Dive Brief:
- A new study by Attendance Works found that students missing three or more days of school in the months leading up to the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress scored significantly lower than their habitually present peers.
- Students with "poor attendance" scored 12 to 18 points lower on the the fourth and eighth grade mathematics and reading tests, which have a maximum score of 500 points.
- Using the amassed data, Attendance Works created a state-by-state graph of where "poor absenteeism" is the worst.
Dive Insight:
According to a news release by Attendance Works, "Montana and New Mexico had among the worst statewide absenteeism rates at the fourth grade level, with 25 percent or more of students reporting that they missed 3 or more days prior to the assessment. At the eighth grade level, they are joined by Arizona, Oklahoma, Oregon and Wyoming." While the group found that students from low-income households were more likely to be chronically absent, they acknowledged that the gaps caused by "poor attendance" held true for all ages, subjects, races and ethnicities, and cities and states included in the study.
Attendance Works has recommends that states "promote a standard definition in order to calculate chronic absenteeism across districts and states." Additionally, they should invest in tools to track absent students, make reports of chronic absenteeism available to the public, provide parents "real time" data on student attendance, and adopt "early warning" systems that allow schools to predict high school drop out risks.