Justification For our Justification For our ProjectProject

A problem that George Washington Carver Elementary School faced in the 2010-2011 School Year was a large amount of absences in the student population.

Attendance was a prevalent factor in the school reaching AYP by safe harbor (growth not test score comparison)

The 2011-2012 SIP discussed ways to improve attendance (food grant, special activities)

Last year alone there were 4, 985 absences: 1,869 were lawful and 3,116 were unlawful

Our StrategyOur Strategy To gain deeper insight into the area of attendance, we

informally interviewed students in grades K-5. Grades K-2 were orally interviewed as a class and were

asked two questions. 1. What makes you excited to come to school? 2. What is the main reason you miss school?

Grades 3-5 were asked three questions. 1. What is the number one reason you miss school? 2. What could your school do to get you here? 3. What makes you excited to come to school?

In having students answer these questions pertaining to attendance, we were able to find parallels in regards to why students were frequently missing school.

In orally asking questions to primary students, the pressures of writing out responses were removed and they were able to focus on oral responses.

General Research General Research Questions Questions

What are the main reasons that students at George Washington Carver Elementary School are absent?

What can George Washington Carver Elementary School do to improve the attendance of the students enrolled?

What are the main attendance “motivators” already in place at George Washington Carver Elementary School?

Data Collection PlanData Collection Plan

Survey ProceduresSurvey Procedures Grades K-2 provided answers to each of the two

questions orally by raising his/her hand and sharing their responses. The answers were written down and collected by a member of our group.

Grades 3-5 received a slip of paper containing the three questions. The questions were read out loud, one at a time before the students wrote their responses.

Observation GuidelinesObservation Guidelines For grades K-2 we wrote down every single

response that a child provided.

We emphasized that each response was important. If a child wasn’t clear about the point they were getting across, we probed a little bit further to try and get a clearer view of what they were saying.

Findings K-2Findings K-2 1. What makes you excited to come to school? (Sample Quotes)

Top Answers Were Recess and learning games like computers and stations (centers)

2. What is the main reason you miss school? (Sample Quotes)

Top Answers Were Transportation and sickness

Kindergarten First Grade Second Grade

“I like playing outside” “Green Day $1” “I like seeing my school friends and having fun with my cousins”

“Eating breakfast” “Mom says I have to” “To learn how to read”

Kindergarten First Grade Second Grade

“When the bus takes too long”

“My mom sleeps in and doesn’t wake me up”

“The clock is broken every day”

“My sister takes too long straightening her hair”

“I miss the bus” “No feel good”

Findings From Findings From Grades 3-5Grades 3-5

Students were asked: “What is the number one reason you miss school?”

Findings From Findings From Grades 3-5Grades 3-5

Students were asked: “What can your school do to help you get to school?”

Findings From Findings From Grades 3-5Grades 3-5

Students were asked “What makes you excited to come to school?”

ImplicationsImplications Our data indicates that the main attendance conflict is

student illness. Grades K-5 all indicated that missing the bus and being sick were the main reasons for school wide absence. Improving transportation methods would be the most feasible way to increase attendance, as sickness cannot be directly manipulated.

Our data indicates that the lower grades were mostly excited to come to school because of food and recess. (Recess has already been extended this 2011-2012 school year). Data from grades 3-5 indicates that learning and school-based friendships were the main motivators for attendance.

Limitations Limitations K-2: Students in grades K-2 may have agreed with their

neighbor instead of coming up with their own responses as the questions were asked in an oral group setting (close proximity to peers)

• They might have been nervous to share their real answers in front of their peers

• They might have been providing us with responses that they thought we wanted to hear

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The wording we used in the oral and written surveys confused some individuals: the interpretation of the words “miss school” evoked a longing instead of absence

• Limited time to conduct surveys

• Each class was given the survey on one day. If a child was absent on the day the survey was distributed, their responses were not accounted for

SuggestionsSuggestions• Smaller sample size, with one-on-one interaction

and very precise wording of questions (carefully planned diction)

• Send home attendance notes in Weekly Folders, which are available in the native language of the child; reminding the parent(s)/guardian(s) about the number of days missed with the dates attached

• Survey is distributed in the language of the student (ELL Students)

• Need for automated phone service that reaches parents earlier in the day

THE THE BIGBIG PICTURE… PICTURE… In conclusion, after reaching out to the K-5 student body of

George Washington Carver Elementary School and hearing what students had to say about attendance, we have deduced that transportation is the single most “controllable” factor that can improve attendance rates.

While sickness was the main reason students gave for unlawful absence, it is critical that we keep in mind the true meaning behind “I was sick.” This is becoming a popular “excuse” that doesn’t necessarily mean sickness was in fact the reason for an unaccounted absence. According to literature like The Role of Work Group in Individual Sickness Absence Behavior from the Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2008) we can read “Unfortunately, this managerial paradigm focusing on “voluntary” absenteeism has ignored the health-related aspect of absenteeism, medically certified sickness absenteeism, and it has not specified whether the absences studied had medical or other reasons.” (Vaananen et al, 2008, p. 462).