Solving Chronic Absenteeism Through the Smarter Use of Data

States tie funding for Okay-12 college districts to every day pupil attendance charges or different measures of enrollment, a hyperlink that makes it essential for policymakers to know that they’re getting correct measures for these metrics.

The accessible knowledge counsel that continual absenteeism is an epidemic. States are paying consideration.

In 2021, 18 p.c of states included continual absenteeism for the earlier yr on state report playing cards—a determine that hit 33 p.c of states in 2022 and jumped to 80 p.c of them in 2023, in keeping with the Knowledge High quality Marketing campaign, a nonprofit advocacy group that helps state and faculty district leaders use training knowledge successfully.

“The pandemic really elevated continual absenteeism as a core coverage concern for lots of training leaders—and what we care about will get measured,” mentioned Rachel Anderson, vice chairman of the Knowledge High quality Marketing campaign, which supplies entry to knowledge for training decision-making.

“An elevated concentrate on college students coming to high school—and realizing that continual absenteeism was an actual downside—then translated into higher, extra public details about the difficulty.”

Anderson lately spoke with EdWeek Market Temporary Contributing Author Robin L. Flanigan about how states have been battling continual absenteeism, what some states have performed to reverse troubling developments, and the way distributors might help districts apply attendance knowledge to correcting the issue.

How lengthy has your group been retaining monitor of continual absenteeism, and why is doing so vital?

The Knowledge High quality Marketing campaign has been supporting states to make use of knowledge [on] continual absenteeism for nearly 20 years, so long as the group has existed. Whereas we aren’t singularly centered on absenteeism knowledge, we’ve at all times been singularly centered on this concept that knowledge must be an accessible software to alter selections.

Continual absenteeism knowledge is uniquely useful as a result of it illuminates bigger issues and questions. The information itself doesn’t inform you a lot, nevertheless it permits you to ask a distinct set of questions on why there’s a continual absenteeism downside. Is it as a result of there are well being issues in the neighborhood? Is it as a result of there isn’t sufficient transportation? Are there issues of safety with kids coming to high school?

What do state report playing cards seem like, and what’s your evaluation of how dependable they’re?

We have a look at whether or not these report playing cards are only a checklist of numbers or a spreadsheet, or really a software that would assist information mother and father by way of a collection of questions and solutions to assist perceive how a faculty is doing. And what we constantly discover is that states continuously don’t embody federally required data on these report playing cards—they usually’re additionally not utilizing them as a useful gizmo.

They as a substitute are a compliance train for reporting data. Typically the information is incomplete or outdated, and on the whole isn’t geared towards serving to households perceive what’s really happening.

Legally, states are required to place out continual absence knowledge for each single college, however that is actually not at all times being performed.

Might you describe the position COVID has performed on this attendance pattern?

Within the 2021-22 college yr, 30 p.c of scholars nationwide had been chronically absent, in keeping with Attendance Works. If you examine that to the 2018-19 college yr—simply earlier than the pandemic—that’s practically double the share.

So not solely did the beginning of COVID trigger an unlimited enhance in continual absences, however even now that faculties have reopened we haven’t seen that price come again down. In reality, for the 2022-23 college yr, analysis from FutureEd discovered solely marginal enhancements of lower than 5 share factors in comparison with the yr earlier than.

What accounts for the enhancements in attendance within the states which have seen them lately?

Simply having the information itself doesn’t do something. The place we’re seeing states and communities make actual progress is the place they’ve knowledge and are utilizing it as half of a bigger plan to deal with continual absenteeism. They’re utilizing it to have several types of conversations internally, have several types of conversations with households, and have extra public conversations about attendance.

One instance is Rhode Island, which has introduced down its continual absenteeism price fairly a bit over the past two years. It has a Scholar Attendance Leaderboard, a software that’s up to date every day and reveals the variety of college students enrolled in every college and the quantity on monitor to be chronically absent. Whereas college leaders and policymakers can use the dashboard, it’s additionally accessible to the general public on the Rhode Island Division of Training web site.

What different states are making good use of absenteeism knowledge, in your view?

Connecticut elevated attendance by 15 p.c in 2021-22 for chronically absent college students due to the Learner Engagement and Attendance Program [it] bought by way of federal funding. It’s designed to construct relationships with households by way of house visits and focused interventions, reasonably than simply saying, “We’ve got a continual absentee downside. Please, everybody, come to high school.”

They’d funding, time, data and course to do outreach with households and have conversations about why it was onerous to come back to high school and what helps could be wanted. They noticed this program was profitable and now allocate numerous state funding to it.

What separated these state approaches from others you’ve seen?

State management is vital, however so is having a technique to work together with and perceive knowledge. Even in states which have sturdy knowledge techniques, recordkeeping and administration, it may be actually troublesome to take motion with knowledge except you’re capable of put it in a visualization software—one that’s customizable and in addition brings collectively knowledge from completely different sources—that permits you to perceive what you’re taking a look at. That may’t be overstated.

You’ve mentioned knowledge assortment can make clear bigger challenges dealing with a faculty. Please elaborate.

The impacts of continual absenteeism are felt not simply by the scholars who’re absent, however by the remainder of the varsity as nicely. It may well spotlight well being challenges or transportation issues or issues of safety.

And if the information is used as a place to begin to interact with households and ask extra questions on causes behind an issue, it might probably turn into a very highly effective supply of knowledge for altering coverage throughout the college, and even on the district or state degree.

How can training distributors assist with knowledge, when states typically have completely different definitions of what it means to be chronically absent?

Native faculties and districts want platforms or reporting processes which might be aware of their state definitions. Distributors might have to have the ability to alter a few of their reporting fields, relying on what state they’re working in.

We additionally need faculties to have the ability to disaggregate knowledge by completely different pupil populations. For instance, it could be vital to know if college students in a sure a part of the district usually tend to be chronically absent, which could require a transportation repair. States and faculties are going to wish longitudinal knowledge, the place they will see not simply how college students are at present doing however how they did final yr as nicely.

What different parts of knowledge assortment and evaluation are lacking from the market?

We’re additionally going to see states in search of knowledge platforms that enable them to attach several types of knowledge. They’ll wish to pull collectively attendance knowledge alongside educational knowledge and take a look at rating data, and in addition nonacademic data like tutoring or childcare or afterschool programming.

A nationwide ballot earlier this yr discovered that two causes for continual absenteeism are pupil boredom and psychological well being challenges. Can knowledge assist faculties overcome these issues?

Continual absence knowledge is usually a actually highly effective a part of different initiatives. For instance, early warning techniques carry collectively attendance knowledge, course-grade knowledge, and suspension knowledge to assist educators determine college students who’re prone to dropping out.

The thought is that college leaders attain out to college students earlier than they’re off monitor and assist individualize interventions.

What recommendation would you give to distributors making an attempt to assist districts make smarter use of knowledge?

They need to get a way from educators of the questions they’re making an attempt to reply, what knowledge they want, and the way they wish to have a look at this knowledge in an effort to take motion. It is a subject that’s entrance of thoughts for a lot of educators, college leaders and district leaders proper now. They’ll have large perception into how platforms might be most useful to them.

What are your ideas in regards to the White Home taking actions to stop continual absenteeism?

The White Home needs states to offer the general public with up-to-date data on continual absence developments, to offer educators with school-level knowledge that helps them perceive the foundation causes of continual absence of their neighborhood, and to offer households with real-time data on their very own little one’s attendance.

The administration calls on pupil data system distributors to make pupil attendance knowledge extra accessible and helpful, and to make sure their merchandise make this knowledge interoperable, exportable, and shareable. States and districts shall be in search of distributors who can meet these wants.