Using Attendance Data to Improve Student Achievement STATS-DC 2010 Attendance: Education’s Most Important KPI 1 Sue Fothergill, Coordinator Baltimore City Student Attendance Initiative Tanya Williams PsyD, Coordinator Office of Attendance and Truancy Baltimore City Public Schools

Attendance Data: A Tool for School Improvement Poor Attendance is: an early warning sign predictive of academic failure a drag on pace of instruction costly for schools and cities Attendance Measures are: Available Accessible Understandable Powerful 2

Why are Measures of Attendance so Powerful? Attendance Measures Are: Up-to-date, recorded daily in most districts Easily Understood by all stakeholders Universally Accepted as Important – better attendance leads to higher achievement Best Available Indicator of student engagement Strong Predictor of school failure Counterbalance to “push-out” tendencies of test- based accountability rubrics 3

The Impact of Attendance on Student Success The Impact of Attendance on Student Success Chronically absent kindergarteners in a six city study had the lowest performance on 5 th grade assessments. Source: Chang and Romero, 2008

% of Days Absent Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium The problem: Chronic Absence in Baltimore is High and Rises to Epidemic Levels by High School 20% and Above of Days Absent Student Absences

6 Poor Attendance in 6 th Grade Predicts Dropout High School Outcomes by Rates of Chronic Absenteeism in Sixth Grade (Baltimore City Public Schools, Sixth Grade Cohort)

Baltimore’s Attendance Strategy 7

All school absences reduce learning, but they happen for different reasons, – Suspensions and Expulsions – school-imposed – Excused absence – illness, doctor’s visit, court, etc. – Unexcused absence – skipping school, sibling or elder care, no note, etc. And need different solutions… 8 Adopt a progressive discipline code Make attendance widely available and a “must respond to” indicator for school and student support staff Stress positive, problem-solving approaches: increase student voice, incentives, communication to parents and community

Baltimore’s Attendance Strategy Use Data to Understand the Problem Bring in School, City and Community Partners Study Best Practices Implement School and System Reforms Change Use of Attendance Data

Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Advancing Using additional data points besides ADA Calculated by dividing the aggregate number of students in attendance by the aggregate number of students in membership for the same time frame. What proportion of students enrolled attend school each day Attendance – High attenders - 5 or fewer days absent – Regular attendance - 9 or fewer days absent (about 5%) Absences – Chronic absence – 20 to 39 days (about 10-19%)-excused and unexcused – Habitual truancy – enrolled in a school for 91 ore more days, unlawfully absent for 20% – Suspensions and expulsions – school imposed absences Withdrawals/Dropouts 10

11 Chronic Absence Rates, 10 Baltimore Schools with Attendance Rates > or = to 95% Paying Attention Only to Average Daily Attendance Can Allow Chronic Absence to go Unnoticed.

12 School Year Average Daily Attendance SY 0910 vs. SY 0809 Change AllReg.Sped.AllReg.Sped 93.17%93.65%90.45%-.74%-.35%- 2.06% School Year Chronic Absence Rate School Year # enrolled Truant students AllReg.Sped.AllReg.Sped %22.14%32.69%27216 School Year # of High AttendersSchool Year % of High Attenders AllReg.Sped.AllReg.Sped %67.86%59.62% Baltimore City Public Schools Attendance Data KASA Middle/High (#342) preliminary data as of 7/2/2010 Enrollment= 290

Taking Attendance more often: daily in K-8 schools and in each class in Secondary schools Triaging Schools: high absence schools flagged for intervention Triaging Students: high-absence students are flagged for referral to Student Support and IEP Teams and community services Increasing Accountability: district-level “Attendance-Stat” and “Special-Education Stat” to track data collection, attendance rates and areas of need Improving Dissemination: web-portal gives real-time & historical data for students and whole school to principals Determining how and where incentives should be used Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Increasing Focus for SY 1011

14 Baltimore’s Attendance Results

Over 14,000 Fewer Suspensions in Baltimore City Public Schools Note: School District Population School Year 2008–09, 82,266 15

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17 Baltimore Habitual Truant Rates decreased from 8,068 in 0607 to 6,377 in 0809

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19 Baltimore City Student Attendance Initiatives’ Documents: Username: attendancewg.user Password: stayinschool Contact: Sue Fothergill Phone: Photography by Audrey Gatewood