DATAG Summer Conference 2024

Tackling Truancy:

Resources to Address Chronic Absence

• Chris Casey
• School Improvement Data Analyst
• Questar III BOCES
• chris.casey@questar.org

Illustrating the Gap

Agenda

• Setting the Stage
• Attendance Data
• White House Summit
• District Strategies
• Sharing Resources

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Chronic Absenteeism in NY

Source: Every Student Present :: What it is, why it's important & who it affects

2021-2022 Attendance

2022-2023 Attendance

2022-2023 Chronic Absence

New York State:

Elementary/Middle-26.4%

Secondary-34%

2024 National Message

SCALE & INTENSITY

OF CHALLENGE

REQUIRES A SYSTEMIC APPROACH

Aversion

Barriers

Misconceptions

Disengagement

KNOW YOUR CHALLENGE

IT CAN VARY BY TIME, PLACE & GRADE LEVEL

Increased by the Pandemic:

• Family responsibilities—sibling, eldercare, etc.
• High school students with jobs to support themselves and family.
• Trauma and mental health.

Continuing Factors:

• Chronic and acute illness.
• Poor transportation.
• Housing and food insecurity.
• Lack of access to health care, eyeglasses, dentistry.
• System involvement.
• Community violence.

Increased by the Pandemic:

• Social anxiety.
• Peer challenges, including drama, teasing, or bullying.
• Struggling academically and/or behaviorally.
• Unwelcoming school climate. (E.g. unpredictable or feel excluded.)

Continuing Factors:

• Biased disciplinary and suspension practices.
• Undiagnosed disability and/or lack of disability accommodations.
• Caregivers had negative educational experiences.

AVERSION:

I DO NOT WANT TO GO TO SCHOOL

Increased by the Pandemic:

• Lack school connectedness—no meaningful relationships to adult and peers in the school.
• Don’t see connection between regular school attendance and important outcomes.

Continuing Factors:

• Lack of challenging, culturally responsive instruction and enrichment opportunities. (I.g. bored.)
• Doing poorly in classes. (E.g. lack of academic and behavioral support.)

DISENGAGEMENT:

WHAT IS THE POINT?

Increased by the Pandemic:

• Assume students must stay home for any symptom of illness.
• Don’t have to be in school to succeed in school.

(Can do assignments online.)

Continuing Factors:

• Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused.
• Lose track and underestimate total absences.
• Attendance only matters in the older grades.
• Suspensions don’t count as absence.

MISCONCEPTION:

I DID NOT REALIZE

ORGANIZE YOUR RESPONSE

Need a Systematic Approach

Effective Practices:

• Increase school connectedness.
• Family engagement.
• Messaging campaigns. (E.g. “School is a good place to be.”)
• Nudge letters.

District/School Actions:

• Take supportive—not punitive—response to absenteeism.
• Improve school climate, access to extra-curriculars, show how schooling connects to locally meaningful outcomes and opportunities.
• Anti-bullying efforts. (In-person and social media.)

PREVENTION:

POSITIVE CONDITIONS FOR LEARNING

DEEPER DIVE ON SCHOOL CONNECTEDNESS:

When students are connected to school, they attend more often,

do better in school, and have better mental and physical health.

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Students are connected to school when they:

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• Have an adult at school who knows and cares about them as a person.
• Have a supportive peer group.
• Engage at least some of the time in meaningful pro-social activities.
• Feel welcome in school as they are.

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Schools can influence, improve, and measure all of these.

Effective Practices:

• Engaging students and families in identifying root cause and solutions.
• Early warning, MTSS, and student success systems.
• Success coaches and mentors.

District/School Actions:

• Form strategic partnerships to provide student supports at scale required. (E.g. mentors, tutors, wraparound supports, etc.)
• Create or expand community schools.
• Partners with mayor to create inter-agency task force to bring health, transportation, housing, workforce agencies, etc. assets to bear.

PROBLEM-SOLVING:

ADDRESSING ROOT CAUSE

Effective Practices:

• High-dosage tutoring.
• Highly engaging summer learning.
• Meaningful high school credit recovery opportunities.
• Peer mentoring to support social re-integration.
• Success coaches or mentors.

District/School Actions:

• Not having policies which prevent recovery. (E.g. cannot make up work if absence is unexcused, must fail a class if missed too many days.

MITIGATION:

RECOVERING LEARNING & SOCIAL CONNECTION

Intervention Worksheet

Resources

• www.attendanceworks.org

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• www.everystudentpresent.org

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• Blueprint for English Language Learner Success (nysed.gov)

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• ELL/MLL Grad and Dropout Toolkit (nysed.gov)

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• Data Insights: How the Pandemic is Affecting the 2020-2021 School Year | Ohio Department of Education

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• school-attendance-absenteeism-and-student-success-final.pdf (state.or.us)

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