1. Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
September GATE Equity Webinar Mind the Gap: Attendance Supports for Students with Disabilities
Thank you for joining us for the afternoon session of the September GATE Equity Webinar.
Where we explore topics related to equity in graduation success.
This webinar will be recorded and will be posted in the next couple of weeks.
The PowerPoint is posted on OSPI on the GATE Equity Webinar page if you want to follow along. We have also added supplementary materials so you can go even deeper.
I’m Kefi Andersen, OSPI Graduation Equity Program Supervisor.
This afternoon’s topic is Mind the Gap: Attendance Supports for Students with Disabilities
Attendance is a measure of School Quality and Student Success in the Every Student Succeeds Act.
We chose this topic because September is attendance awareness month and Washington State’s been identified as having the third worst rate in the nation.  One of Washington’s most absent student groups, is students with disabilities.
Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
Chris Reykdal, State Superintendent

2. Vision: Mission: Values:
All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement.
Mission:
Transform K–12 education to a system that is centered on closing opportunity gaps and is characterized by high expectations for all students and educators. We achieve this by developing equity-based policies and supports that empower educators, families, and communities.
Values:
OSPI is guided by our Superintendent of Public Instruction Chris Reykdal. We want All students prepared for post-secondary pathways, careers, and civic engagement. We will get there by living our values.

3. Office of System & School Improvement
We believe we are more likely to see school improvement across multiple measures if we:
Focus on schools identified for supports
Connect programming to specific needs
Build the health of systems
Provide professional learning on data inquiry and supportive resources and tools
This GATE webinar is brought to you through the Office of System and School Improvement.

4. Who Are We? Kefi Andersen Graduation Equity Program Supervisor OSPI
Tania May
Director of Special Education
Scott Raub
Special Education Parent & Community Liaison
Krissy Johnson
Attendance Program Supervisor
I’m joined today by Tania May, OSPI Director of Special Education, Scott Raub , Special Education Parent & Community Liaison, and Krissy Johnson, Attendance Program Supervisor.
Thanks for taking the time to be here.

5. Today’s Topics Equity, ESSA, and IDEA Definitions
Attendance Requirements
Research and Data
Recommendations & Strategies
Evidence-based Resources
We have a great show planned for you. We’ll be looking at Equity, definitions, and attendance requirements as well as research and data with recommendations and strategies that align with evidence based practices.

6. Questions & Polling What is your role?
District Special Education Director
District or Building Leadership
School Psychologist
Community
Other (type in chat)
We’d like to get to know who you are so we can speak to your roles throughout the webinar.
As we go we’ll be pausing periodically for questions, you can type these into the questions link.

7. Excerpt from OSPI’s Equity Statement
Ensuring educational equity requires education leaders to develop an understanding of historical contexts; engage students, families, and community representatives as partners in decision-making; and actively dismantle systemic barriers, replacing them with policies and practices that ensure all students have access to the instruction and support they need to succeed in our schools.
I’m going to hand off to Tania. Let’s learn more about OSPI’s equity statement.

8. ESSA and IDEA ESSA IDEA Alignment of Purpose
Purpose is to: Ensure access and progress in the general education curriculum
To prepare students with disabilities for further education, employment, and independent living.
IDEA
Purpose is to: close achievement gaps Offer a significant opportunity
To receive a fair, equitable, and high quality education.
Alignment of
Purpose

9. Setting the Stage What is chronic absence & Why are we focused on it?
As I mentioned briefly, chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% of more of school days. Keep in mind different states, agencies, and OSPI arrive at that 10% in different ways.
[click] Chronic absenteeism is not the same as truancy, which is an indicator that only looks at unexcused absences.
What is chronic absence & Why are we focused on it?

10. What is Chronic Absenteeism?
10% of school days
Excused
Unexcused
Chronic Absenteeism
Given that chronic absence is a fairly new concept in our state, I want to take a moment to clarify definitions. We are noticing that this is an important building block as we shift our focus away from truancy in this state, and nationwide, and can help in your communications to your community and families.
Earlier Lance mentioned that attendance is one of the SQSS measures. To clarify, the regular attendance measure is the inverse of chronic absenteeism, from here on out I will be discussing this concept.
In general, a student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of their school days for any reason: excused, unexcused, and suspensions. (more than 2 in a month or 18 in a year). How a school, district or the state arrives at that 10% is variable. We have a more nuanced calculation for the school improvement framework under ESSA, and we also have some qualifications around suspensions due to the legal requirement to provide educational services, this detail is included in the new absence rules.
Daily average attendance – number of students showing up to school each day. The article below describes research that shows schools with Average Daily Attendance rates below 97 can have high rates of chronic absenteeism, because average daily attendance looks at the average of students coming to school each day, and chronic absenteeism is a student-level measure. ADA is a great way of celebrating, but it’s not the whole picture.
Truancy – only unexcused. read above

11. Which is Different From…
Truancy
Daily Average Attendance
Only unexcused absences.
Washington: 5+ unexcused days in a month or 10+ in a year
Number of students showing up to school each day*.
Given that chronic absence is a fairly new concept in our state, I want to take a moment to clarify definitions. We are noticing that this is an important building block as we shift our focus away from truancy in this state, and nationwide, and can help in your communications to your community and families.
Earlier Lance mentioned that attendance is one of the SQSS measures. To clarify, the regular attendance measure is the inverse of chronic absenteeism, from here on out I will be discussing this concept.
In general, a student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of their school days for any reason: excused, unexcused, and suspensions. (more than 2 in a month or 18 in a year). How a school, district or the state arrives at that 10% is variable. We have a more nuanced calculation for the school improvement framework under ESSA, and we also have some qualifications around suspensions due to the legal requirement to provide educational services, this detail is included in the new absence rules.
Daily average attendance – number of students showing up to school each day. The article below describes research that shows schools with Average Daily Attendance rates below 97 can have high rates of chronic absenteeism, because average daily attendance looks at the average of students coming to school each day, and chronic absenteeism is a student-level measure. ADA is a great way of celebrating, but it’s not the whole picture.
Truancy – only unexcused. read above
*Chronic Elementary Absenteeism: A Problem Hidden in Plain Sight

12. How is our state reporting Chronic Absence?
88% Regularly Attending
12% Chronically Absent
Chronic Absence Inverted
Regular Attendance

13. Why Chronic Absenteeism?
Established body of research showing impacts of all absences on school success
Included in ESSA as School Quality and Student Success (SQSS) measure
Federal Reporting & State Reporting
Legislative changes focused on prevention and intervention, not just crisis response

14. RCW Attendance Requirements for Students with an IEP & 504 Plan
After 1 Unexcused Absence (UA)
Parents notified by phone or writing
After 3 UA within any month
Parent & student conference to analyze causes for absences
Between 2 and 5 UA in a school year
WARNS or other assessment (MS, HS)
Convene IEP or 504 team
Best practice or research-based intervention consistent with assessment
After 5 UA
Attendance agreement;
Refer student to a Community Truancy Board; OR
File a petition.
After 7 UA in a month or 10 UA in a year
File petition (automatically stayed & referral to a Community Truancy Board)
RCW 28A
RCW. 28A
RCW 28A
Elementary Only:
After 5 Excused Absences in a month or 10 Excused in a year
Parent Conference and/or IEP or 504 Plan Team must convene

15. Mindset Shift Accountability as Continuous Improvement, not a “Gotcha”
All absences matter!
Requires moving from punitive to problem solving & support
Accountability as Continuous Improvement, not a “Gotcha”
Increased expectations for attendance are an important factor in improving outcomes for students with disabilities
Time out of class leads to greater achievement gaps
Krissy: For all students, all schools: Opportunity for a mindset shift – from a punitive, approach, to a proactive, student and family engagement approach.  Asking – what can we do to support you to be in school and be successful there?  What is at the root of this pattern or behavior?
As opposed to responding with blame and punishment, works to further disengage.  Attendance as early warning indicator – catch kids before they fall.
Accountability – what that means, it’s not a gotcha, meant to shine a light
Tania/Scott: Specifically, opportunity to shift thinking about students with disabilities differently: the more time out of class

16. Questions & Polling 2
Is attendance routinely addressed at your IEP meetings?
Yes - always
Sometimes
Only when it’s a problem
Rarely
Also, feel free to type in the questions box any questions you have for our awesome presenters.

17. State of the State
Attendance Data: Students with Disabilities

18. Chronic Absenteeism

19. Big Picture The State of Our State:
Although 90% of SWDs have average or above-average intellectual functioning, only 56% spend % of the day in general education (for students of color, only 47%).
SWDs have 5% higher rates of chronic absenteeism & 20% higher dropout rates.

20. Questions & Polling 3
What are some common reasons you see for absenteeism among students with disabilities?
School Climate
Anxiety/depression
Medical/health reasons
Transportation
School refusal
Other (type in chat)
Also, feel free to type in the questions box any questions you have for our awesome presenters.

21. Why do we think students with disabilities miss more school?
chronic health conditions and/or fatigue
anxiety and/or depression
family stress or circumstances
disconnect between needs and services
trauma
food and housing insecurity
Little research – higher rates of health conditions among special education students 3X more common

22. Frequently Asked Questions & Comments
What do you do for students who have a long-term illness?
The definition is unfair – and we’re getting dinged (one hour of services, a day of travel)
How to document shortened days
in IEPs
Going to a shortened day

23. Recommendations and Strategies
So What Can We Do?
Recommendations and Strategies

24. Family & Student Engagement
Prioritize communication with parents – early and often!
Implement policies that offer incentives (earning flexible start times, open campus privileges) and avoid sanctions (dropping students).
Implement proven dropout prevention programs.
Community and cultural outreach (Cultural brokers, community liaisons, connections with church and social services organizations).

25. Systems Approaches and Data
Best practices for all students.
Building a culture of attendance.
Implementing attendance teams.
Include attendance as part of all IEP team discussions.
Develop an early warning system to alert case managers when a student reaches 3 absences.
Disaggregate the data and conduct root cause analyses.
Reevaluate how types of absences are tracked/coded.

26. Utilizing the IEP Process
Document early and often!
Document attendance and related topics (e.g., health conditions) in IEP discussions.
Document school supports and results of interventions.
Reevaluate, when necessary.
Create system-wide protocols for providing services to compensate for lost instructional time.
OSPI Special Education has included in the monthly update a tip on documenting shortened days in IEPs.
For students on a shortened school day, include a response plan for increasing total minutes per week.

27. OSPI Priorities: Improving Outcomes for Students with Disabilities

28. Questions & Polling 4 3
What is one major takeaway you have from today’s webinar?
Type it in the chat box – share your thought with everyone.
Take a moment to reflect. After hearing all this great information, what is one major takeaway you have?
We want to see your thinking, so please share in the chat.
Also, feel free to type in the questions box any questions you have for our awesome presenters.

29. September is Attendance Awareness Month
Social Media Toolkit: Weekly Posts & Resources
Posters in multiple languages (hard copy) available for order through our website
Attendance Competition:  Who can reduce their absences the most in September from the previous year? 
Sign Up for Attendance Newsletter here.
September is Attendance Awareness month and OSPI has some great communication tools for schools, including a social media toolkit, posters, in multiple languages, and cool swag like pop sockets! Join the attendance competition on the Attendance page and join the attendance call to action.

30. Resources OSPI Articles Attendance Works System Improvement Guide
Attendance page
Special Education page
OSPI
Chronic Absenteeism in the Nation's Schools
Showing Up: Disparities in Chronic Absenteeism Between Students With and Without Disabilities
NCEO Brief: Chronic Absenteeism & Students with Disabilities
Articles
Attendance Works Webpage
Webinars
Attendance
Works

31. Survey Tell us how we’re doing: http://bit.ly/GATEevaluation
Please take our evaluation. It helps us improve our content.
We are trying to constantly improve our performance. In an effort to capture your comments over time we’ve created a quick survey. Please help us by taking a minute to fill it out. If the webinar closes out, this link is also available in our Zoom reminders so you can always let us know your thoughts. We appreciate our audience and want to improve this experience for all of you.
We’ll put this link in the chat for you also.

32. GATE Advisory September 18 9:00 am-noon ESD 113, Tumwater Register
GATE Advisory is coming up next week. We’re meeting in person to talk about Promoting Regular School Attendance: Building Engagement and Removing Barriers. You can register with this link.

33. Join ESD 105
Want to discuss GATE Equity Webinar for clock hours? Join ESD 105’s GATE PLCs!
ESD 105 has flattered us and created a GATE PLC. If you live near Yakima, this new group is focused on supporting your district and community in reaching higher graduation rates and improving student success. They are putting together additional local practitioners to share resources and discuss best practices. A great opportunity for professional learning!

34. Next Month 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. Register
Family Engagement & Student Discipline
1:00-2:00 p.m.
Students Who Smoke or Vape: A Red Flag for Supports
And Next month in October we are looking at discipline. We’ll have Josh Lynch with us to take a look at Family Engagement and Student Discipline.
As well as a webinar specifically on students who smoke with strategies for supports.

35. Many of our images come from Canva.com and TheNounProject.com.
Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, this work by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction is licensed under a Creative Commons 4.0 International License.
Many of our images come from Canva.com and TheNounProject.com.
We like to give credit where it is due. If you liked an image from GATE Equity Webinar, we use images that are in the creative commons or are tagged with their individual permissions.