1. Attendance & Truancy Among Virginia Students
1/2/2019
Attendance & Truancy Among Virginia Students
Module 10: Identifying Barriers
Welcome to Module 10 of a twelve-session series entitled Attendance and Truancy Among Virginia Students, a collaboration between the Virginia Department of Education and Attendance Works, a national and state initiative that promotes better policy and practice around school attendance. This session is entitled Identifying Barriers, and provides a framework for schools and school divisions to use when seeking to understand the underlying causes for why students are chronically absent. Please note that there is a Facilitator/Participant companion guide for each session which is located on the Virginia Department of Education Web site. The facilitator/participant companion guide allows viewers, whether working individually or in a group, to follow each session and answer reflection questions and create a working document to address the critical issues related to attendance and truancy in schools, divisions, and communities.
As the facilitator you should make sure to set the stage for the group. Thank them for being there and give them an overview for the purpose of gathering this group. Introduce yourself and your team and share with them the goal and expectations for your time together, such as the school division has determined to update its strategies for combatting absenteeism.
Introductions: For smaller groups invite each person to introduce themselves. For larger groups rather than have individual introductions you can organize groups of people by asking people to stand up based on categories such as school superintendents, the heads of student services, principal, teacher, social worker, etc. based on the appropriate categories for your school division.
Presentation Description
Module ten provides a framework for schools and school divisions to use when seeking to understand the underlying causes for why students are chronically absent.
Facilitation
Have the participants review the module and reflections. Each reflection is designed to help participants further their understanding and learning of key concepts, frameworks, and strategies for reducing chronic absence.

2. The Purpose
This PowerPoint serves as No. 10 in a series of modules designed to equip Virginia school divisions to reduce truancy and absenteeism.
This module identifies possible barriers to good attendance including the health and transportation barriers.
Slide narration: This learning module is the tenth in a series of modules. It will help participants identify possible barriers to good attendance including health and transportation barriers.
Facilitator: Review the purpose of the module with the participants.

3. Today’s Agenda Learning goals review
What are common barriers to good attendance?
Methods for identifying attendance barriers facing your students and families
Facilitator: This session’s agenda includes looking at the common barriers to good attendance and methods for identifying attendance barriers facing your students and families.

4. Learning Goals
Educators will learn what the most common barriers are to good attendance.
Educators will learn several methods for identifying attendance barriers facing students and families in their schools and communities.
Narrative: Educators will learn several methods for identifying attendance barriers facing students and families in their schools and communities.
Facilitator: Review the learning goals with your audience.

5. Warm Up
Make a Top 10 list of the reasons why students in your school or division were absent last year.
Slide narration: Take a minute to reflect upon and answer this question. Make a Top 10 list of the reasons why students in your school or division were absent last year.
Facilitator: You’ll need to decide the best way to warm up your group. Do you have people working in teams at tables? Or is the session audience style? Depending on how people are grouped in the room will determine the best way to facilitate the warm up. You’ll want people to work individually then talk among themselves. Once the group has had about 10 minutes to discuss, bring them back to a full group interaction. Depending on the size of the group there are different options to report out:
For individual learners, write down your response.
If the participants are working in small groups, invite each group to identify a recorder and a reporter. Have each person read their list aloud. The recorder should chart the answers and put a check by each repeated answer. At the end of the report out, the group should have a visual record of the most common reasons for student absences. If there is a large group sitting audience-style, ask the participants to pair and share their responses to the questions. Invite feedback popcorn-style and have someone document what is shared on chart paper or white board. Each time an answer is repeated, put a check next to it. These then are the most common reasons identified by the group for student absences.

6. Find Out Why Students Are Chronically Absent
Myths
Absences are only a problem if they are unexcused
Sporadic versus consecutive absences aren’t a problem
Attendance only matters in the older grades
Barriers
Lack of access to health or dental care
Poor
Transportation
Trauma
No safe path to school
Aversion
Child struggling academically
Lack of engaging instruction
Poor school climate and ineffective school discipline
Parents had negative school experience
Chronic disease
Slide narration:
Unlike Myths or Aversion, Barriers are concrete issues like asthma or poor transportation that are largely beyond a family’s or school’s ability to control. These barriers get in the way of students getting to school every day. Many barriers are related to health or mental health, such as chronic diseases asthma, dental hygiene issues, or trauma from repeated exposure to violence. Lack of transportation, unreliable transportation or the lack of a safe path to school are also significant barriers in many communities. There are also barriers such as housing insecurity or homelessness that are not listed on this slide. Many barriers are the result of poverty. Data combined with the insights of student and families can help you understand what are the causes of absences in your school or district.
Reflection:
Go back to your list of reasons why students were absent last year. Which of these reasons are Barriers?

7. Leading Health-Related Causes
Asthma
Oral Health
Nearly one in ten children age 4-14 are diagnosed with asthma, accounting for one-third of all days of missed instruction.
Children miss nearly two million school days due to oral health issues every year.
Slide narration: Let’s look at national data on why students are absent. What you will find is that asthma and oral health are major contributors to student absenteeism. And the scale of the problem is enormous.
Take asthma for example, which is responsible for an estimated 14 million absences a year. Nearly one in 10 children (9.9 percent) age 4-14 are diagnosed with asthma. Asthma is a leading cause of school absenteeism, accounting for one-third of all days of missed instruction. Children with persistent asthma are more than three times as likely to have 10 or more absences than their peers.
As for oral health, a full 20 percent of children aged 5 to 11 years have at least one untreated decayed tooth. Among school-age children, tooth decay is the most common chronic disease, five times more prevalent than asthma. Children between 5 and 17 years miss nearly two million school days in a single year nationwide due to dental health-related problems. Children with poor oral health status are nearly three times more likely than their counterparts to miss school as a result of dental pain.

8. Leading Health-Related Causes
Asthma
Bullying
Oral Health
Mental Health
Nutrition
Vision
Slide narration: Of course, the problem of health-related chronic absence goes far beyond these two issues. Research indicates that other common health conditions resulting in missed school include bullying, mental health, nutrition and vision. For example:
For bullying: over 7% of students report not going to school at least one day in the previous month because they felt unsafe at school or on the way to school.
For nutrition: Children who are hungry or malnourished are more likely to be suspended from school and have higher rates of absenteeism. And obese students are 1.7 times more likely to have 10 or more absences in a given year than their non-obese peers.
For mental health: Children affected by ADHD are more likely to exhibit tardiness and absenteeism.
For vision: Students with vision impairments are at increased risk of disengagement from school which is a risk factor for increased missed school days.
Compounding the problem is the fact that many schools do not provide conditions that support student health. Many schools have inadequate school nurse staffing, poor indoor air quality, or a lack of access to physical activity – all of which can contribute to health issues.
Of course the health-related factors don’t end with this list, but the message is clear, addressing health, particularly in a young populations, need to be part of a strategy to address chronic absenteeism.
Reflection for this and previous slide:
To what extent does your Top 10 list reflect the national data on health-related causes of absences?
To learn more: Read Leading Health Conditions Impacting Student Attendance,

9. Transportation as a Barrier
Slide narration: Whether you serve an urban, suburban or rural community, transportation is one of the key barriers to attendance that contributes to chronic absenteeism and tardiness.

10. Often Cited Transportation Barriers
Missed the bus and school is a long distance away
The walking pathway is dangerous
Parent/Guardian too ill to walk a child to school
The public transportation is too expensive or unsafe
Public transportation staff treat students inappropriately
Slide narration: There are many ways that transportation can pose a significant barrier to school attendance. Here are some reasons given by parents and students:
Missed the bus and school is a long distance away
The pathway to school is dangerous
Parent/Guardian is too ill to walk the child to school
The public transportation is too expensive or unsafe
Public transportation staff treat students inappropriately
In rural areas, transportation, or lack of it, is often a leading barrier to school attendance. If a student misses the school bus and the family has no alternative form of transportation, the result is a full day absence. Similarly, if a student is “suspended” or not allowed on the bus for behavior issues, the result can be a full day’s absence.
Reflection for this and previous slide: What transportation barriers are you aware of in your community? How do these barriers affect student attendance?
For further study: read about how Springfield, Massachusetts reduced absenteeism with a Walking School Bus,

11. Identifying Specific Barriers in Your School or Division
Methods:
Examine chronic absence data
Obtain information from public data sources
Contact families when students are absent
Focus groups with families
Surveys
Slide narration: While it’s helpful to have a national perspective, it’s important to understand what barriers are specific to your school or division. How can you find out the root causes of chronic absence locally?
There are several methods reviewed in this module:
Examine chronic absence data. If large numbers of students in a particular school or ZIP code are affected by chronic absence, that suggests some type of systemic barrier or barriers are at play. The data itself doesn’t reveal the actual cause or barrier but it is a flag to pay attention. (You may want to refer back to Module 4 if you have not completed your analysis of chronic absence.)
Obtain information from public data sources that may shed light on health, transportation or safety concerns in your area. KidsCount is a helpful resource,
Contact families when students are absent to learn why they missed school. In addition to identifying common reasons for absences, it also creates an opportunity to express concern and support.
Conduct focus groups with families or school staff to glean additional insights. For example, the Children’s Initiative in San Diego, California conducted parent focus groups that revealed transportation issues with half-day kindergarten and lack of alignment between high school and elementary school vacation calendars posed significant challenges to families. (To read more about how the school district addressed these issues, go to
Surveys, either on paper or online may also be helpful depending on how your school’s families typically respond to them.
For further study: Read particularly page 6. Do any of these barriers affect students and families in your community?

12. Identifying Barriers for a Specific Student
Fill out the Hypothesis Development Worksheet for Attendance:
Extent of Absenteeism?
Possible factors? (Academic, Safety, Transportation, Social, Home, Health/Mental Health, School Climate)
Attempted Interventions?
Slide narration: Sometimes it is not clear why a particular student is chronically absent. It may be helpful to use the Hypothesis Development Worksheet as a tool to understand what factors might be affecting this student’s absences.
After you have filled out the worksheet using different sources of information (such as teachers, counselors, family members, etc.), develop a hypothesis about the most important reason for the student’s absences. The next step is to test your hypothesis with an appropriate solution or intervention.

13. Action Steps
What method will you use to identify the barriers to good attendance in your school or division?
Slide narration: What’s your next step. Consider this question: What method will you use to identify the barriers to good attendance in your school or division? Write down the method you will use, who will help with the inquiry, and a target date for completing the work.

14. Learn More
Read Leading Health Conditions Impacting Student Attendance,
To learn more: Read Leading Health Conditions Impacting Student Attendance,
For further study: read about how Springfield, Massachusettes reduced absenteeism with a Walking School Bus,
For further study: Read particularly page 6. Do any of these barriers affect students and families in your community?

15. Virginia Absenteeism & Truancy Professional Development Series
1. Understanding Chronic Absenteeism
2. Frameworks for Reducing Chronic Absence
3. Establishing School Attendance Teams
4. Using Data to Drive Action
5. Messaging Attendance
6. Integrating Attendance In Parent Engagement
7. Utilizing Parent-Teacher Conferences to Talk with Families about Attendance
8. Recognizing Good and Improved Attendance
9. Providing Personalized Early Outreach
10. Identifying barriers
11. Creating opportunities for peer learning
12. Engaging Community Partners
13. State Attendance Laws and Regulations
Slide narration: This complete Module 10. The next module, Module 11, explores creating peer learning networks to encourage sharing of best practices and cross site support. Thank you.
Facilitator: This slide is meant as a follow up to slide two so that participants can see the full list of modules available.