Using data and a problem-solving
process to inform interventions
• Monitoring effectiveness
• Other?
Solutions (for Discussion)
• Definition
• Data Quality Expectations
• Accessibility (Pasco Star)
• Matching Interventions
• Monitoring Interventions
Another District Example- Background
• District exploration began as parallel work to
EWS development with the District Leadership
Team
– Questions about attendance/CA as Tier 1 issue
and need for more data to effectively problemsolve
District Attendance Example
School Example- Background
• Request for support resulted from EWS
presentation and school guidance counselors
perceived need
School Example Continued
• Met with the problem solving team
• Reviewed multiple sources of data
–
–
–
–
Attendance (Early Warning Systems)
Gallup Poll results
Teacher and Student Surveys
Student Interviews – Tier III Students
• Problem-Solving Process to:
– Identify Problem using data
– Develop hypotheses and analyze the data
– Develop action plans
Data Summary
Data Summary Continued
Small Group Planning and Problem-Solving
Small Group Planning and Problem-Solving
Resources
• Publications, tools, webinars, videos, resources
http://www.attendanceworks.org/
• NYC Mayor Interagency Truancy Task Force
http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/html/school/school.shtml
Toolkit
http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/html/resources/publications.sht
ml
Creating Success Mentors Program
http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/downloads/pdf/creating-aninternal-success-mentor-corps.pdf
• Balfanz & Byrnes 2012 Publication
https://ct.global.ssl.fastly.net/media/W1siZiIsIjIwMTQvMDgvMTUv
MjE1dnkya3BzOF9GSU5BTENocm9uaWNBYnNlbnRlZWlzbVJlcG9y
dF9NYXkxNi5wZGYiXV0/FINALChronicAbsenteeismReport_May16
.pdf.pdf?sha=ffcb3d2b
• Everyone Graduates Center
http://www.every1graduates.org/
Student and Teacher Survey Organized
Around Balfanz’s 3 Reasons
Attendance Works- School Self Assessment
http://www.attendanceworks.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/SchoolSelf-Assessment-Team-Rev-June-2012.pdf
Student Thoughts on Attendance
• http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/html/news
/student-produced-videos.shtml
What is your role in combating 292, 297?
88,548
82,300
65,890
54, 559 out of 76,100
Additional Readings
Allensworth, E. M., & Easton, J. Q. (2005). The on-track indicator as a predictor of high school
graduation. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. Retrieved from
http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/p78.pdf
Allensworth, E. M., & Easton, J. Q. (2007). What matters for staying on track and graduating in
Chicago public high schools. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago.
Retrieved from http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/publications/07%20What%20Matters%20Final.pdf
Allesnworth, E. M., Gwynne, J. A., Moore, P., & de la Torre, M. (2014). Looking forward to high
school and college Middle grades indicators of readiness in Chicago public schools.
Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago. Retrieved from
https://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/Middle%20Grades%20Report.pdf
American Bar Association Commission on Youth At-risk. 2012. Legal and educational system
solutions for youth: Report from a Leadership and Policy Forum on Truancy and
Dropout Prevention. Retrieved from
http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/center_on_children_and_the_l
aw/youth_at_risk/truancy_dropout_report.authcheckdam.pdf
Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2012). Chronic Absenteeism: Summarizing What We Know From
Nationally Available Data. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Center for Social Organization
of Schools.
Balfanz, R., Herzog, L., MacIver, D., (2007). Preventing student disengagement and keeping
students on the graduation path in urban middle-grades schools: Early identification and
effective interventions. Educational Psychologist, 42(4), 223-235.
Additional Readings Continued
Chang, Hedy N. & Romero, Mariajosé 2008. Present, engaged and accounted for the
critical importance of addressing chronic absence in the early grades. National Center
for Children in Poverty (NCCP): The Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia
University.
Connolly, F. & Olson, L. S. 2012. Early elementary performance and attendance in Baltimore City Schools’ prekindergarten and kindergarten. Baltimore Education Research Consortium, Baltimore, MD.
Henderson, T., Hill, C. & Norton, K. 2014. The connection between missing school and health: A review of chronic
absenteeism and student health in Oregon. Upstream Public Health.
John W. Gardner Center for Youth and their Communities, Stanford University. (2014). Menu of college readiness
indicators and supports. College Readiness Indicator Systems Resource Series. Seattle, WA: Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation
National High School Center. (2012). National high school center early warning system middle grades tool technical
manual. Washington, DC: Author. Retrieved from
http://www.betterhighschools.org/documents/NHSC_EWSMiddleGradesTechManual.pdf
Olson, L. S., 2014. Why September matters: Improving student attendance. Baltimore Education Research Consortium,
Baltimore, MD. Retrieved from : http://baltimore-berc.org/wpcontent/uploads/2014/08/SeptemberAttendanceBriefJuly2014.pdf
Contact Information
Amber Brundage
PK-12 Alignment Unit Coordinator
abrundage@usf.edu
Facilitated Session
Download both the district and school 21+ Data
• http://www.fldoe.org/accountability/datasys/edu-info-accountability-services/pk-12public-school-data-pubs-reports/students.stml