Using Attendance Data to Improve Student Achievement

STATS-DC 2010Attendance: Education’s Most Important

KPI

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Sue Fothergill, CoordinatorBaltimore City Student Attendance Initiative

Tanya Williams PsyD, Coordinator

Office of Attendance and Truancy

Baltimore City Public Schools

Attendance Data: A Tool for School Attendance Data: A Tool for School Improvement Improvement

Poor Attendance is:• an early warning sign• predictive of academic failure • a drag on pace of instruction • costly for schools and cities

Attendance Measures are:• Available• Accessible• Understandable• Powerful

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Why are Measures of Why are Measures of Attendance so Powerful?Attendance so Powerful?

Attendance Measures Are:• Up-to-date, recorded daily in most

districts• Easily Understood by all stakeholders• Universally Accepted as Important –

better attendance leads to higher achievement

• Best Available Indicator of student engagement

• Strong Predictor of school failure• Counterbalance to “push-out” tendencies

of test-based accountability rubrics

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The Impact of Attendance on Student SuccessThe Impact of Attendance on Student SuccessChronically absent kindergarteners in a six city study had

the lowest performance on 5th grade assessments.

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0-3.3% in K 3.3 - 6.6% in K 6.6-10.0% in K >=10.0% in K

Ave

rage

Aca

dem

ic P

erfo

rman

ce

Absence Rate in Kindergarten

Reading

Math

Source: Chang and Romero, 2008

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10-19% of Days Absent

Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium

The problem: Chronic Absence in Baltimore is High and Rises to Epidemic Levels by High School

20% and Above of Days Absent

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Poor Attendance in 6Poor Attendance in 6thth Grade Grade Predicts DropoutPredicts Dropout

High School Outcomes by Rates of Chronic Absenteeism in Sixth Grade

(Baltimore City Public Schools, 1990-00 Sixth Grade Cohort)

Baltimore’s Baltimore’s Attendance Attendance StrategyStrategy

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All school absences reduce learning, but All school absences reduce learning, but they happen for different reasons,they happen for different reasons,

– Suspensions and Expulsions – school-imposed

– Excused absence – illness, doctor’s visit, court, etc.

– Unexcused absence – skipping school, sibling or elder care, no note, etc.

And need different And need different solutions…solutions…

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•Adopt a progressive discipline code•Make attendance widely available and a “must respond to” indicator for school and student support staff•Stress positive, problem-solving approaches: increase student voice, incentives, communication to parents and community

Baltimore’s Attendance Strategy

• Use Data to Understand the Problem

• Bring in School, City and Community Partners

• Study Best Practices• Implement School and System

Reforms• Change Use of Attendance Data

Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Advancingis Advancing

• Using additional data points besides ADA Calculated by dividing the aggregate number of students in attendance by the aggregate number of students in membership for the same time frame.  What proportion of students enrolled attend school each day

Attendance– High attenders - 5 or fewer days absent– Regular attendance - 9 or fewer days absent (about 5%)

Absences– Chronic absence – 20 to 39 days (about 10-19%)-excused and

unexcused – Habitual truancy – enrolled in a school for 91 ore more days,

unlawfully absent for 20% – Suspensions and expulsions – school imposed absences

Withdrawals/Dropouts 10

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Chronic Absence Rates, 10 Baltimore Schools with Attendance Rates > or = to 95%

Paying Attention Only to Average Daily Attendance Can Allow Chronic Absence to

go Unnoticed.

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School Year 2009 - 2010 Average Daily Attendance

SY 0910 vs. SY 0809

Change

All Reg. Sped. All Reg. Sped93.17% 93.65% 90.45% - .74% - .35% - 2.06%

School Year 2009 - 2010 Chronic Absence RateSchool Year 2009 - 2010 # enrolled

Truant students

All Reg. Sped. All Reg. Sped.23.80% 22.14% 32.69% 27 21 6

School Year 2009 - 2010 # of High Attenders School Year 2009 - 2010 % of High Attenders

All Reg. Sped. All Reg. Sped.221 190 31 66.57% 67.86% 59.62%

Baltimore City Public Schools Attendance DataBaltimore City Public Schools Attendance Data

KASA Middle/High (#342)preliminary data as of 7/2/2010

Enrollment= 290

• Taking Attendance more often: daily in K-8 schools and in each class in Secondary schools

• Triaging Schools: high absence schools flagged for intervention

• Triaging Students: high-absence students are flagged for referral to Student Support and IEP Teams and community services

• Increasing Accountability: district-level “Attendance-Stat” and “Special-Education Stat” to track data collection, attendance rates and areas of need

• Improving Dissemination: web-portal gives real-time & historical data for students and whole school to principals

• Determining how and where incentives should be used

Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Increasing Focus for SY 1011Increasing Focus for SY 1011

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Baltimore’sBaltimore’sAttendance ResultsAttendance Results

Over 14,000 Fewer Suspensions in Over 14,000 Fewer Suspensions in Baltimore City Public SchoolsBaltimore City Public Schools

Note: School District Population School Year 2008–09, 82,266 15

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17Baltimore Habitual Truant Rates decreased from 8,068 in 0607 to 6,377 in 0809

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Baltimore City Student Attendance Initiatives’ Documents: www.igoogle.com

Username: attendancewg.userPassword: stayinschoolContact: Sue FothergillPhone: 410-404-4570E-Mail: fothergill.sue@gmail.com

Photography by Audrey Gatewood