Combating the "New Normal"

The 2022 – 2023 school year is now in the second month (or third for early starting districts) and we are now able to begin to see the trends that are emerging as we slowly come out of the pandemic.?Across the nation, students are back fully in-person, and while coronavirus is still a going concern the treatments available have greatly reduced the time for mandatory quarantines.?Mask mandates have been addressed to remove some of the highly charged political actions we have felt for the past 18-months.?Though the upcoming board elections are still showing the residual impact of that divide.

Legislatures, recognizing the dramatic impact that pandemic had on attendance provided school districts across the country with funding support to open the school year.?In Texas and California (which are ADA funded states) there was a continuing of the “hold harmless” ADA funding which ensured that districts were funded on historical averages instead of their current realities.?Other states that were ADM increased the overall funding per student, and like North Carolina increased additional funding within weighted student funding formulas.?This allowed districts to plan to return for the current year.

As we head deeper into the fall, now is the time that Superintendents and the leadership team are making plans for the following year and updated multi-year financial projections.?This is also the time to reflect and analyze what the current state of education is for each district on both the academic and financial lenses.?Prior to the pandemic the “normal” attendance rate for school districts was approximately 95% (meaning that the average student would miss less than one day per month).?During the pandemic the percent of students who were chronically absent (missing 10% or more of school, i.e., 20+ days) grew to over 40% in most grade levels.

Research has clearly demonstrated that over 67% of students who end up dropping out of school have also been chronically absent prior to their dropping out.?Attendance is the #1 indicator in dropouts.??Moreover, this same research has proven that academic achievement begins to drop radically once a student crosses the 95% or 10 absence thresholds each year.??Students who were A or B students soon be come C and D students when they are between 14 – 18 absences.??Over a period of several years these students can miss the equivalent of more than a year of school.

In 2021 the average student had missed more than 14 days of school, with higher absence rates in the TK-3 and 9-12 grade ranges.?Many school districts dropped below the 90% overall attendance rate, which was why the “hold harmless” funding was implemented.??The decline in attendance impacted test scores and graduation rates that dropped to 20-year lows.?

As we look at early results, attendance is improving in 2022, but it has not returned to pre-pandemic rates.?The habits that were created over the last 2.5 years have students missing more time than ever before and our current “new normal” for most urban districts is just over 90% across the first two months of school.?Academically, this will have an impact on achievement that will slow the ability to rebound from the pandemic, and districts will soon find the need for intervention and remediation growing.?There is a general need to fully begin an approach of addressing attendance habits to stem longer-term academic declines.

For states that are funded on ADA, the end of “hold-harmless” will soon mean that funding will be based upon this new normal.?For the Superintendent and Chief Business Officer this return to ADA funding will mean significant decreases in ongoing funding at a time where the need is greater than ever with staffing shortages and increasing social emotional demands for both students and educators.?More troubling is the economic indicators of rising inflation and interest rates and declining revenue.?In California the state is already $7 billion dollars below projection as of September.?This decline in state and federal revenue will assuredly result in reduced funding to education for the 2023-2024 school year.

With the almost assured reduction in revenue and ending of “hold harmless” provisions school districts must prepare for the next challenge of declining resources.?With a singular goal of improved outcomes for students, districts that begin a meaningful long-term investment in attendance, and awareness of the importance of attendance with parents will be the districts that are better positioned to weather the coming storm.??

School Innovations & Achievement has a research-based proven support model that, if implemented with fidelity can improve graduation rates and student outcomes, especially for marginalized students.

In a study of over 130,000 students across 21 diverse school districts those districts that implemented a comprehensive program to address chronic absenteeism saw a significant increase in graduation rates for marginalized student groups while also increasing the overall rate for all students.?This is not a one-stop approach and requires a systems approach that is structured and not reliant on a single person.?It must be consistent across all schools in the district and by partnering with an outside support provider the approach also continues to have positive results when there is leadership transition or staffing shortages.

Addressing chronic attendance is critical as the results show above, but if we are going to address the change of what has become the “new normal” of 90% attendance we also need to invest in messaging to parents and students.?This messaging, just like marketing takes time to embed into changed behaviors.?SI&A created the Achievement Initiative to address the latency in student performance, especially in the early grades, when attendance can greatly impact initial proficiency.

Ask yourself the question: “How as a parent did you know what your child and you needed to do to be prepared for kindergarten??7th grade? And then 9th grade?”

For many then answer is that you knew people in the school system or researched it yourself.

But what about the parents who did not have that same access??        

Those are the parents who we need to reach, and those now the “new normal” students who are missing 14+ days each year hovering at 90% attendance.?The academic impact of this is tremendous.??SI&A Achievement Initiative provides school districts with a toolkit of direct messaging to parents, and students, differentiated by grade span to help ensure that all families have the same foundation.?These messages, when implemented with fidelity are being received monthly by every family in the district, and not just the ones that already are demonstrating movement toward being chronically absent.

In a study of 57,000 students in grades K – 3 the results after 4-years were tremendous.?Chronic rates declined from over 35% down to 3%. The excessive excused absences declined from 48% all the way to 14%.?Importantly, though this study also demonstrated the need for a consistent approach.?Those key changes in the excessive excused took 4 years to get the behaviors to change, but when the messaging took root the change from year 3 to 4 was tremendous, dropping from 36% all the way to 14%.??

Previously we have talked in depth about the cost of prevention versus intervention.?As we head to Halloween 2022 the answer is clear that we must immediately invest in a campaign to change behaviors and reconnect families to the value that public education provides.?If we do not act now, we will continue to see declining academic achievement, and with that more demand for interventions at a time when educational funding may slow.?Those districts that are making the investment of approximately $25 per student today will soon find that they can better target students who need additional support as the behaviors of others change with the ongoing messaging.

“It takes a Village” is a popular saying for us needing to work together.?With staffing shortages and the demands on our educators and support staff, having a partner that can sustain the structures necessary for good attendance management frees up our people to do what they do best and work directly with the students and families.?The Achievement Initiative is the tool that does this for all school districts that no other provider has been able to implement.?When you hire a gardener, you also purchase the lawnmower and other tools.?

Our educators have not been given all the tools that are necessary to address the attendance crisis in America and now is the time to finally give them a research-based support that will improve student outcomes, especially for marginalized students.??