Attendance, Chronic Absenteism, and Truancy Fact Sheet



Program Name:Attendance, Chronic Absenteeism and TruancySecondary Education and K12 SupportsPrimary Contacts: Krissy Johnson, Chronic Absenteeismkrissy.johnson@k12.wa.us Laurie Shannon, Truancy laurie.shannon@k12.wa.usTeam Members:Laura Moore, Program Supportlaura.moore@k12.wa.us Vacant, Administrative AssistantWebsites: Legislation: Compulsory Attendance Law, Rules Governing Excused and Unexcused AbsencesBackgroundIn February of 2016, OSPI released data analytics showing district’s chronic absenteeism rates as part of the agency’s recent performance management effort to measure and track the state on fourteen research-based performance indicators. The release of the chronic absenteeism data brought focus as a state on not only unexcused absences (truancy), but also learning time lost due to excused absences. This same year, the Washington state legislature, with the passage of HB 2449, made significant strides to address chronic absenteeism and truancy through prevention and support, instead of solely punitive measures. These preventative and early intervention measures include letters home to parents on the importance of attendance, parent conferences, and the creation of community truancy boards. The OSPI attendance program also supports a cohort of Check and Connect trainers throughout the state, funding their certification.Purpose/Equity FocusThe purpose of the attendance program is to enhance awareness of the importance of attendance to student learning and ultimate success in school as well as identify best practices for schools to support their students to attend regularly. Several groups of students are disproportionately impacted by chronic absenteeism, including low-income students, American Indians, and Pacific Islander students. The program is using an equity lens to identify outlier districts, and defines success and impact by the closing of these gaps.Key Initiatives 16-17 Description:Program staff are working with internal and external stakeholders to revise the existing rules and CEDARS datacollection guidance that govern the definition of excused vs. unexcused absences. This effort will result in the alignment of state and federal reports as well as standardize data across the state, increasing data quality and consistency.The program is working to support districts in the implementation of new attendance policies and practices, including the development of community truancy boards across the state.The program is identifying outlier districts that have shown low chronic absenteeism rates for all students and a small gap between at-risk student groups. Outlier districts are being interviewed, and best practices are being identified. This first cohort of districts will be gathered at a learning community meeting in the spring of 2017. Lessons learned through this process will be shared out with districts across the state.Program staff are working closely with legislators to improve upon the revisions made to the Becca Bill (HB 2449) to ensure that implementation is feasible and supports the intent of the law.The attendance program team is developing partnerships internally and externally to develop and disseminate strategies that specifically support high-risk students such as low-income students, American Indians and Pacific Islanders.Collaborating with WSIPC, Skyward SIS vendor, to develop new, more user-friendly reports that assist with tracking and monitoring attendance.Measures of Success:The state chronic absenteeism rate for all students will decrease from 16% in 2014-15 to 14% in 2016-17. The gap between low income and non low-income students will decrease from 10.4 points to 9.4 points.The WAC and CEDARS guidance will have been revised with significant participation and input from stakeholders.Outlier districts will have collaborated and improved their approach to their attendance work, measured by a reduction in their chronic absenteeism rates.More districts will report that they are addressing attendance in a system-wide fashion, as measured by the District Equity Survey.Successes:OSPI, with its GATE (Graduation: A Team Effort) partners, developed a social media communication plan to raise awareness across the state on the benefits of attendance and the consequences of not attending.Program staff developed a new website, with a concise array of resources for school and district administrators.In partnership with DSHS and Mentoring Works WA, Seahawks Jermaine Kearse recorded messages for parents and students to encourage them to get to school and to let parents know if a student was not in attendance. These robocalls are available for districts to download from the OSPI website.Convened several regional and local professional development workshops for district and school teams to begin understanding why students are absent and what to do about it.Four regional professional development workshops were conducted for school and district audiences. These workshops introduced participants to the research, policy and best practices around addressing attendance and lead participants through action planning.ChallengesThe public display, and therefore accountability for districts, is new and has brought to light data quality discrepancies. Hence, our state data collection may not contain consistent reporting from all districts. This is an effort we are working on this year.Partners/ResourcesData Governance, CISL, Student Information, School Apportionment and Financial Services, Outlier Champions and Districts, Communications, Teaching and Learning, LAP/Title 1, Becca Taskforce, WSIPC, Administrative Office of the Courts, Behavior and Discipline, Student Support, Attendance Works ................
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