1. Chronic Absenteeism in Oregon: What We Know and Why It Matters
Isabelle Barbour, MPH Oregon Public Health Division
Robin Shobe, MS CCC-SLP Oregon Department of Education
Session Description: This presentation will briefly review national data on chronic absenteeism, and then dive
deeper into local data on the issue. The relationship between chronic absenteeism and
educational and health outcomes will be explored with an emphasis on 3rd grade reading,
HS graduation, students in poverty, students of color, students with disabilities and the
LGBTQ population.
Introductions: Robin, Ely, Isabelle

2. Participants will:
Be able to describe the problem of chronic absenteeism in Oregon.
Identify 2-3 root causes of chronic absenteeism.
Identify potential partnerships that can support student attendance.

3. Scenario: What do you do?
Student who frequently misses school has a test today and doesn't show up
What is the consequence?
Student tells you when she returns that she had to stay home and take care of her younger ill sibling
Should there be a consequence?
The parent s a single parent and will lose her job if she stays home with the younger sibling
Does this change the consequence or should there be considerations for additional support for this

4. What is Chronic Absenteeism?
Definition: Missing 10% of school for any reason.
Excused
Unexcused
Suspension
Expulsion
hard to track
ADM masks chronic absenteeism (95%)
Need to look per kid
2-3 days a month

5. Why Does It Matter?
Chronic Absenteeism is the strongest predictor of dropping out of high school - stronger than other factors such as number of suspensions or student test scores, even when taking into account student demographics (Byrnes & Reyna, 2012).
Significant gaps in academic performance are apparent in third grade and persist all the way through high school for students who are chronically absent, leading to increased dropout and decreased graduation rates (Buehler, Tapogna & Chang, 2012).

6. Oregon Statistics
Approximately one-in-five students in Oregon in the 2013/14 school year were chronically absent
Chronic absenteeism affected schools in every Oregon community
Problems with chronic absenteeism were apparent at every grade level, starting with 24 percent of kindergarten students and dipping to about 14 percent of third graders before climbing to 38 percent in the 12th-grade.
Related Resource: Buehler, Taponga & Chang (2012). Why being at school matters: Chronic Absenteeism in Oregon
Public Schools. The Chalkboard Project. Retrieved:
can we update this data?
Contradiction of 95% ADM and schools can still have problems with chronically absent students

7. Robin

8. Populations Most Impacted
Children with one (or more) out of school suspension
Children with disabilities
Children of color
Children from economically disadvantaged homes
K-3rd grade children in rural communities
Buehler, Tapanoga, & Chang, (2012). Why being at school matters: Chronic Absenteeism in Oregon Public Schools. The Chalkboard Project. Retreived:
Robin

9. Education is a Predictor of Health
Children who do not complete high school are likely to become adults who have employment problems, lower health literacy, higher rates of illness, and earlier deaths than those who graduate from high school.
Improving high school graduation rates may be more cost-effective than most medical interventions in reducing health disparities.
Graduation from high school is associated with an increase in the average lifespan of 6 to 9 years.
People that do not complete high school are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system.
Isabelle
PH cares about education because better education predicts better health
Dropouts are more likely to commit crime or rely on government assistance for health care, housing and food. Dropouts are less likely to raise healthy, well-educated children.
Dropouts are less likely to raise healthy, well- educated children. (multigenerational solutions)
More likely to rely on government assistance for health care, housing and food. Multigenerational impacts

10. Health is a Predictor of Education
Healthy Kids Learn Better!
Children who report greater health challenges also report poorer average school grades.
Students with poorer health report missing more days of school.
Greater numbers of health challenges are associated with poorer educational outcomes.
High schools with more complete health infrastructure have higher graduation rates.
Isabelle
We must connect the dots between health and learning
Lever- Principal – must lead or co-lead the effort for it to be systematic and sustainable; Distributive leadership; School Improvement Plan; Data; PD; Collaborate with the Community; Local Efforts; Policy

11. Isabelle
n=14,139
Family Affluence scale
own a car
have your own bedroom
vacation in 12 mo
computers
16+ absences 9.2%

12. n=12,592
16+ absences=14.6

13. Key Health Issues Associated with Chronic Absenteeism
Illness or injury
Pregnancy and parenthood
Sexual harassment and bullying
Oral/Dental Pain
Unmanaged Asthma
Substance Use
Mental Health Problems
Food Insecurity
Obesity
Parenthood is a leading cause of school dropout among teen girls (33% of teen girls)
70% of girls who become pregnant will drop out of school.
Absenteeism is directly correlated with incidence of sexual harassment and bullying.
FINDING 3: LGBT middle school students often missed classes or did not attend school altogether because they felt unsafe. Students who experienced high levels of harassment or assault were even more likely to report missing school.
Unfortunately, LGBT middle school students who experience victimization in school may not be receiving the help or support they need to deal with these experiences. Many middle school students who were harassed or assaulted in school never reported the incident to adult authorities – 57% never told school staff and 50% never told a parent or other family member. Among middle school students who did tell school authorities about an incident, less than a third (29%) said that reporting resulted in effective intervention by school staff.
At minimum, one school nurse should serve no more than 750 students, depending on community and student population. (CDC, Healthy People 2020 goal, Objective 5.1)
Oregon School Nurse Ratio 1:4664

14. Student absence is complex
Myths
Barriers (can’t)
Aversion
Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused
Lack of access to health care
Child struggling academically
Sporadic versus consecutive absences aren’t a problem
Poor transportation
Lack of engaging instruction
Attendance only matters in the older grades
No safe path to school
Poor school climate and ineffective discipline
Parent had negative school experience
Popcorn

15. What can you do to improve attendance at your school?
Challenge assumptions
Understand attendance data
Gather Partners
Get more information about the problem
Determine a range of strategies & best practices to support a culture of attendance in your school
Discourse shifts on how we discuss issue
Partnerships with students, parents, and service providers
Early supports for students who are slipping
School climate
Teacher practices: Behavioral and structural
Upstream improvements

16. Challenge Assumptions
Attendance is complex; aversion, myths & barriers
Students and their families suffer the most when their students do not achieve
Some families and students face significant family, community and school- related barriers to regular attendance. Despite valuing education, families sometimes need to keep children home or cannot get them physically to school.

17. Understand Attendance Data
Average Daily Membership (ADM) can mask the problem of chronic absenteeism.
School districts that boast 95% ADM can still present with dozens of chronically absent students.
Attendance in the early grades is just as important as attendance in middle and high school.

18. Year at a Glance: All Absences
Chelsea to put slide here
One elementary school with about 600 students. On-going research project at ODE.

19. Gather Partners
Schools may not be able to address the causes of chronic absence alone.
Engage community partners that can help support the work (eg. engaging parents and bringing in health expertise).
Popcorn, elbow partner

20. Get more information about the problem
This can include talking with students and parents about this issue, looking at data that can identify chronically absent students and conducting an audit of your school’s attendance policies and practices.
Ex. Attendance Audit (Scott Perry)
Scott Perry of Southern Oregon ESD will be working with ODE to make his Attendance Audit work available to interested districts through training and access to materials.

22. Determine a range of strategies to support
a culture of attendance in your school
Best practices
Welcoming students by name
Providing breakfast after the bell
Celebrating good (not great!) attendance
Calling home when a student does not make it to school
Every child has at least one adult they are connected to in the school
Build a safety net under students who struggle the most

23. Resources Attendance Works http://www.attendanceworks.org/tools/
Mapping the Early Attendance Gap content/uploads/2015/07/Mapping-the-Early-Attendance-Gap-Final-4.pdf
Upstream Public Health: releases-chronic-absenteeism-review-paper
The Children’s Institute
All Hands Raised
Oregon Tribes
Attendance Works (Oregon Link)
ECO Northwest
Upstream Public Health
Oregon Department of Human Services
Chalkboard Project
Portland State University and Coalition of Communities of Color

24. Contact Isabelle Barbour, MPH
Oregon Health Authority | Public Health Division
Robin Shobe, MS CCC-SLP
Oregon Department of Oregon