By NEIL ZOLOT
WAKEFIELD — “Attendance Matters” was the title of a presentation given to the School Committee at their meeting Tuesday, January 9.
“If students aren’t in school, they can’t achieve,” Superintendent Doug Lyons said. “It compounds and affects subsequent years. They’re not getting what they need to succeed at the next level.
“Data links attendance to achievement,” added Megan Webb, principal of Galvin Middle School, the school for which data was gathered to comply why state mandated efforts to curb absenteeism.
Absenteeism is a national and state issue. “About 1 in 4 students have a level of chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% of class time,” Lyons said. “If you think about that gap in context, it’s significant.”
The presentation reads, “Children chronically absent in Kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade. By 6th, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk of dropping put of school. By 9th good attendance can predict graduation rates better than 8th grade test scores.”
The social aspects of schools and social and emotional learning correlate to academic performance. The social aspect is important,” Lyons said. “ The longer a student is away, the harder it is for them to reconnect.”
One way to deal with that is for returning students to be put in classes with friends.
Massachusetts rated 21st in absenteeism among the 50 states and District of Columbia at 28% in the 2021-22 school year. The figure was 13% in 2018-19. “Chronic absenteeism increased significantly across the country during and after COVID,” the presentation reads. “No state has achieved pre-pandemic levels of attendance.”
Massachusetts has about 1 million students, 1,072 of whom are currently at Galvin. Although school populations fluctuate, that’s a fairly accurate number for how many students were at Galvin in recent years.
In 2018-19 student attendance was 96.2% with 5.5% of students missing 10% of days. The average for days missed among all students was 6.7%.
For 2021-22 student attendance was 94.2% with 13.5% of students missing 10% of days. 2.1% of students missed 20% of days, while the average for days missed among all students was 10.2%.
Webb doesn’t consider 2020-21 figures accurate because school was held in a non-traditional fashion with some students participating remotely. “It was not a good year to measure it,” she feels.
Figures for that year indicate the attendance rate was 94.9% with 13.2% of students missing 10% of days and the average for days missed among all students being 8.6%.
For 2021-22 among students missing 10% of days, it 47.8% among African-Americans, 33.3% Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders, 31.4% low income students, 25% high needs students, 24.2% students with disabilities, 18.3% Hispanic or Latin, 15.6% multi-race or non-Hispanic Latin, 12.4% white, 11.1% English or former English Learners and 2.6% Asian. Webb called the figure for African-Americans “jaw dropping,” but 0% of that group were classified as having missed 20% of days, similar to 0% of Asians, English or former English Learners and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders.
For other subgroups missing 20% of days, it was 1.9% of white students, 3.1% of multi-race or non-Hispanic Latin, 5.4% of Hispanic or Latin, 5.8% of high needs students, 7.1% of students with disabilities and 7.7% of low income students.
Attendance data from spring of 2022 to spring 2023 indicate drops in chronic absenteeism for all groups except Asians, which rose 2.2%, with no information regarding Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders.
For other subgroups, chronic absenteeism fell 20.2% for African-Americans, 9% for low income students, 8.3% for high needs students, 8% for students with disabilities, 5.4% for white students, 2.7% for the lowest performing students, .5%each for English Learners or former English Learners and .2% for multi-race or non-Hispanic Latin. The overall drop for all students was 4.7%. “The change among African-Americans was pretty great to see,” Webb said. “It’s about figuring out who is struggling and why,” although Lyons cautioned state authorities “wanted to level set this,” with no distinction between excused absences or unexcused absences. He also said some students fall into more than one subgroup, which can skew numbers.
“The question is how we get kids back in school and take into account what their story might be,” Webb feels.
There are many reasons why students may be chronically absent from chronic illness or transportation issues. “When you encounter someone with chronic absenteeism, there is so much going on,” Webb said. “We try to get to the root of who these students are and what the stumbling blocks are. Team leaders are almost always the first to notice what’s going on, find out what’s going on or already know. If your child is sick you should be able to make decisions, but we want to make sure it’s not a chronic practice.”
Strategies to fight chronic absenteeism often start with meetings between teachers, counselors and administrators that encounter the student and a phone call home or meetings with parents. “At meetings we get to know a lot and that usually rights the ship,” Webb said.
Beyond that there can be referrals to outside agencies for home visits or a legal classification of a student as a Child Requiring Assistance, similar to a Child in Need. “Messaging needs to be supportive, collaborative and clear when it comes to the roles and responsibilities of the schools, family and state,” the presentation concludes. “The group of students who approach 20% is small, but with extremely high needs, so resources and partnerships need to be aligned.”