1 Chronic Absence in the Early Grades: Presentation to NNIP An Applied Research Project funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation (October 2008)

2 What is Chronic Early Absence? Chronic early absence occurs when K-3 rd graders miss 10% or more days (nearly a month) during a school year including excused and unexcused absences. National research found this level of absenteeism was associated with lower academic performance.

3 Why Did We Investigate It? Common sense and research suggest consistent attendance in the early grades is critical to gaining the social and academic skills essential to future school success The educational experience of regularly attending children can be adversely affected when teachers must divert their attention to meet the needs of chronically absent children when they return to school. Chronic early absence could be a critical tool for identifying troubled children, families or educational institutions early on before problems are more difficult to ameliorate. Ensuring a positive entry into school is an early opportunity to prevent school drop-out later on.

4 How Did We Study It? An analysis of national Early Childhood Longitudinal Study data to assess impact, prevalence and risk factors for chronic early absence by the National Center for Children in Poverty. (See nccp.org) An examination of early absenteeism patterns in 9, mostly urban, localities by grade and for particular populations (ELL, gender, low-income and special education) A review of relevant literature Interviews with practitioners and researchers on promising programs and practices

5 Key Findings

6 1.Chronic absence in Kindergarten is associated with lower academic performance in 1 st grade among all children, and most significantly for Latino youngsters. Full-day vs. half-day kindergarten seems to lessen its negative academic impact.

7 2. Going to school regularly in the early years is especially critical for children from families living in poverty. Among poor children, chronic absence in kindergarten predicts the lowest levels of educational achievement at the end of fifth grade.

8 3.An estimated one in ten kindergarten and first grade students are chronically absent nationally. 4.Prevalence of chronic early absence can be even higher locally. Across the nine localities we studied, it ranged from just over 5% to more than 25% of the students K-3.

9 5.Within districts, prevalence of chronic early absence can also differ widely and heavily influence some schools. (e.g. in a district with 13.8% chronic early absence, it ranged from 1 to 54.5% across schools).

10 Data Issues/ Challenges

11 A. Current policies do not support the on-going collection and monitoring of chronic absences, starting in kindergarten because: For funding purposes, schools may lack an incentive to regularly track attendance. Most states use membership ( a count of students taken once or twice a year to determine funding) vs. average daily attendance. Moreover, even if schools regularly track attendance, high school wide attendance in elementary school (for example, of 95%) can mask a substantial problem of chronic early absence) Schools are required to monitor truancy (unexcused absence) but most young children do not miss school without the knowledge of an adult family member. In most states, kindergarten is optional versus required so schools may not see the importance of taking roll.

12 B. Lack of effective data systems, especially a universal student identifier, makes tracking problematic School data systems may underestimate prevalence of chronic absence if they do not electronically track absences for individual children. Even if a district employs an universal student identifier, chronic absence is easy to underestimate for highly mobile children moving back and forth across school district lines. Data on attendance is often not collected and entered in a consistent manner across or sometimes even within schools districts. This is especially true for excused vs. unexcused absences.

13 Opportunities for Improving Data Collection

14 1. As data systems are created with universal student identifiers, make sure they track absences starting in K, possibly earlier in pre-K programs 2. Adopt a common definition of chronic absence (missing 10% or more of the school year school year regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused) so comparisons are possible. 3. Calculate and publicly report on the number of children chronically absent by type of school (elementary, middle, secondary), grade and student population (e.g. ethnicity, ELL status, special education). 4. Encourage greater accuracy and consistency of local data on attendance including maintaining students on school enrollment files until a transfer has been verified.

15 5.Integrate school and community data in order to shed light on the factors contributing to chronic early absence.