Attendance Works

February 2nd, 2012

Oregon Analysis Tracks Chronic Absence Statewide

Today, researchers and advocates in Oregon released an attendance analysis that shows nearly a quarter of the state’s students are chronically absent and that absences in the early grades predicts poor attendance and lower achievement in the years ahead.

The analysis, the first of its kind released statewide, uses data from the Oregon Department of Education to breakdown chronic absence rates by geographic area, grade level, ethnic and racial background, and poverty levels. It includes studies of two cohorts to see the effects of absenteeism every time.

Rather than look at school-wide attendance averages, researchers from ECONorthwest consulting firm measured the proportion of students who missed 10 percent or more of the school year. They found that chronic absenteeism is a problem in communities and schools across the state. And they identified schools that are beating the odds by maintaining higher than expected attendance rates.

The analysis was conducted with support from the Children’s Institute, The Chalkboard Project and Attendance Works, with funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

Among the findings:

• Nearly one third of high school students (32 percent) miss 10 percent of the school year. This ranges from 27 percent in ninth grade to 38 percent for seniors.
• Oregon kindergarteners are chronically absent at higher rates than other elementary school students. In fact the 24 percent chronic absence rate in kindergarten is the same as that for eighth grade. These kindergarten absences are rarely about skipping school and more likely to reflect conditions in a child’s life—chronic illness with little access to health care, unreliable transportation and unstable housing, even homelessness.
• These kindergarten absences often translate into poor academic achievement in the later grades. Children chronically absent in both kindergarten and first grade have the poorest reading achievement levels in 5th grade, followed by students chronically absent in 1st grade only, then students chronically absent in kindergarten only. Missing 10 percent or more of one of these early grades translates to about five points lost on 3rd grade literacy tests, and missing 10 percent or more of both grades translates to eight points lost.
• These early absences predict poor attendance in the later grades. This effect is not limited to kindergarten attendance, as the same pattern is evident with a cohort of 5th graders all the way to their 10th grade tests.
• Poor children are far more likely to be chronically absent. In the primary grades, economically disadvantaged are nearly twice as likely to miss too much school. The gap narrows somewhat in high school but poor students are still 50 percent more likely to be chronically absent.
• Native-American and African-American students have higher rates of chronic absence. In the early grades, Hispanic students have lower rates but nearly catch up in high school.

 

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