1 / 19

Using Attendance Data to Improve Student Achievement STATS-DC 2010 Attendance: Education’s Most Important KPI

Using Attendance Data to Improve Student Achievement STATS-DC 2010 Attendance: Education’s Most Important KPI. Tanya Williams PsyD, Coordinator Office of Attendance and Truancy Baltimore City Public Schools. Sue Fothergill, Coordinator Baltimore City Student Attendance Initiative .

gamada
Download Presentation

Using Attendance Data to Improve Student Achievement STATS-DC 2010 Attendance: Education’s Most Important KPI

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Using Attendance Data to Improve Student AchievementSTATS-DC 2010Attendance: Education’s Most Important KPI Tanya Williams PsyD, CoordinatorOffice of Attendance and Truancy Baltimore City Public Schools Sue Fothergill, CoordinatorBaltimore City Student Attendance Initiative

  2. Attendance Data: A Tool for School 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 2

  3. Why are Measures of 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

  4. The Impact of Attendance on Student SuccessChronically absent kindergarteners in a six city study had the lowest performance on 5th grade assessments. Source: Chang and Romero, 2008

  5. The problem: Chronic Absence in Baltimore is High and Rises to Epidemic Levels by High School Student Absences 10-19% of Days Absent 20% and Above of Days Absent Source: Baltimore Education Research Consortium

  6. Poor Attendance in 6th Grade Predicts Dropout High School Outcomes by Rates of Chronic Absenteeism in Sixth Grade (Baltimore City Public Schools, 1990-00 Sixth Grade Cohort)

  7. Baltimore’s Attendance Strategy

  8. All school absences reduce learning, but 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 solutions… • 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

  9. 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

  10. Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is 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

  11. 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. 11

  12. Baltimore City Public Schools Attendance Data KASA Middle/High (#342) preliminary data as of 7/2/2010 Enrollment= 290

  13. Baltimore City’s Use of Attendance Data is Increasing Focus for SY 1011 • Taking Attendance more often: daily in K-8 schools and in each class in Secondary schools • Triaging Schools: high absence schoolsflagged for intervention • Triaging Students: high-absence students are flaggedfor referralto 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

  14. Baltimore’s Attendance Results 14

  15. Over 14,000 Fewer Suspensions in Baltimore City Public Schools Note: School District Population School Year 2008–09, 82,266

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

  17. Baltimore City Student Attendance Initiatives’ Documents: www.igoogle.com Username: attendancewg.user Password: stayinschool Contact: Sue Fothergill Phone: 410-404-4570 E-Mail: fothergill.sue@gmail.com Photography by Audrey Gatewood

More Related