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Why Attendance Matters
As educators, we are often asked why we care so much about student daily attendance at school. Therefore, as we embark on the second semester of the 2022-2023 school year, I thought it would be a great topic to discuss as part of this week's community update. So, how important is it for kids to be in school? Well, to begin with, and definitely the most important reason why school attendance is important, is because it is a baseline factor in determining your child's success.
Every School Day Counts
Every school day counts in a child's academic life. A missed school day is a lost opportunity for students to learn. In this era of increased accountability for states, districts, and schools, the connection between student attendance and learning is being studied more than ever before. As a result, education agencies are asked with increasing frequency to report attendance data in a standard manner to allow comparisons across organizations and jurisdictions.
The primary rationale for high-quality attendance data is the relationship between student attendance and student achievement. While it is true that teacher effectiveness is the strongest school-related determinant of student success, chronic student absence reduces even the best teacher's ability to provide learning opportunities. Students who attend school regularly have been shown to achieve at higher levels than students who do not have regular attendance. This relationship between attendance and achievement appears early in a child's school career. In a recent study entitled A National Portrait of Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades, researchers looked at young children and found that absenteeism in Kindergarten was associated with negative first grade outcomes such as greater absenteeism in subsequent years and lower achievement in reading, math, and general knowledge (Romero and Lee, 2007).
Poor attendance has serious implications for later outcomes as well. High school dropouts have been found to exhibit a history of negative behaviors, including high levels of absenteeism throughout their childhood, at higher rates than high school graduates. These differences in absentee rates were observed as early as Kindergarten, and students who eventually dropped out of high school missed significantly more days of school in first grade than their peers who graduated from high school. In eighth grade, this pattern was even more apparent and by ninth grade, attendance was shown to be a key indicator significantly correlated with high school graduation (Romero and Lee, 2007).
The effects of lost school days build up one absence at a time on individual students. It is very important to also understand that any absence, whether excused or not, denies students the opportunity to learn in accordance with the school's instructional program. It is difficult for the teacher and the class to build their skills and progress if a large number of students are frequently absent. In addition to falling behind in academics, students who are not in school on a regular basis are more likely to get into trouble with the law and cause problems in their communities.
Furthermore, a 2008 study conducted by the Rodel Community Scholars at Arizona State University that tracked students from Kindergarten through high school found that dropout patterns were linked with poor attendance, beginning in Kindergarten. Gregory Hickman, Director of the Rodel Community Scholars program and former Director of the Arizona Dropout Initiative, notes they discovered that as early as Kindergarten, behavioral differences are apparent between those who go on to graduate and those who drop out, with dropouts missing an average of 124 days by eighth grade.
How Does Attendance Impact School Funding?
There is no doubt that families and community members want schools to have the funding necessary to provide a safe environment and a quality education for all children. Though details of attaining funding and use of the monies received may seem complicated at times, there is one major area in which everyone can contribute to their district’s funding of schools. Make sure your child attends school.
Student attendance data directly impacts school funding. In California, districts receive some money based on the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) data. Basically, the figure is calculated by dividing the total number of days present by the number of days taught within the prescribed period of accountability.
Therefore, it is easy to see the positive correlation between having a good attendance record and supporting the financial elements of operating a school. Because state funding is based on student attendance, when students are absent, schools lose money! However, all of the costs of operating a school continue at the same rate. This includes items such as teacher and staff pay, utilities, building and grounds maintenance.
What's the bottom line? School budgets suffer when students don’t attend, and as one of the two lowest funded school districts in San Bernardino County, this becomes a very serious issue in ALSD's ability to maintain our high quality programs and staffing ratios. As previously mentioned, in California, school budgets are based on the average daily attendance at a school. However, what many do not know is this is true regardless of whether or not the absence was excused. If many students enrolled at a school fail to consistently attend, the school has less money to pay for essential classroom needs.
We do know that showing up matters, and that when students show up to learn, they are more likely to be able to stay on-track, stay engaged and meet major educational milestones. I hope you found this short article about the importance of daily attendance to be informative. The Alta Loma School District is excited to welcome the students and their families back to school for the second half of the school year. Our educators are committed to ensuring students and families have the resources and support needed to solve any barriers to learning, and are readily available to partner with you. If you would like additional information or resources about your child's attendance, please don't hesitate to reach out to your child's school. Happy new year and we are excited to see what this new semester brings!
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