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Getting Beyond Negative Perceptions about ParentsKey Insights about Engaging Parents in Ending Chronic Absence
PARENTS ARE THE SECRET SAUCE WEBINAR SERIES FALL 2015
Featured Speakers
California Department of Justice
Attorney General Kamala D. Harris
Jill Habig Ben H. Chida
• The Science & The Data: Why This Matters
• Proven & Promising Programs, Tools & Resources
• Programs in Action/Bright Spots
• Measuring Success
• Engaging Parents in GLR Coalitions
Supporting Parents Success Microsite
Ad Council – CA Attorney General Reducing Chronic Absence by Informing Parents
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Lots of Kids Are Living the Same Story
83% of Students
Chronically Absent in
Kindergarten & 1st Grade Are
Unable to Read On-Level by 3rd
Grade1
Students Who Cannot Read
On-Level in 3rd
Grade Are 4x More Likely to Drop Out Than Kids Who Can2
People Who Drop Out Are
8x More Likely to Be
Incarcerated than People with High
School Diplomas3
It’s no surprise that a child who misses school falls behind in school; it’s also no surprise that falling behind
in school leads to worse life outcomes. We just need to connect the dots.
6For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
We Have an Attendance Problem in Our Elementary Schools
Last year,
230,000 elementary school
students in California were
chronically absent4
That includes
14.2% of kindergartners and
8.8% of first graders in California5
7For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
75% of chronically absent7
and 90% of severely chronically
absent8
students are low-income
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The Attendance Problem Widens the Achievement Gap
30.2% of African-American Boys in
Kindergarten Were Chronically Absent6
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
What Causes the Attendance Problem? Here’s What Researchers
Say“The causes of chronic absenteeism are complex and vary from school to school.” (Public health, transportation, poverty, etc.)9
“A lack of parental understanding about the importance of daily school
attendance can lead to higher rates of absenteeism, as parents
may not fully understand the negative outcomes associated with
missing school.”10
“[P]arents who have low levels of education themselves simply do
not understand the importance of regular school
attendance.”11
BUT
9For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Are They Right About Parents? We Tested the Hypothesis
We partnered with the Ad Council, a non-profit
organization with expertise in public messaging, to go
directly to the source: Parents.
We talked to them to learn more.
The answers to the questions were really interesting.
10
With support from the California Endowment, we
asked 2 big questions:
1. Why are kids chronically absent?
2. What can we do about it?
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Here’s How We Tested the Hypothesis
(Research Methodology)
We just received the final findings in September 2015.
Expert Interviews:School administrators, teachers,
parent liaisons, and policy experts
Parent Ethnographies:
• In-home interviews of 24 parents of chronically absent
K–5 students
• Approx. 2 hours each
• 9 Spanish, 15 English
• 8 in LA, 8 in the Bay Area, and 8 in Central California
Conducted 823 telephone and online surveys (573 in English and 250 in Spanish) to validate Phase 1 findings and test 4 messages
Phase #1
Phase #2
11For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Here’s Who We Talked To and Why(Demographic Breakdown)
12
All parents had annual household incomes below
$50,000 per year
Because 75% of chronically absent12
and 90% of severely chronically absent students are low-income
Parents of students in public elementary schools (K-5) who
missed 10+ days in the previous year
Because parents are key allies in addressing California’s elementary
school chronic absence and truancy crisis, and we wanted to
hear directly from them
Representative samples of all ethnic/racial backgrounds,
with oversampling of African American and Latino parents
Because there’s an ethnic/racial attendance gap
We wanted to zero in on the most affected familiesFor more info,
visit: oag.ca.gov/truanc
y
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Here Are 4 Lessons We’ve
Learned
Why Are Kids Chronically
Absent?
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
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Parents Universally Want What’s Best for Their Kids
(Did You Need a Study to Tell You That?)
Lesson #1
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Parents Have Only the Best Intentions
1
During both phases of research, it was absolutely clear that parents have big dreams for their
children and have the best intentions. 15
17% 18% 23% 17% 22% 25%
73% 75% 59% 75% 69%40%
Keep track of atten-dances
Save ab-sences for when nec-
essary
Shorten family vacation to en-
sure child doesn’t miss
Contact teacher to make up
missed work
Talk to child about impor-tance of at-tendance
Ask school for help
How likely are you to do the following in the 2015-16 school year?
Very Likely
Somewhat Likely
90% 93%82%
92% 91%
65%
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
16
Parents aren’t connecting the dots between early attendance and later
outcomes
Lesson #2
“My child shouldn’t miss a day of
kindergarten unless it’s unavoidable.”
“I hope my child graduates high
school and goes to college.”
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Parents Agree that Some AbsencesWere Avoidable
Keep in mind: This is what parents are willing to say to an interviewer.
17
2
We asked parents:
How often did your child stay home even though they probably
could have attended?
Although parents responded that most absences were unavoidable,
74% responded that at least some were avoidable.
% of Parent Re-spondents
No Avoidable AbsencesSome Avoidable Absences
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Parents Don’t Think Early Grade Absences Are a “Big Deal”
23%
37% 41%48%
56%
71%49%47%
63%71%
79% 84%
Parents are about 2x more likely to say that attendance is a “big deal” in high school than
kindergarten
% who say “it’s a big deal to miss at this grade level”
Spanish-Speaking Parents
English-Speaking Parents
18
2
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
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Parents aren’t connecting the dots between day-to-day
absences and year-end totals
Lesson #3
“A couple absences a month isn’t a big
deal.”
“18+ absences a year is way too
many.”
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
There was a mismatch between the “ideal” and “actual” numbers of
absences
Keep in mind: All of the respondents were parents of students who were absent 10+
times last year 20
3
We asked parents:
Approximately how many days is it okay for your child to miss
in a school year?
The majority of parents said fewer than 9 days.
English-speaking p...
4%
21%
38%
26%
8%
Spanish-speaking ...
28%
35%
18%
17%>20 days10-20 days
4-9 days1-3 days0 days
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Parents Underestimate the Number of Year-End Absences
The math: If a child is absent an average of 2+ days a month, then she is absent far more than
10+ days a year 21
3
Missed 10+ days annually
30%
We asked each parent about his or her child’s absences in two
ways:
1. Was your child absent an average of 2 or more days a
month?2. Was your child absent more
than 10 days over the year?
60% of parents said their child was absent an average of 2+
days a month, but not 10+ days a year
Missed an average of 2+ days per month
90%
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Parents Want to Track Absences
Parents want to do what’s best for their kids.22
3
We asked parents:
How likely is it that you will track absences in the 2015-16
school year?
Between 90-96% of parents said they were likely to track
absences. 10% 4%
17% 32%
73% 64%Very likely
Somewhat Likely
Unlikely
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
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Schools Inadvertently Reinforce Absence-Causing
Behaviors
Lesson #4
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Most High-Absence Parents Reported that Their Schools Had Not Contacted
Them
We need to make it easier for teachers and school leaders to talk to parents about
absences. 24
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72% of parents reported that they
most trust teachers to talk to
them about absences.
BUT
Only 42% reported that a school
official, including a teacher, contacted
them about attendance in the
last 6 months.
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Schools Inadvertently Reinforce Some Absence-Causing Beliefs
4
Reinforce Attendance Reinforce Absenteeism
Class rewards for good attendance (e.g. popcorn or ice cream parties)
Individual recognition for students with good attendance
• Impersonal letters
• Teachers send work home in response to absences
• Teachers do not address absenteeism issue with the parent
• Parents do not feel their child is safe in school
• High levels of absenteeism in the class
Big motivators for kids, but not parents
Reinforces parents’ existing attitudes and
behaviors toward absences
School Behaviors that…
Impersonal Letters: • Easy to disregard• Many parents felt the school
miscounted—but parents couldn’t verify because they weren’t tracking absences
• Many parents felt that the school didn’t understand them
Sending Work Home:• Parents thought that
completing a makeup packet caught their child up for the missed day’s work
Teachers Not Addressing Absenteeism:• Most parents reported that
they regularly communicate with their children’s teacher, but never about absences
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
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We Tested 4 Messages and
Have 3 Strategies
What Can We Do?
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
We Tested Four Messages
Some combination of “attendance matters” and “absences add up” is most effective.
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Attendance Matters
Early attendance = later success
Absences Add Up
2 absences per month = chronic
absence
Bad HabitsEarly absence = later ditching
All Absences Are Equal
Absences have the same
consequences
Believable and persuasive
Fact that education is
sequential was new information
Believable and persuasive
Didn’t realize that 2 absences per
month was excessive
Never thought about the habits
being formed
Too negative
“Not my child”
Never thought about the
consequences of excused absences
Unbelievable; some absences
are OK
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
28
The “Ground Game”: Enable School Leaders, Including
Teachers, to Act on the Research
Strategy #1
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
We can use feedback + help disseminating the toolkit.
Release Actionable Tools for School Leaders to Deliver the Message
29
1
72% of parents reported that they most trust teachers to talk
to them about absences
but
Only 42% of parents reported that school
leaders, including teachers, talked to
them about absences.
SO
By the beginning of October, we’ll release all of our research and
a toolkit for school leaders to deliver the
most effective messages.
We will have a draft up by late September for
feedback.
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
30
The “Air Game”: Reinforce the Ground Game with a
Two-Year Public Education Campaign
Strategy #2
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
We can use help finding investors.
Two-Year Public EducationCampaign to Empower Parents
31
2
Parents need help connecting the dots:
2 absences per month
= chronic absence
and
early attendance =
later success
SO
By the summer of 2016,
we hope to launch a two-year, multimedia
public education campaign.
The goal will be to deliver the most
effective messages to parents via multiple
conduits.
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
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We Are Exploring Tools to Easily Track Absences
Strategy #3
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
We can use help finding investors.
Tools to Easily Track Absences
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90-96% of parents say they want to track
absences
but
judging by the gap between reported
monthly absences and annual absences, most
parents aren’t really doing it now.
SO
Building on the research of academics
like Professor Todd Rogers, we are
exploring opportunities for a text messaging
platform that will empower parents to
more easily keep track of their child’s
absences.
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy
Works Cited
1 Alan Ginsburg, Phyllis Jordan, & Hedy Chang, Absences Add Up: How School Attendance Influences Student Success (Sept. 2014).2 Donald J. Hernandez, Double Jeopardy: How Third-Grade Reading Skills and Poverty Influence High School Graduation, The Annie E. Casey Foundation (2012).3 John M. Bridgeland, et al., The Silent Epidemic: Perspectives of High School Dropouts, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (March 2006).4 Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice, In School + On Track: Attorney General’s 2015 Report on California’s Elementary School Truancy & Absenteeism Crisis (2015).5 Id.6 Id.7 Id.8 Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice, In School + On Track: Attorney General’s 2014 Report on California’s Elementary School Truancy & Absenteeism Crisis (2014).9 Nauer, Kim, et al., Center for New York City Affairs at the New School for Management and Urban Policy, Strengthening Schools by Strengthening Families: Community Strategies to Reverse Chronic Absenteeism in the Early Grades and Improve Supports for Children and Families (2008).10 Id.11 Center for Court Innovation, From Absent to Present: Reducing Teen Chronic Absenteeism in New York City (2013), 23.12 Office of the Attorney General, California Department of Justice, In School + On Track: Attorney General’s 2015 Report on California’s Elementary School Truancy and Absenteeism Crisis (2015).
For more info, visit:
oag.ca.gov/truancy