1. Causes and Impact of Chronic Absenteeism
A Challenge and Opportunity
Nashville TN September 30, 2015

2. Attendance Works
Attendance Works is a national and state initiative that promotes awareness of the important role that reducing chronic absence plays in achieving academic success starting with school entry. We are an implementation partner for attendance with the Campaign for Grade Level Reading.
Our three focus areas to improve student attendance are:
Build public awareness and political will to address chronic absence
Foster state campaigns
Nurture local practice

3. Warm-Up Exercise ~ Quick Write
One story about how you sought to help a student or a school improve attendance?
What did you learn from that experience about what works?
What was hard? What barriers did you face?
Hedy--Acknowledge past year of work. Write individually share out loud.

4. What Is Chronic Absence?
Average Daily Attendance
ADA = How many students typically show up to school each day? California, for funding purposes, it is also defined as total days of student attendance divided by total days of student instruction.
Truancy
Truancy = Who is missing school without permission? It is a trigger for possible legal action. Under NCLB, define by each state. In Tennessee, truancy = 5 unexcused absences.
Chronic Absence
CA = Who is academically at risk because they missed too much school any reason – excused, unexcused, suspensions. Researchers typically define chronic absence as missing 10% or more of school.
Unpacking attendance terms is critical because the word attendance encompasses multiple measures – each of which mean something different. If we aren’t clear about which attendance measure we are using, we can easily get confused and think we are talking about the same thing when we are not. Here are three of the most common measures. The first is ADA– which refers to the % of students who show up to school every day. It is often used for funding because it helps us know for example –how many desks do I need in my school in order to accommodate the typical number of students who show up every day. The second term is truancy – which typically refers only to unexcused absences. But, keep in mind truancy is defined differently across states In Maryland for example it is missing 20% of the school year due to unexcused absences. In California, it is a child who misses any 3 days without a valid excuse or is late to class by 30 minutes 3 times. In California, this low truancy figure triggers a note home so that parents know their child has been missing school. In many state, truancy is missing 10 days without an excuse. Regardless of the definition, truancy is typically used to begin identifying when a student may be breaking state compulsory education laws and to trigger the beginning of legal intervention. Chronic absence is a new term that Attendance Work has been promoting. It is based upon research. And, shows when has a child missed so much school that they are academically at risk.

5. Chronic Absence Versus Truancy

6. High Levels of Average Daily Attendance (ADA) Can Mask Chronic Absence
90% and even 95% ≠ A
Likewise, it is important to recognize the limitation of monitoring average daily attendance. Let’s say for example, you have a school with 200 students. If 190 show up to school – that is 95% attendance. But the 10 students who missed school that day are not the same 10 kids throughout the year % attendance could be masking the fact that there are 60 students -- each of whom is missing about a month of school. . It all depends whether absences are due to most students missing a few days or excessive absences among a small but still significant minority of students. This slide shows variations in chronic absence across elementary schools in Oakland – all of whom had 95 – 95.5% Average Daily Attendance .
98% ADA = little chronic absence
95% ADA = don’t know
93% ADA = significant chronic absence

7. Why We May Not Notice Chronic Absence
It’s easy not to notice when your child may be missing too much school. 10% of a school year is about 18 days of absence. That sounds like a lot but when you break it down, that’s just two days a month. Most parents don’t get too stressed out if their child misses two days of class in a month. But when it happens month after month, it becomes a problem. Why?
Absences Add Up
Chronic Absence = 18 days of absence = 2 days a month

8. What do you know about attendance and chronic absence?
How many of you know your average daily attendance?
How many know the percent of students who are chronically absent?

9. Why Does Attendance Matter
for Achievement?
What we know from research around the country

10. Attendance is An Essential Ingredient of Academic Success
Attainment Over Time
Achievement Every Year
Attendance Every Day
3 A School Success Framework
Developed by Annie E. Casey Foundation & America’s Promise Alliance For more info go to

11. Improving Attendance Matters Because It Reflects:
Exposure to language: Starting in Pre-K, attendance equals exposure to language-rich environments especially for low-income children.
Time on Task in Class: Students only benefit from classroom instruction if they are in class.
On Track for Success: Chronic absence is a proven early warning sign that a student is behind in reading by 3rd grade, failing courses middle and high school, and likely to drop-out.
College Readiness: Attendance patterns predicts college enrollment and persistence.
Engagement : Attendance reflects engagement in learning.
Effective Practice: Schools, communities and families can improve attendance when they work together.
(For research, see:

12. Starting in PreK, More Years of Chronic Absence = Need for Intensive Reading Support By 2nd Grade
Some risk
At risk
*** This is a group that schools than focus on intervening with. We know that these are more disadvantaged students, but here is a specific indicator – whether they are chronically absent (particularly once they move from prek into K) that schools that use to focus their outreach efforts.
See the stair step pattern. Every year of absence correlates with lower achievement. By the end of 2nd grade.. The kids with persistent chronic absence are in need of serious reading intervention.
* Indicates that scores are significantly different from scores of students who are never chronically absent, at p<.05 level; **p<.01; ***p<.001

13. Multiple Years of Elementary Chronic Absence
= Worse Middle School Outcomes
Each year of chronic absence in elementary school is associated with a substantially higher probability of chronic absence in 6th grade
18.0x
Chronic absence in 1st grade is also associated with:
Lower 6th grade test scores
Higher levels of suspension
Increase in probability of 6th grade chronic absence
7.8x
5.9x
This shows why we need to start tracking chronic absence as early as possible. WE fo und that being chronically absent in 1st grade was associated with 5.8 – nearly six times higher chronic absence in 6th grade. Lower test scores and higher suspensions. If a child was chronically absent any three years– then they had 18 times higher levels of chronic absence!! There are other kids who fall off track in middle or high school– something happens even though they did OK in elementary school that results in their not showing up regularly. But the kids who are most expensive to bring back – we possibly lost in K and 1st – and because we were looking at truancy- -we didn’t notice that they or their families needed our help. We missed the opportunity to interrupt chronic absence before– they are so far behind and already feeling that school is not a place where they can succeed.
Do you know what the single highest predictor of chronic absence is? It isn’t race, it isn’t income – it is prior year chronic absence. I am not saying that going to school will ensure that you will do well. It is only half the battle. But I am saying not showig up is a sure fire indicator of risk.
Years of Chronic Absence in Grades 1-5
Oakland Unified School District SY , Analysis By Attendance Works

14. The Effects of Chronic Absence on Dropout Rates Are Cumulative
With every year of chronic absenteeism, a higher percentage of students dropped out of school.
This is data from Utah– by middle school – chronic absence is sure fire indicator of drop out across students of all backgrounds. They found just one year of chronic absence – anytime between 8th and 1st grade -was associated with 3 times higher levels of drop out . Two years– and over half dropped out.

15. Attendance Is Even More Important for Graduation for Students In Poverty
Presentation to: The Interagency Council for Ending the Achievement Gap November 7, 2013, CT State Dept of Education.

16. Chronic Absence in High School Predicts Lower College Participation
In Rhode Island, only 11% of chronically absent high school students persisted into a 2nd year of college vs. 51% of those with low absences.
Rhode Island Data Hub: May 2014

17. How Can We Address
Chronic Absence?

18. Reflection
Think about a child you know who struggles to get to school every day.
What is a key barrier he or she faces?
What helps him/her get to school even when it is difficult?

19. Why Are Students Missing Too Much School?
Myths
Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused
Sporadic versus consecutive absences aren’t a problem
Attendance only matters in the older grades
Barriers
Lack of access to health or dental care
Poor
Transportation
Trauma
No safe path to school
Aversion
Child struggling academically
Lack of engaging instruction
Poor school climate and ineffective school discipline
Parents had negative school experience
Chronic disease
The good news is that chronic absence is a solvable problem. But knowing what will do the trick– requires understanding what leads to a student not coming to school. There are three major kind of reasons that students don’t go to school. It starts not with not making assumptions but taking the time to find out why a student or students are missing school. And, we have found it helpful to think about the possibilities in these big buckets. (Then go through some of the issues)
Remind people that aversion isn’t always a big issue. Among young children, aversion may be a matter of separation anxiety– the nervousness that a young child feels if he or she is going to be cared – for the first time - by someone who isn’t a family member. What by the way– do you think kids say when they are nervous or anxious about going to school? Mommy, I have a stomach ache… So then sometimes you make think this is a barrier related to health– when the issue is really aversion.
By the same token- it is important to keep in mind aversion can reflect much more serious systemic challenges such as poor school discipline policies that are pushing students out of school. Do you realize some places still, for example, suspend students for being truant?
Data combined with the insights of student and families can help you understand what are the causes of absences. If chronic absence is concentrated in a neighborhood - see if there are safety or transportation issue. Or find out if chronic absence is associated with high levels of asthma, could it be poorly controlled asthma or families not feeling secure about the ability of school to deal with an asthma attack. If chronic absence is concentrated in a classroom – it could be a matter of poor and boring instruction. Or, perhaps a teacher struggling with a bullying issue and in need of support.

20. Leading Health Related Causes
Asthma
Oral Health
Children miss nearly two million school days due to oral health issues every year. (In TN, 22% did not have preventative dental care. *)
Nearly one in ten children age 4-14 are diagnosed with asthma accounting for one-third of all days of missed instruction. (In 12% of children have problems with Asthma.*)
But, as the leading health-related causes of chronic absenteeism, the examples of asthma and oral health illustrate the tremendous scale of this problem:
Asthma. Nearly one in 10 children (9.9 percent) age 4-14 are diagnosed with asthma. Asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism, accounting for one-third of all days of missed instruction. Children with persistent asthma are more than three times as likely to have 10 or more absences than their peers.
Oral health. A full twenty percent of children aged 5 to 11 years have at least one untreated decayed tooth. Among school-age children, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease, five times more prevalent than asthma. Children between 5 and 17 years miss nearly two million school days in a single year nationwide due to dental health-related problems. Children with poor oral health status are nearly three times more likely than their counterparts to miss school as a result of dental pain.
* Source = AECF Kids Count

21. Leading Health Related Causes
Asthma
Bullying
Oral Health
Mental Health
Nutrition
Vision
Of course, the problem of health-related chronic absence goes far beyond these two issues. Research indicates that other common health conditions resulting in missed school include bullying, mental health, nutrition and vision. Let me walk through some quick details here because it’s quite sobering:
Bullying: over 7% of students report not going to school at least one day in the previous month because they felt unsafe at school or on the way to school.
Nutrition: Children who come from food-insecure home are more likely to be suspended from school and have higher rates of absenteeism. And obese students are 1.7 times more likely to have 10 or more absences in a given year than their non-obese peers.
Mental Health: Children affected by ADHD are more likely to exhibit tardiness and absenteeism.
Vision: Students with vision impairments are at increased risk of disengagement from school which is a risk factor for increased missed school days.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many schools do not provide conditions that support student health. Many schools have inadequate school nurse staffing, poor indoor air quality, or a lack of access to physical activity – all which can contribute to health issues.
Of course the health-related factors don’t end with this list, but the message is clear, addressing health, particularly in a young populations, need to be part of a strategy to address chronic absenteeism.

22. Going to School Every Day Reflects When Families Have …
Hope
for a better future +
Faith
that school will help you or your child succeed
Capacity
Resources, skills, knowledge needed to get to school

23. AW Recommended Site Level Strategies
At same time, we know schools and communities can understand why kids aren’t in school and turn attendance around when they implement these five strategies with fidelity. How schools carry them out can be tailored to their own realities and strengths.
Then – I go through and offer examples of what each one of these might look like. I also clarify that recognizing good and improved attendance isn’t just providing perfect attendance awards for a semester or year– which doesn’t help to motivate improvement among the students with the most problematic attendance.

24. Improving Attendance Requires a Multi-Tiered Approach
Intensive case management with coordination of public agency and legal response as needed
TIER 3 Students who missed 20% or more of the prior school year (severe chronic absence) or have a history of truancy.
High Cost
Low Cost
Truancy interventions
Provide personalized early outreach
Meet with student/family to develop plan
Offer attendance Mentor/Buddy
TIER 2 Students exhibiting chronic absence (missing 10%).
Improving attendance requires a 3 tiered approach. The challenge is that too many schools and communities are failing to invest in the first two tiers of universal and preventative. The strategies we just outlined– help to ensure an investment in the bottom two tiers – recognizing good and improved attendance as well as parent and student engagement are part of universal approaches. Personalized early outreach ensures intervention happens early. Investing in these bottom tiers is both more effective and less costly. And, if schools don’t, then the top of the pyramid becomes easily becomes overwhelmed.
TIER 1
All students
Recognize good and improved attendance
Educate & engage students and families
Monitor attendance data
Clarify attendance expectations and goals
Establish positive and engaging school climate

25. Use your worksheet to reflect on possible tiered intervention

26. Attendance is higher when schools:
Tier 1: Creating a positive, engaging school climate that explicitly supports attendance
Attendance is higher when schools:
promote a sense of belonging and connection including noticing when students show up
make learning so engaging students don’t want to miss class while creating understanding of how easily absences can add up
engage in restorative practice not punishment
help our most economically challenged families and students meet their basic needs so all have the opportunity to get to school.
Build awareness about how absences can easily add up to too much time lost in the classroom.

27. Pilot Survey by Todd Rogers (Harvard University)
Vast majority of parents, even those of students with excessive absences, believe their child’s attendance is same as classmates, better than classmates, or just don’t know

28. Tier 1: Communication, Education, and Engagement
We also have tool kits. The parent engagement toolkit includes exercises to demonstrate the difference absenteeism makes on academic achievement and the teaching attendance toolkit includes strategies for entwining attendance messaging with pre-existing school communication and engagement strategies.

29. Build Awareness of How Absences Add Up
Send home handouts with information & tips. (
Talk with parents early and often to share the value of good attendance and let them know that you are there to help.
Consider using an activity at a parent event to demonstrate the importance of avoiding absences.
Utilize written commitments to encourage good attendance such as a pledge or the attendance goal work sheet.

30. Parent Video & Discussion Guide
Setting the stage
VIDEO (6 minutes)
Facilitated conversation
The consequences of chronic Absence
How to improve absenteeism
Family practice
Increase social capital
Identify how school can help
Community services
Cecelia
Discussion: When and where might you use these materials with a family or a group?

31. Make Creating Back Up Plans a Norm: Student Attendance Success Plan
Tip: Start with the Help Bank and the Calendar on the 3rd page. Offer up first page as homework to take home.

32. Leveraging Parent Teacher Conferences
How many of your work in a district or a school where parent teacher conferences are still held?
Do you discuss attendance during those conferences?

33. What might educators and community partners say to families?
Satisfactory Attendance
At-Risk
Chronic Absence
If student is severely chronically absent (e.g. >20%)
The type of challenges these families face may differ from those with more moderate absence problems. Be prepared to touch on difficult topics, be supportive, and be ready to connect to community resources.
If student is right around 10% or a little above
Let parents know their child may be academically at risk because they have missed so much school. Discuss underlying causes and how you can help.
Congratulate parents on making attendance a priority and encourage them to keep it up. Ask them what they’re doing that’s enabling them to be so successful.
Let parents know that you are concerned about attendance because their child is beginning to head off track, and it is easy for absences to add up.

34. Talking to Families about Absences: A Role Play
Teacher Perspective: It’s October and Alyssa has already missed 8 days of school and is frequently tardy. The teacher has noticed that Alyssa seems more reserved and less attentive than normal in class.
Mother’s Perspective: Alyssa has asthma and its causing her to miss school. Alyssa is not skipping school without permission so these absences aren’t a problem.
Invite two new volunteers to play the role of teacher and parent.

35. Framing the Conversation to Build a Relationship of Trust1
Learn
Learn about the student’s family. Ask what their vision is for their child’s future. What are their hopes and dreams for them? 2
Share positive things you’ve observed about the student. Share your own vision for student learning & development, including helping put students on a pathway to success by encouraging a habit of good attendance.
Share 3
Review attendance report with parents. Tailor your conversation to student’s level of absenteeism and inform parents of possible impacts of missing school. Connect attendance back to parents’ hopes and dreams for their child.
Inform 4
Discuss
Discuss the challenges parents face in getting their children to school, as well as strengths they can build upon. For chronically absent students, try to understand the barriers that are keeping their children from school. 5
Arrive at a Plan
Think through strategies with parents for addressing absences and help them develop an attendance improvement plan. Offer referrals to services as needed and ask if there are other ways you can help.

36. Tier 2 Interventions
Tier 2: Targeted interventions that remove identified barriers and increase positive connections that motivate improved attendance.
Who are the families in Tier 2?
Missing 10% -20% of the prior or current school year for any reason.
Families experiencing some challenge e.g. chronic disease, job loss, divorce, etc.
For which families is Tier 2 sufficient?
Families with barriers to school attendance who may not understand how to access support.
Families who see school as “the deliverer of bad news”.
Families who are more successful when there is a positive relationship with someone at the school.
Cecelia and Teneh.

37. Tier 2: Criteria for Identifying Which Students Need It
Chronic absence (missed 10% or more of school) in the prior year, assuming data is available.
And/or starting in the beginning of the school year, student has:
In first 2 weeks
2 absences
In first month (4 weeks)
2-3 absences
Missing 10% any time after
In first 2 months (8 weeks)
4 absences

38. Possible Tier 2 Interventions
(See Power of Positive Connections Toolkit)
Recruit for engaging Before- or After-School Activities
Partner with families/students to develop Student Attendance Success Plan
Connect to Walk- to-School Companion
Priority Early Outreach for Positive Linkages and Engagement
Assign Attendance Buddies
Offer plan or contacts for Health Support

39. Key Finding: Success Mentors & Supporting Infrastructure Substantially Improved Student Attendance
Students with prior histories of chronic absenteeism with a Success Mentor gained nearly two additional weeks of school (9 days), which is educationally significant.
In the top 25% of schools, students with Success Mentors gained one additional month of school.
High School students with Success Mentors (including those overage for their grade) were 52% more likely to remain in school the following year.
Mentees reported they liked having a mentor and the mentor helped improve their attendance, schoolwork, motivation, and confidence.
MAYOR’S INTERAGENCY TASK FORCE 39

40. Tier 3 Interventions
Tier 3 provides intensive interventions, often from multiple agencies or specialists within a school district or community.
Who are families in Tier 3?
Missing 20% or more of the prior or current school year for any reason.
Already involved in the system (child welfare, juvenile or criminal justices)
For which families is Tier 3 necessary?
Families who feel hopeless because of the barriers they face.
Families who are unable to experience success without intervention.
Families who have a negative relationship with school.
Families who require ongoing support for sustained success. 36

41. Who Can Help Families at Tier 3?
Community schools
Head Start family liaisons
School integrated service teams
Family resource centers
County Social Services
McKinney Vento representatives
Who would you add to this list? 37

42. Ingredients for System-wide Success & Sustainability
Community
District
Use positive relationships to engage parents and understanding about why monitoring absence is essential to a better future.
Is accurate, accessible, and regularly reported
Positive Engagement
Actionable Data
Students & Families
Schools
At same time, we know schools and communities can understand why kids aren’t in school and turn attendance around when they implement these five strategies with fidelity. How schools carry them out can be tailored to their own realities and strengths.
Then – I go through and offer examples of what each one of these might look like. I also clarify that recognizing good and improved attendance isn’t just providing perfect attendance awards for a semester or year– which doesn’t help to motivate improvement among the students with the most problematic attendance.
Shared Accountability
Capacity Building
Ensures monitoring & incentives to address chronic absence
Expands ability to interpret data and work together to adopt best practices
Strategic partnerships between district and community partners address specific attendance barriers and mobilize support for all ingredients

43. .
Use data to identify schools in need of intervention as well as positive outliers
Sample Report: Anderson County
School Name
Percent of Students who were absent 10 percent of enrolled days
Percent of Students who were absent 20 percent of enrolled days
Anderson County High School
14% 3%
Andersonville Elementary 7% 1%
Briceville Elementary
16% 4%
Claxton Elementary
11% 2%
Clinton Middle School 9%
Clinton High School 5%
Dutch Valley Elementary
12%
Fairview Elementary
Grand Oaks Elementary
13%
Lake City Elementary
Lake City Middle School
Norris Elementary
Norris Middle School
10%
Norwood Elementary
17%
Norwood Middle School 8% 0%
Clinch River Community School
25%
This report was produced for planning and discussion purposes only. The population of students for whom we counted absences must have been present for 45 days during the school year in order to have been classified as having missed 10 or 20 percent of their enrolled days. Schools with high rates of transience (alternative schools, adult, etc.) have not been included in this report.

44. Positive Outlier Toolkit
To document effective practices in schools with high levels of poverty but low levels of chronic absence

45. Use data to identify the right points for interventions
OUSD data,
Example from K-12 Combination Tool

46. Make the case that chronic early absence matters
Map chronic early absence
Engage partners, especially health providers, in unpacking why early absences occur
Learn from positive outliers
Embed action into existing initiatives
Sample Report: Anderson County

47. Turn to your partner
To what extent is chronic absence a priority in your district?
What could you do to help make the case?

48. Announcements
& Resources

49. What are you planning in 2015?
Post your community’s plans for Attendance Awareness Month 2015 on our map!

50. The Superintendents Call to Action
Prioritize Attendance
Mobilize the Community
Drive With Data
To sign-up for the Call to Action, or to learn more, please visit:

51. Leading Attendance Principals can:
Cultivate A School Wide Culture of Attendance
Use Chronic Absence Data to Assess Need For Additional Support
Develop Capacity to Adopt Effective Attendance Practice
Advocate for Additional Resources and Policy to Improve Attendance

52. Nominate a principal today!
When it comes to attendance, the principal deserves a PAL!
The inaugural PAL (Principal Attendance Leader) award:
Recognizes school leaders who have effectively lead their school teams to reduce chronic absence
Highlights best practices in leading attendance with stories and a webinar at the conclusion of Attendance Awareness Month
Nominate a principal today!

53. Chronic Absence = The Warning Light On A Car Dashboard
The Parallels
Ignore it at your personal peril!
Address early or potentially pay more (lots more) later.
The key is to ask why is this blinking? What could this mean?

54. District Attendance Self-Assessment

55. Instructions
1. Use dots to post your response on the charts 2. Step back and look at patterns. What do you notice when you look at the charts. Where are areas of strength? Where are major gaps? 3. Thursday morning Tennessee State Dept. of Education staff will lead a brief reflection on the collective results.