Recap: Chronic Absenteeism in Colorado and Beyond (A Colorado Reengagement Network event)
Colorado Youth for a Change
We address barriers to learning by providing individualized supports throughout pivotal stages of students' journeys.
On Thursday, the Colorado Reengagement Network convened to dig into data and trends on chronic absenteeism both in Colorado and nationwide. We were grateful to have two experts present on the topic: Nick Conner of Montpelier Roxbury Public Schools and Johann Liljengren of the Dropout Prevention office at the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). We encourage you to explore all the information shared by viewing the recording and/or the presentation slides. Here are some takeaways we had from the event.
Chronic absenteeism is a unique data point that is critical to having a full picture of conditions at the student level—and can be masked by other data points.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as the combination of excused absences, unexcused absences, and suspensions. It is an excellent indicator of individual student attendance rates, and it can be lost in the shuffle when schools or districts look instead at average daily attendance, which is aggregated at the school level. To be chronically absent, a student must miss 10% or more of school, which can average out to 1 day every 2 weeks or a total of 3-4 weeks missed throughout the school year. As Nick explained, “missed instruction time is missed instruction time” no matter the reason for absence, which can vary from health and wellness concerns to social and economic pulls away from school and many other reasons. This is why effective responses to chronic absenteeism involve a response to every absence (more on this below). Furthermore, chronic absenteeism is an early indicator of more severe or permanent disengagement, especially among elementary and middle school students. This means that attendance interventions must start as young as PreK students and continue throughout students’ educational journeys.
Chronic absenteeism is high both nationally and here in Colorado and affects communities beyond the students missing school.
While we have made some progress in key attendance metrics in the rebound from the pandemic, chronic absenteeism remains a critical challenge: 30 Colorado school districts saw chronic absenteeism in 40% of their student bodies last school year. That translates to 1 in every 3 Colorado students, or nearly 270,000 total students. Nationally, the percentage of chronically absent students nearly doubled between 2017-2018 and 2021-2022. This is perhaps not surprising, given the seismic shifts to in-person education created by the pandemic. Changes in student and family attitudes and expectations around attending school in person have created a need for schools to respond to absenteeism in new ways, in part by demonstrating the value of in-person presence to families who have witnessed and grown used to the benefits of virtual schooling.
Additionally, this trend has a “ripple effect” on schools and communities as teachers may have to slow down to reteach students who have fallen behind. Low attendance disproportionately affects different groups of students, with students experiencing homelessness and students from low-income families recording some of the highest rates of chronic absenteeism.
Effective responses to chronic absenteeism involve setting positive conditions for learning via different tiers of supports.
While there is no magic solution to chronic absenteeism, proven strategies exist for school and district staff to explore. These strategies involve setting “positive conditions for learning” which incorporate the spheres of a student’s experience in school. These spheres include: physical and emotional health and safety; belonging, connection, and support; academic challenge and engagement; and adult and student wellbeing and emotional competence.
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“Our two best preventative measures are [when] kids have strong relationships at school, and they are engaged and challenged in class.” –Johann Liljengren, Colorado Department of Education
Improving these conditions for learning is possible when schools invest at all stages of the attendance continuum. Evidence shows that most resources are spent on severely absent students that are missing 20% or more of school. Investing more resources into earlier intervention can lead to upstream improvements and less need for intervention at the severe level. This can look like cultivating two-way communication with families deployed at every absence; fostering strong relationships and belonging at school; and home visits for new students. Of course, investment into intensive partnerships for severely absent students is still necessary and important; this is why a focus on improving conditions for learning for all students is a holistic and effective response to chronic absenteeism.
Nick and Johann shared many helpful resources throughout the presentation. We’ve linked a few here, and you can access any others in the slide deck.
·?????? CDE Dropout Prevention homepage
·?????? Recent summaries of effective attendance interventions
o?? Reducing Chronic Absenteeism (Ed Research for Action)
To all who are engaged in this work, thank you for your support of Colorado students. We are in this together!