Report Prepared by: Research, Innovation & Accountability Presented by: Doug Morrison November 13, 2018 Attendance Update EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose of Report: To provide the School Board with information regarding the attendance of District students and initiatives to increase the attendance level. The Sioux Falls School District recognizes the importance of student attendance and the high correlation to academic achievement. Because of this correlation, after a state change in the 2017-18 school year to decrease the School Performance Index (SPI) from a 94% benchmark to a 90%, the District kept the 94% to hold itself to a higher standard. By school comparison, those students hitting the 94% attendance benchmark are higher among non-title schools than title schools. Along with holding students accountable regarding absenteeism, the SFSD is in its second year of using Kinvolved, a company founded by teachers, that tracks data and engages families through real-time, translated, text messaging. The District piloted the program in five schools in the 2017-18 school year. Data from Whittier Middle School, one of the pilot schools, is showing a nearly 3% increased attendance rate from the previous school year. In addition to efforts with Kinvolved, other attendance initiatives include continued dialog with the legal system regarding truancy, establishment of District Attendance Council, school attendance teams, and analyzing data to identify trends. Identified data has indicated that initiatives to drive culture change along with increased school participation are a direct correlation to improved attendance numbers. On the other end of the spectrum, data analysis shows schools with the lowest attendance achievement have the highest levels of mobility across the District. Administrative Recommendation to School Board: Acknowledge the results and initiatives underway to increase attendance levels across the District. MRF #17851 Action 38165 Adopted 11-13-2018
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Attendance Update EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Purpose of Report · Terry Redlin Elementary 345 72.33%477 349 68.43%510 Whittier Middle School 1,032773 74.90% 702 71.93%976 17-18 Full Year 16-17
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Purpose of Report: To provide the School Board with information regarding the attendance of District students and initiatives to increase the attendance level.
The Sioux Falls School District recognizes the importance of student attendance
and the high correlation to academic achievement. Because of this correlation, after a state change in the 2017-18 school year to decrease the School Performance Index (SPI) from a 94% benchmark to a 90%, the District kept the 94% to hold itself to a higher standard. By school comparison, those students hitting the 94% attendance benchmark are higher among non-title schools than title schools.
Along with holding students accountable regarding absenteeism, the SFSD is in its second year of using Kinvolved, a company founded by teachers, that tracks data and engages families through real-time, translated, text messaging. The District piloted the program in five schools in the 2017-18 school year. Data from Whittier Middle School, one of the pilot schools, is showing a nearly 3% increased attendance rate from the previous school year.
In addition to efforts with Kinvolved, other attendance initiatives include continued dialog with the legal system regarding truancy, establishment of District Attendance Council, school attendance teams, and analyzing data to identify trends. Identified data has indicated that initiatives to drive culture change along with increased school participation are a direct correlation to improved attendance numbers. On the other end of the spectrum, data analysis shows schools with the lowest attendance achievement have the highest levels of mobility across the District.
Administrative Recommendation to School Board: Acknowledge the results and initiatives underway to increase attendance levels across the District.
MRF #17851 Action 38165
Adopted 11-13-2018
Report Prepared by: Director of Research, Innovation and Accountability November 13, 2018 Presented by: Doug Morrison 1
Attendance Report
Purpose of Report: To provide the School Board with information regarding the attendance of
District students and initiatives to increase the attendance level.
District Priority Area: Priority Area 2: School Climate and Culture
District Measurable Goal:
By 2020, the number of K-8 students who did not attend school at least 94% of the time will
decrease by 5%.
Explanation:
Student Attendance is critically important to the success of students.
1. Absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the
school year. Half the students who miss 2-4 days in September go on to miss nearly a
month of school.
2. Over 7 million (1 in 7) U.S. students miss nearly a month of school each year.
3. Absenteeism and its ill effects start early. One in 10 kindergarten and first grade
students are chronically absent.
4. Poor attendance can influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third
grade or be held back.
5. By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out
of high school.
6. Research shows that missing 10 percent of the school, or about 18 days in most school
districts, negatively affects a student’s academic performance. That is just two days a
month and that is known as chronic absence.
7. Students who live in communities with high levels of poverty are four times more likely to
be chronically absent than others often for reasons beyond their control, such as
unstable housing, unreliable transportation and a lack of access to health care.
8. When students improve their attendance rates, they improve their academic prospects
and chances for graduating.
9. Attendance improves when schools engage students and parents in positive ways and
when schools provide mentors for chronically absent students.
10. Most school districts and states don’t look at all the right data to improve school
attendance. They track how many students show up every day and how many are
skipping school without an excuse, but not how many are missing so many days in
excused and unexcused absence that they are headed off track academically.
MRF #17851 Action 38165
Adopted 11-13-2018
Report Prepared by: Director of Research, Innovation and Accountability November 13, 2018 Presented by: Doug Morrison 2
District Performance:
Up until the 2017-18 school year, the State used a benchmark of 94% in its calculation of the
School Performance Index (SPI) for K-8 schools. Attendance accounted for 20% of the total
school SPI. The 94% correlated with the Sioux Falls School District (SFSD) policy of a 10-day
attendance standard. Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, the State is moving the
benchmark to 90% and attendance will only account for 10% of the total SPI. The DOE
indicated that 90% was more reflective of the standard used by the majority of states across the
country. Because of the high correlation of attendance to academic achievement the SFSD will
continue to use the 94% benchmark and hold itself to a higher standard. The SFSD policies
correlate to 10 unexcused absences as being excessive.
District Strategic Plan Indicator:
By School Comparison:
By 2020, the number of K – 8 students who did not
attend school at least 94% of the time [their
enrolled days] will decrease by 5 percentage
points.
2015-16
(Baseline)2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
Percent of Students 80.3% 78.9% 78.7%
MRF #17851 Action 38165
Adopted 11-13-2018
Report Prepared by: Director of Research, Innovation and Accountability November 13, 2018 Presented by: Doug Morrison 3
2017-18 Preliminary Attendance Data under the revised state calculation:
Chronic Absenteeism by subgroup
MRF #17851 Action 38165
Adopted 11-13-2018
Report Prepared by: Director of Research, Innovation and Accountability November 13, 2018 Presented by: Doug Morrison 4
Current Initiatives:
➢ Establishment of District Attendance Council. Meets quarterly. Comprised of District
administrators and staff as well as community members.
➢ Year two of Kinvolved pilot. Pilot schools include Hawthorne, Hayward, LBA Elementary
Schools, and Whittier Middle School. Terry Redlin Elementary School is also using a
communication tool only offered by Kinvolved.
Kinvolved Outbound Messages in 1Q 18-19:
Kinvo Schools
1st Quarter
17 18
2nd
Quarter 17
18
3rd Quarter
17 18
4th Quarter
17 18
1st Quarter
18 19
Laura B. Anderson Elementary 96.9% 95.1% 93.3% 95.7% 96.0%