The Ohio State Board of Education is working on a model policy to ensure fewer students miss school.
Students fall behind. It's a national problem.
Each year, 5 to 7.5 million U.S. children . In Ohio, 15.8 percent of students miss 10 percent of the school year鈥攁bout 18 days. That adds up to nearly four weeks of school missed.
鈥淚t often is students who miss days here and there. And those days add up and there are big consequences for those students who are missing that much instruction,鈥� says Chris Woolard, senior executive director for accountability and continuous improvement for the Ohio Department of Education (ODE).
The consequences are clear: lower test scores and higher dropout rates in the long run.
鈥淲hat we discovered in Cleveland is that when a student is absent for 10 days for any reason, they score 12 points lower on standard reading test, 15 points lower on standard math tests, and with every increment of 10 days absent for any reason, our scholars are 34 percent less likely to graduate on time,鈥� says Lorri Hobson, the director of attendance for .
The state has a goal to bring chronic absentee rates down to 5 percent or less. State officials expect each district to come up with their own plan to reach that goal. Many districts across the state are already working toward that end.
Find Out Why
Intervention is the approach in Cleveland for all absences. The district wants to improve a 29 percent chronic absenteeism rate.The school district has a stricter definition for chronic absenteeism than the state: 10 days in a school year. Cleveland contacts parents after only two absences.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a warm, friendly conversation where we reach out to parents to learn what difficulties they may be facing,鈥� says Hobson.
Transportation can be a challenge. According to Hobson, a solution can be as simple as introducing people to their neighbors. Is there another parent in the community who can help bring their kid鈥檚 classmate to school?
鈥淚t鈥檚 things that many of our families who have support networks take for granted,鈥� says Hobson.
Ohio education officials want districts to do just that.
鈥淎t a local level, you want to understand why students are absent and that can vary,鈥� says Woolard.
Hobson鈥檚 office in Cleveland monitors to ensure the district is connecting families to the appropriate services.
What Do Families Need?
鈥淓conomically disadvantaged students are much more likely to be chronically absent than other students,鈥� says Woolard. The education department reports the statewide chronic absenteeism rate for that demographic at 23.7 percent.
There are many reasons poor kids miss school: changes in parents鈥� work shifts, homelessness, or kids not having some of the basics, such as clothing.
鈥淢aybe dad lost a job and they鈥檙e facing eviction. If you look at , a sense of safety and well-being supersedes education,鈥� says Hobson.
Francie Watson, principal of , sees this first hand. Many of her students live in poverty and many of her pre-K through eighth-graders are homeless. CMSD has 2,646 homeless students.
鈥�It鈥檚 not necessarily that the student doesn鈥檛 want to come,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut if I don鈥檛 have clean clothes, if I鈥檓 an older sibling and I have to watch the younger sibling -- then there I am, I鈥檓 now missing school.鈥�
Creative Solutions: Wardrobe
Principal Watson鈥檚 school has an attendance committee that helps address some of those needs. Sometimes she picks kids up for school.
After academics, the Westropp Elementary School principal has another thing on her mind: laundry.
鈥淐hildren will be teased if they smell. If you鈥檙e wearing dirty clothes, the kids know. And that鈥檚 going to break their self-esteem which will interfere with their ability to achieve,鈥� says Watson.
The focus isn鈥檛 fashion, but making sure kids have what they need to make it to school and pay attention.
鈥淲hat we鈥檝e been trying to do is give incentives to parents, give incentives to kids. We wash kids鈥� clothes,鈥� says Watson, whose school has laundry facilities.
The uniforms they鈥檙e washing at Westropp come from the non-profit Since the beginning of the year, with funding from the , the charitable organization has donated more than 350 packs of clothes to kids at the school.
鈥淚f you don鈥檛 have boots, by the time you get to school your shoes are soaking wet, your socks are soaking wet, which means you鈥檙e going to be cold all day. And so, for some kids it鈥檚 probably easier and safer to stay home,鈥� says Board Chair Tracey Jemisen. He hopes to expand the program to provide seasonal wardrobes to help ensure kids get to school.
鈥淲e understand that we鈥檙e only one of the many reasons that kids may not be able to get to school, but if we can help eliminate that barrier, then hopefully there are some other agencies that help eliminate some of the other issues that may be impacting kids getting to school,鈥� says Jemisen.
Addressing Health Needs
Woolard from ODE recommends that districts use partnerships like the one between Cleveland and Shoes and Clothes for Kids Inc.
He highlights what鈥檚 being done at the in Cincinnati, where kids can get services they need at school. Oyler students have access to vision and dental appointments without having to miss a full day of education.
In Cleveland, Hobson says the district sees a lot of absences related to asthma. ODE officials say it鈥檚 an issue in other districts, too.
In Cleveland, children can have an asthma plan. Parents can be alerted of attacks, but instead of missing a whole day, a nurse can administer a child鈥檚 breathing treatment at school.
For Hobson, it鈥檚 about creating a sense of community at the school鈥攁 place where parents know their kids are safe and well taken care of.
鈥淲hen school is a place where kids want to be, they go to school,鈥� says Hobson.
A Changing Approach to Dealing with Skippers
Chronic absenteeism refers to kids who miss school for any reason; truancy refers to students missing school without an excuse. Excused or not, missing school hurts students academically.
The Ohio legislature recently passed , which decriminalizes truancy. The law, which goes into effect in April, requires schools to find out why kids are missing school and to look for ways to intervene.
鈥淲e want them there,鈥� says Woolard.
Woolard says suspending kids for missing school is counterproductive.
Hobson says there has been a cultural shift in the educational community when it comes to how schools address students missing school. When truancy laws were first written, the approach was more castigatory.
鈥淪ince that time, we鈥檝e grown and we鈥檝e learned a great deal,鈥� says Hobson.
Statewide Plan
When kids are not at school, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to miss integral skills that they鈥檙e going to need to be successful in literacy, in math, in social studies and science, which are all tested. And especially with the third-grade guarantee, those students will not be allowed to go to fourth grade,鈥� says Principal Watson.
That鈥檚 why as part of Ohio鈥檚 plan to improve education under the Every Student Succeeds Act, ODE wants schools to measure and improve their rates of chronic absenteeism.
calls for the rate to reach 5 percent or better by the 2025-2026 school year. Districts like Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton (with chronic absentee rates at 30.7 percent, 38.1 percent, and 26.8 percent, respectively) have big numbers to bring down.
Woolard recognizes the size of that task.
鈥淲e want to make sure that they鈥檙e showing improvement. So, we鈥檝e proposed that you can meet the indicator by reducing that by 3 points.鈥�
Ultimately, he advises districts to start by identifying some of the specific reasons their kids miss school.
鈥淲hen you have a better sense of what the needs are, then you can start to put strategies in place to address them,鈥� he says.
Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit . 9(MDA5NTM4MTIyMDE0MTg3NDc2MTVlZjdmNQ001))
