1 in 4 Oregon kids chronically absent
A study highlights the link between consistent school attendance and success
Published: (Thursday, Feb 2, 2012 10:40AM) Midnight, Feb. 2
A quarter of Oregon’s public school
children miss at least 10 percent of the school year, according to a
new analysis of state education data by a coalition of nonprofits that
believes school attendance is closely tied to student achievement.
Chronic absence, which is defined as
missing 10 percent or more of the school year, is also an early
indicator that a student will eventually drop out of school, said Hedy
Chang, director of Attendance Works, a national organization that
focuses on improving attendance.
Attendance Works paid for the analysis of Oregon state student data, which was scheduled to be released to the public today.
Historically, schools and districts have
tracked attendance by looking at the average daily attendance of their
students as a group. This analysis looks at the yearlong attendance of
individual students.
The data isn’t new; it’s the perspective that has changed, Chang said.
Nearly every state in the nation has the
data to do this kind of analysis, which would help them do a better job
of identifying individual students who are likely to have academic
problems, she added.
“I think most states have never crunched
the numbers,” she said. Georgia examined statewide attendance and
achievement data last fall, but did not break it down by school,
district or ethnic group.
The Oregon analysis of the 2009-2010 school
year, which was done by economic consulting firm EcoNorthwest, also
found the following:
The worst attendance was in the early years of kindergarten and first grade as well as high school.
Among kids from poor families, about
28 percent miss school more than 10 percent of the year. That’s about
twice the average for students who are not poor. Similar numbers are
seen among special education and black students.
The best attendance was among Asian students, with just 13 percent being chronically absent.
Children who have good attendance in kindergarten are likely to have good attendance in fifth grade.
Students with the best attendance also have the best scores on standardized academic tests.
Thanks to a nonprofit called the
Children’s Institute, which focuses on early learning and kindergarten
readiness, every Oregon school district will now have access to this
attendance analysis for their students.
The next step will be figuring out how some
schools “beat the odds” and have good attendance despite what their
demographics might predict, said Swati Adarkar, CEO of the Children’s
Institute.
Her organization believes this data can be
another important tool to help schools close the achievement gap between
kids from different ethnic groups.
The Children’s Institute and its partners
also aim to make sure parents see the connection between attendance and
achievement, even in the early grades, and how kids who have poor
attendance in kindergarten and first grade may be setting a pattern that
will end with them dropping out of high school, Adarkar said.
“This data really shows us it matters what
we do with our really young kids,” Adarkar said. Another benefit of this
kind of data is that it allows schools to track improvement in a very
simple way, she added.
Portland Public Schools was inspired by its
attendance data to put more of an emphasis on attendance when it met
with parents of its incoming kindergarten classes, said Allyson
Yoshiwara, early childhood administrator for the district’s Title 1
schools, which are high poverty schools.
The importance of school attendance and its
connection to student achievement is emphasized during the district’s
three-week kindergarten readiness program, which includes twice weekly
meetings with parents.
Yoshiwara said the district saw better
kindergarten attendance this past fall but attributes some of that
improvement to the benefit of helping both parents and kids get better
prepared for school.
“We love this program. Teachers love it. Parents love,” Yoshiwara said. “It’s really special.”
Multnomah County’s social and support
services program has also taken hold of this information and is working
to build public awareness about the importance of regular attendance.
