TEMPLATE DESIGN © 2008

www.PosterPresentations.com

Filling Empty Desks: Chronic Absenteeism Intervention Programs for Middle School

Victoria CummingsFaculty Advisor: Patrick Akos

Abstract

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing at least 10% of class during a given school year. In elementary school parents are held accountable for their children’s absences, while the students are held accountable in high school. Middle school is a period where students are trying to become independent while still being supervised by their parents. Previous research suggests that a combination of those practices that work best in both elementary and high schools will work in middle school. These practices are phone calls home and before and after school activities, respectively. This paper explores practices used to reduce absenteeism in middle schools that report high absenteeism rates and the effectiveness of the interventions.

Factors Affecting Chronic Absence

During What Grades is Chronic Absence Most Prevalent?

Because middle school is a time of transition, I propose that the most effective programs may be those that combine the type of programs that have shown to be most effective in elementary and high school. These include phone calls home and before and after school activities, respectively.

Phone Calls Home

Automated Voice Messages:

“Hello, this is a message from the attendance office at [school name], calling to inform you that your child was absent today. Please contact the attendance office of your student’s school at [phone number] to clear the absence, or send a signed note upon returning to school. If you have already contacted the school office you can disregard this message. If you would like to hear this message again, please press the star key. Thank you.”

Drawbacks:•Unauthentic •No notice if number is disconnected•No guaranteed parent will get the message (once you know that there isn’t a person on the other end of the line you’re more likely to hang up)

Personal Phone calls

“Hello, this is [your name] from [school name]. I noticed that [insert child’s name here] did not come to school this morning. I wanted to encourage him/her to come to school. I am concerned that he/she will be missing critical instruction needed to be successful in school [give examples of missing working]. Consistent attendance is necessary for your child’s success in school. Is there something that we should know that is contributing to his/her absence from school?”

Drawback•Figuring out who's making the phone calls•May not be feasible in large schools that have many chronically absent students

Before & After School Activities

Some schools have implemented physical education at the start of every day to get students out of their tiredness so that they are more attentive throughout the day.

Other schools have before and after school interest clubs and sports (i.e. harry potter club, arts and crafts, dance lessons, dodgeball tournaments, etc.).

Significance:

•Connected to the school and therefore students must be in school to participate.

•Finding at least one enjoyable thing gives students something to look forward to, but also, helps build relationships between students and the faculty that run the activities; it gives students and teachers something to connect over

Drawbacks:•Finding an activity that appeals to every student can be tiresome

•Even though they are taking place at school, there may be other accessibility issues.

Improvements in Attendance

The School Tardiness and Attendance Review Team (START) program, which focuses on phone calls home, reduced absenteeism by 40%.

Students participating in extracurricular activities were at least twice as likely to be present in school than those not participating.

Discussion

Future Work

References

Both methods of connecting with parents through phone calls home have their advantages and disadvantages, but they do provide the extra reminder to the parents that being in school matters.

Before and After school activities are targeting a different area, student engagement. When students have something to look forward to, the whole school experience is generally better. Additionally, it creates an atmosphere that fosters positive relationships between students and faculty members.

Considering the research that supports phone calls home and before and after school activities as effectively reducing chronic absence, large-scale implementation in low socioeconomic status communities is ideal.

Before this can happen though, there must be a clear idea of the scale of the problem. Records should be kept in a uniformed fashion across all states so that numbers can be compared. The records should, at the minimum, include what percentage of a schools population misses 10% or more of school days to help identify the trends of absenteeism.

• Gender – males are more likely to be chronically absent

• Age Group - late middle school and high school have highest instances of chronic absence

• Parental education and Income – Lower = more likely to miss school

• School phobia – bullying can cause students to not come to school

• School Truancy – Other behavioral problems lead to students skipping class

• School load – stressed out about the amount of work = anxiety, which keeps some students from coming to school

• Familiar reasons – sickness in family, death, religious holiday observation, parents can’t get students to school

• Building Conditions

• Puberty

http://funnymonkey.com/topics/opt-out

Advancing Student Success by Reducing Chronic Absence. (2014, January 1). Retrieved February 1, 2012, from http://www.attendanceworks.org/

Attendance Data Definition. (2007, January 1). Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.maine.gov/education/enroll/adaadm/attendancetip.htmes

Collins, A. (n.d.). Attendance Calls. Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.eanesisd.net/students-and-parents/attendance

Balfanz, R., & Byrnes, V. (2012). The importance of being in school: A report on absenteeism in the nation's public schools. The Education Digest, 78(2), 4-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1081805093?accountid=14244

Baker, A. (2015, April 1). Chronic Absenteeism [E-mail interview]. Haight, C. M., Haight, C. M., & Chapman. (08/2014). Psychology in the schools: Evaluation of a truancy diversion program at nine at-risk middle schools. John Wiley & Sons Inc. doi:10.1002/pits.21775 Marvul, J. N. (2012). If you build it, they will come: A successful truancy intervention program in a small high school. Urban Education, 47(1), 144-169. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0042085911427738 Nieves, T. (Recruitment Manager) (2015, January 7). Shadow Day. Lecture conducted from City Year, Providence, RI.

Norwich Public Schools. (2012, February 14). Student Attendance and Truancy. Retrieved April 4, 2015, from http://www.norwichpublicschools.org/uploaded/documents/_dis/policies/5110_student-attendance-and-truancy.pdf Simons, E., Hwang, S.-A., Fitzgerald, E. F., Kielb, C., & Lin, S. (2010). The impact of school building conditions on student absenteeism in Upstate New York. American Journal of Public Health, 100(9), 1679–1686. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2009.165324 Uppal, P. (2010-11-01). School absenteeism among children and its correlates: A predictive model for identifying absentees. Indian pediatrics, 47(11), 925-929.doi:10.1007/s13312-010-0156-5

Contact Information

Victoria Cummingsvcumming@live.unc.edu(702) 443 - 1376

Middle School Intervention Evaluation

As seen in the figure above, sixth grade is when instances of chronic absence start to rise. Those with a history of chronic absence are more likely to continue the trend. If the problem is addressed earlier enough it is more likely to be reversed.

https://cityyearnh.wordpress.com/2012/12/11/starfish-corps-program-and-2013/