Did you know?
CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM
Chronic absenteeism, a primary cause of poor academic achievement, is defined as missing at least 10 percent of days in a school year for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences.
7 Facts
- Students who live in communities with high levels of poverty are 4x more likely to be chronically absent than others
- Common reasons for chronic absenteeism often include reasons beyond the students' control, such as unstable housing, reliable transportation, and a lack of access to health care.
- By 6th grade, chronic absence becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school.
- Nationwide, 1 out of 10 students misses a month of school every year.
- Students who miss 2 to 4 days in September are 5x more likely than these who miss fewer than 2 days to be chronically absent for the year.
- California study found that only 17% of students who were chronically absent in both kindergarten and first grade ware reading proficiently in third grade, compared to 64% at those with good attendance
- Students with fewer absence from school scored higher in reading and mathematics assessments than their peers with more absences.
RCP Effort
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RCP has joined forces with Riverside County Office of Education (RCOE) to promote a localized “Attendance Works" campaign, particularly among its most impacted regions.
Utilizing County absenteeism data from the California Department of Education, RCP and RCOE collectively determined the highest impacted areas of chronic absenteeism among Riverside County school districts. The districts identified fell within RCP's Desert and Mid-County regions.
Respective RCP field offices administered surveys to our adult and juvenile populations throughout the 2021-2022 and 2022- 2023 school years. Information collected included school involvement, attendance policies, and communication, as well as home life, responsibilities, and expectations for the mutual purpose of seeking solutions.
OF THE YOUTH SURVEYED, YOUTH REPORTED:
- Gaming, watching TV, and social media as the top contributors is staying up past normal bedtime.
- Having a hard time waking up caused them to be late to school or absent.
- Less than half (47%) either do not have any friends, do not want any friends, or want to have more friends in school.
- Focusing on oneself and their schoolwork, tutoring resources, "learning is power" classes, support from motivating teachers and staff, classes with meaning (i.e. business, money, stocks, and marketing), building connections with classmates and like-minded friends would help them be more successful in school.
- IEPs are more helpful to their educational needs rather than a 504 plan.
- Half (50%) state they have a trustworthy and/or reliable staff member at their school.
OF THE ADULTS SURVEYED, ADULTS REPORTED:
- On a scale of Excellent Good, Fair, or Poor, 50% reported their child(ren)’s attendance as "Good."
- More than hall (60%) stated their child(ren) are late to school 1-3x each week, every day, and/or 1-2x each month.
- Having a positive friendly environment friends, engaged teachers, fun extracurricular activities (i.e. sports, orchestra, musical recitals), opportunities for art science, and afterschool programs, engagement in new activities and school events are a few things the school does or could do to motivate their child(ren) to attend.
- Work, schedule conflicts, and lack of childcare are the top three barriers in preventing parent(s) from becoming involved in their child(ren)’s school(s).
RCP staff reiterated to these families the short and long-term benefits of daily attendance at school. Moving forward with future school years, RCP will continue to actively administer surveys to our adult and juvenile populations while collaborating further with RCOE by providing tools, flyers, and any helpful efforts to staff departmentwide to assist in addressing chronic absenteeism among today's youth.