Attendance and Pre-K EIS Conference Good morning. EIS Conference Liz Newsome, Data Manager and Education Consultant Candace Cook, VPK Director

Objectives Attendance as a focus Importance of regular attendance in year 1 Attendance policy guidance Coding in pre-K I know that today’s conference is going to focus heavily on the importance of attendance. I want to highlight a few notes about the importance of attendance in pre-K. In TN, our pre- K is called “Voluntary.” While it is a voluntary enrollment, once in school, student attendance matters to both the district and the student. I will give you a brief overview of pre-K attendance and coding.

District Accountability Areas Six Areas 3-5 Success Rate* 6-8 Success Rate* 9-12 Success Rate* Chronically Out of School Graduation Rate + Ready Graduate K-12 English Language Proficiency Assessment (ELPA) The new Every Student Succeeds Act requires states to focus on six areas when considering accountability measures. They are: Academic achievement on annual reading and math assessments Another state-determined indicator for student growth High school graduation rates English language proficiency At least one indicator of school success or student support This slide demonstrates Tennessee’s response to those areas, and as you can see, Tennessee has included Chronic absenteeism in our accountability plan. *Success rate includes science, ELA, math and ACT/SAT composite. It may also include social studies in future years. 10

Research Says In 2014, the University of Chicago and the Attendance Institute partnered to research attendance trends. Findings indicate that 1/3 of chronically absent pre-K students continue this pattern in kindergarten and beyond. These students performed much lower than their peers on kindergarten entry assessments. Because of continued absences, students continued to struggle throughout the early grades. In 2014, the University of Chicago and the Attendance Institute partnered to research attendance trends for students from pre-K through high school. What they found showed the importance of attendance in the first year of school. When students begin school with chronic absentee problems, they are more likely to continue this trend. When students are chronically absent, they fare much worse on entry assessments and later academic assessments. What’s worse, these trends can impact learning up through high school. There is a direct correlation between chronic absences in the first year of school and drop out rates in high school. CCSR.uchicago.edu

First Year Attendance From preschool through high school, absenteeism has serious implications for students’ academic outcomes Students who are absent have: Lower test scores Lower likelihood of being on-track in high school Lower likelihood of graduating Lower course grades – taking them out of the running for college completion CCSR.uchicago.edu

Pre-K in Tennessee Enrollment in pre-K in Tennessee is not compulsory. Pre-K students have high rates of chronic absenteeism in Tennessee. Great progress can be made by informing families of the impact of early attendance. In Tennessee, 4 year old students are not required to enroll in school in pre-K . However, if they do, they should be expected to form good habits and attend regularly. Anecdotal reports from parent conferences and parent surveys indicate that families see pre-K as optional. Therefore, they may not feel the same urgency to ensure regular attendance. While this is certainly not the case in every situation, it does give us some indication that beginning a focus on attendance monitoring and parent education can positively impact student attendance rates. The office of early learning has drafted guidance on attendance policies that should help to both inform parents of expectations and give districts support in working with families.

Attendance Policy Guidance The attendance policy guidance was released in July. https://www.tn.gov/education/topic/voluntary-pre-k Key components: Guidance for districts and letter for parents Examples of excused absences Procedures for monitoring and follow-up Guidance on restorative practices The attendance policy guidance can be found on the VPK website under the teachers and coordinators tab. The following are examples of acceptable reasons for excused absences: The child has a personal illness or injury; The child has other ongoing health related ailments which temporarily prevent attendance; The child contracts a communicable disease (virus or flu); Religious observances; Death in the family; Limited medical/dental/therapy appointments (these should be made outside school hours unless necessary).

Key Components We are striving for average daily attendance at a minimum of 90%. Follow up with parents is recommended. Designate a school or district contact person Create an attendance intervention plan If chronic attendance issues continue to occur, you may contact the department for withdrawal. This should be considered a last resort. We are striving for 90% adm for all students. In the even that attendance becomes a chronic issue, restorative practices should be followed: Designate a contact person at each school or district Follow up with parents to find the issue Create an attendance intervention plan WITH the family. Follow through and monitor the plan. If the family continues to be absent, the student may be considered for withdrawal. No student may be withdrawn from the VPK program without consulting the department. Candace Cook will use the attendance policy as guidance when considering all VPK withdrawal requests.

Enrolling Pre-K Students

Important Dates All pre-K students must be enrolled by the 20th day of school. Utilization and capacity will be pulled during the second week of September. Data pulled may impact funding decisions. Districts who show high capacity and high utilization on the 20th day of school will have a significantly shorter VPK application. As you are aware, TN pre-K is not universal. Districts must apply for pre-K. For the first time ever, the data entered in EIS could ease the burden of the district application process. If the data is entered by the 20th day of school and the data entered is correct, high utilization numbers may take the place of long sections of narrative needed within the application. Districts are going to be heavily relying on us to get the data entered correctly. Scope of services requires that seats be filled by day 20.

Why Enter Pre-K Student Data in SIS? Required in Scope of Services Interest in state for recognizing unmet need for pre-K Potential for upcoming funding changes- Maintain accurate student records It’s important that you enter VPK students in your SIS because it is required within the scope of service just like it is for K-12 students. Though, it is voluntary for a parent to register their child for a Pre-K program, enrolling these registered students into the student information system is not voluntary. It must be done for each of them. The data is used to identify funding needs during your applications, but it is also used to justify the continued need for funds as requested by the state legislature. Additionally, entering the information allows you to maintain accurate student records, and that should be the goal with all the children we serve regardless of grade level.

How Do I Enter VPK Student Data? Enrollment process is exactly the same as for K-12 students. Enter all Pre-K teachers into the student information system. The student’s first day attending class should be the date used for all programs. Code each teacher’s course 2223, 2224, or 0002. Enroll ALL students attending VPK this year including: Students currently attending VPK who are not yet officially enrolled, and New students who start VPK throughout the year. Code P3 or P4 based on student birth date by Aug. 15 of the current school year. (P3 or P4 code is based on birthdate and not age at time of enrollment) The process for entering Pre-K students into your SIS is the same as it is for all other students, and it is required by law just as it is for K-12. You must make sure all the teachers are entered in the system, and each teacher must be assigned the correct course code so that data can be pulled accurately. For classes with only P4 students, you should code the course 2224. If the TN VPK Director has approved you to enroll P3 students in VPK seats, you should use course code 2223 for classes with all P3 students, and you should use course code 0002 for courses with P3 and P4 students included. Enter students in the system at the start of the school year and throughout the year as they enter, and the date of entry should be the first day the student attends class.

How Do I Enter VPK Student Data? Code Q for all students in VPK grant funded seats. Code L for all students who are income eligible. The J code is something different that does not satisfy this requirement. To assist with this process, each district should use the income eligibility worksheet. Focus on accuracy – DOB, gender, etc. Assign each student to a teacher based on the actual classroom the student attends. Perform an extract so that the information in your system will load into EIS When entering the students into the system, please make sure you code them accurately. All children in seats funded by the VPK grant must be coded Q. All students who are income eligible must be coded L. The J code is not the same as the L code. You will have to enter each code separately as applicable. The two PDG codes in the system should only be used by the four districts who receive funds through the Preschool Development Grant. Since most of your districts are not affected by those funds, I won’t go into detail here about the significance of the codes. Make sure that the information you enter is accurate, and then make sure each student is assigned to a teacher. An extract must also be completed to make sure that all of the information in your SIS loads into EIS.

Withdrawals Do not use the 00 or 01 codes for pre-K students as a reason for withdrawal. Code 10: Withdrawn by parent or guardian Code 13: Withdrawn by district (with permission of TN VPK Director Delete pre-K students if: Student leaves within 6 weeks of initial enrollment and waits until the next school year to begin school; OR Student is pre-registered for pre-K but never attends In the event that a pre-K student withdraws from school, it is not appropriate to code the reason for withdrawal as 00 or 01. These codes are for “dropouts” who are transferring to adult high school, a GED program, or Job Corps. The most typically used codes for pre-K students would be 10 when a student is withdrawn by the parent or guardian or 13 when the district withdraws the student due to poor attendance. Please remember that a district must obtain approval from the TN VPK Director prior to withdrawing students for poor attendance. These reasons for withdrawal are not the only possible reasons, just the most often used. While districts are typically told not to delete a student from the SIS, there are two specific instances with pre-K students when this should be done. The student may be deleted from the district’s record when the student leaves pre-K within six weeks of initial enrollment and waits until the next school year to begin school, or when the child is pre-registered for pre-K but never shows up. Removing unnecessary data and ensuring that accurate data is entered will keep your district in compliance with the law, and it will make it much easier to monitor utilization needs and make adjustments when necessary.

Department Introductions Darlene Estes-Del Re Executive Director, Office of Early Learning (615) 313-3188 Darlene.DelRe@tn.gov Candace (Candi) Cook Director, Pre-K Programs, Office of Early Learning (615) 741-9051 Candace.Cook@tn.gov Liz Newsome Data Manager, Office of Early Learning (615) 770-5395 Liz.Newsome@tn.gov That’s all we have for today. Are there any questions? If you have questions at a later time, please feel free to use the contact information provided here. Thank you for your time.