School Every Day Using Chronic Absence Data to
School Every Day: Using Chronic Absence Data to Reduce Student Absences Santa Clara Datazone www. attendanceworks. org October 15, 2018
What is Chronic Absence? Excused absences Unexcused absences Chronic absence is missing so much school for any reason that a student is academically at risk. Attendance Works recommends defining it as missing 10% or more of school for any reason. Suspensions Chronic Absence Chronic absence is different from truancy (unexcused absences only) or average daily attendance (how many students show up to school each day). © www. attendanceworks. org 2
What is Actionable Data? For decision-makers to use data, the data must be: ü Accurate ü Accessible ü Timely ü Regularly reported © www. attendanceworks. org 3
Using Actionable Data ü Allocate resources more efficiently (staff or funds) ü Signal need for prompt corrective actions ü Address inequitable outcomes ü Identify positive outliers and best practices © www. attendanceworks. org 4
The Good News! © www. attendanceworks. org 5
Attendance Works Chronic Absence Reports will be in Datazone! Free Tools Also Available through Attendance Works ü The District Attendance Tracking Tools (DATT) and School Attendance Tracking Tools (SATT) are available in three modules: ü Grades K-5 ü Grades 6 -8 and ü Grades 9 -12 ü We also offer a Tool to Combine the Modules for K-12 reports © www. attendanceworks. org 6
How to Use Your Chronic Absence Data © www. attendanceworks. org 7
Attendance Bands © www. attendanceworks. org 8
How Many Students in Each Attendance Band? GRADE NUMBER severe chronic absence Grade TK 0 PERCENT severe chronic absence NUMBER moderate chronic absence PERCENT moderate chronic absence NUMBER ALL chronic absence (severe + moderate) PERCENT ALL chronic absence (severe + moderate) NUMBER at-risk attendance PERCENT at-risk attendance NUMBER satisfactory attendance PERCENT Satisfactory Attendance Total Students 0 0 2015 -2016 0 0 0 Grade K 6 1. 4% 39 9. 3% 45 10. 7% 125 29. 7% 251 59. 6% 421 Grade 1 4 1. 0% 25 6. 0% 29 7. 0% 89 21. 3% 299 71. 7% 417 Grade 2 2 0. 5% 17 4. 1% 19 4. 6% 66 15. 9% 330 79. 5% 415 Grade 3 5 1. 3% 19 4. 8% 24 6. 0% 61 15. 3% 315 78. 8% 400 Grade 4 2 0. 5% 6 1. 4% 8 1. 9% 80 18. 7% 340 79. 4% 428 Grade 5 4 0. 9% 19 4. 3% 23 5. 3% 67 15. 3% 347 79. 4% 437 Grade 6 1 0. 2% 20 4. 8% 21 5. 0% 57 13. 7% 338 81. 3% 416 Grade 7 8 1. 9% 15 3. 6% 23 5. 5% 84 20. 2% 308 74. 2% 415 Grade 8 12 3. 4% 18 5. 1% 30 8. 5% 65 18. 5% 257 73. 0% 352 Grade 9 8 1. 9% 24 5. 7% 32 7. 6% 68 16. 2% 320 76. 2% 420 Grade 10 26 6. 6% 30 7. 6% 56 14. 2% 71 18. 1% 266 67. 7% 393 Grade 11 12 3. 4% 23 6. 4% 35 9. 8% 80 22. 3% 243 67. 9% 358 Grade 12 19 5. 6% 39 11. 5% 58 17. 2% 85 25. 1% 195 57. 7% 338 73. 1% 5, 210 Totals 109 TIER 3 © 2. 1% 294 5. 6% 403 7. 7% 998 19. 2% 3, 809 TIER 1 TIER 2 www. attendanceworks. org 9
Use your chronic absence data to identify and plan your tiered supports © www. attendanceworks. org 10
To determine the size and scope of the issue District A has a 19% chronic absence rate. In contrast, District B has a problem half the size with a 10% chronic absence rate. © www. attendanceworks. org 11
To identify the right points for interventions Example from K-12 Combination Tool © www. attendanceworks. org 12
To see trends over time Example from K-5 DATT. The By Grade - 3 Years report is in all four tools. © www. attendanceworks. org 13
To Find Positive Outliers and Schools Needing Greater Support © www. attendanceworks. org 14
To determine in what grades and zip codes chronic absence may be concentrated Geographically, where are students with high levels of absences concentrated? www. attendanceworks. org © 15
To identify sub-groups of students who are disproportionately chronically absent The Chronic Absence By Special Needs report is in all four tools. Other sub-grou Reports include Chronic Absence by: Race/ethnicity, Gender, English Learner st Free and Reduced Lunch status plus several new reports. © www. attendanceworks. org 16
To determine which students need special attention/intervention All three DATTs are designed so a simple cut-and -paste of student data into the School Attendance Tracking Tool generates Student Lists for that can be sorted by level of absence. © www. attendanceworks. org 17
Graphical Displays Reveal Hidden Patterns © www. attendanceworks. org 18
Discussion 1. What attendance data do you currently use? 2. How might our school or district use the Data. Zone chronic absence reports? 3. Based on the data, what are the key early intervention points in your school or district? © www. attendanceworks. org 19
How Can We Move the Needle on Chronic Absence?
Invest in Prevention and Early Intervention 21
A Puzzle Increased attention to absenteeism, but chronic absence doesn’t decrease. What is going on? © www. attendanceworks. org 22
Focus on At-Risk and Moderate Bands © www. attendanceworks. org 23
Criteria for Identifying Priority Students for Tier 2 Supports ü Chronic absence (missed 10% or more of school) in the prior year, assuming data is available. ü And/or starting in the beginning of the school year, student has: In first 2 weeks In first month (4 weeks) In first 2 months (8 weeks) © 2 absences 2 -3 absences 4 absences www. attendanceworks. org Missing 10% any time after 24
Use your chronic absence data to identify and plan your tiered supports Individualized plans by attendance team 2 8 20 70 Success Mentors Nurse works with families on health plans Weekly attendance recognition & classroom competitions Daily drawings to reward on-time, bell to bell attendance © Relational home visits for all K, 6 or 9 th grade families Year-round communications plan – attendance messaging www. attendanceworks. org 25
Example Attendance Band Number of Students What if we only focus on severe chronic absence? What if we focus more on at-risk and moderate? Satisfactory Moderate Chronic Absence 70 20 8 70 20 10 80 18 0 Severe Chronic Absence 2 0 2 Total Chronic Absence 10 10 2 At-Risk © www. attendanceworks. org No change in chronic absence Net reduction in chronic absence 26
Discussion • What is the trend in your school or district? • Is chronic absence increasing, the same or decreasing? • What explains the trend? © www. attendanceworks. org 27
How Can We Help Families Understand the Impact of Chronic Absence? More Free Resources
Chronic Absence is Easily Masked if We Only Monitor Missing Consecutive days Chronic Absence = 18 days of absence = As few as 2 days a month 29
Ready to Share Resources from Attendance Works • Share an infographic or flyer, http: //www. attendanceworks. org/tools/forparents/parent-handouts/ • Show a video, http: //www. attendanceworks. org/tools/for-publicmessaging/videos/ 30
Attendance Works Toolkits http: //www. attendanceworks. org/tools/for-public-messaging/holiday-messaging/ 31
Attendance Works Toolkits http: //www. attendanceworks. org/tools/for-public-messaging/winter-messaging/ 32
Avoid the Spring Slump! http: //www. attendanceworks. o rg/tools/schools/springlearning-slump/ 33
Hedy Chang, Executive Director hedy@attendanceworks. org Cecelia Leong, Associate Director, Programs cecelia@attendanceworks. org Sue Fothergill, Associate Director, Policy sue@attendanceworks. org Catherine Cooney, Communications Manager catherine@attendanceworks. org www. attendanceworks. org
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