Annysa Johnson

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The overwhelming majority of U.S. school districts — urban, suburban and rural — experience some degree of chronic absenteeism that puts students at academic risk, according to a study released Tuesday.

But half of all chronically absent students are enrolled in 4% of the nation's school districts and 12% of its schools, including many in Wisconsin. And it disproportionally affects students of color, those who are poor and those diagnosed with learning disabilities.

"On some level chronic absenteeism is everywhere. But the thing that surprised us is that it's also highly concentrated," said Robert Balfanz, a Johns Hopkins University researcher who co-wrote the report, “Preventing Missed Opportunity: Taking Collective Action to Confront Chronic Absence,” with Hedy Chang, director of the San Francisco-based nonprofit Attendance Works.

Chang called it a "driver of poor student outcomes in school" that has been largely overlooked.

"All the best instruction in schools doesn’t make a difference if kids aren’t there to benefit from it," she said.

The study analyzes the chronic absence data from the 2013-'14 school year released in June by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, as well as census and other data. It marked the first time that the biennial survey of school districts included a question on excessive absences.

According to the analysis, 13% of U.S. students missed three or more weeks of school during the year, which the report said is “enough time to erode their achievement and threaten their chance of graduating.” Over half of those students were in elementary or middle school.

“Studies show that missing just 10% or more of school — whether absences are excused, unexcused or due to suspension — predicts lower levels of numeracy and literacy for students by third grade, class failure in middle school and higher levels of suspension,” the authors said.

“It can also lead to a higher likelihood that students will drop out of high school and will have lower levels of persistence in college.”

The report said chronic absenteeism is problematic beginning in preschool and kindergarten and the academic impact “is greatest for children living in poverty whose families typically have fewer — and less access — to resources to make up for the lost school learning opportunities.”

And, the authors said, it affects more than just those students who miss school. “High levels of chronic absenteeism can affect every student’s opportunity to learn because the resulting classroom churn can make it more difficult for teachers to offer engaging instruction,” they said.

At least two large districts in southeastern Wisconsin have been working with Attendance Works in recent years to address chronic absenteeism. Milwaukee Public Schools has partnered with the Milwaukee Bucks on a campaign to encourage student attendance, and MPS was selected this year to take part in a My Brother's Keeper mentoring program funded by the U.S. Department of Education, among other initiatives.

The West Allis-West Milwaukee School District won a two-year, $50,000 grant from the Medical College of Wisconsin for work on chronic absenteeism. It has already seen some success with a positive messaging campaign that it implemented last year, said Marla Blom, the school district nurse who is coordinating its efforts.

Milwaukee and West Allis-West Milwaukee appear among the 4% of schools accounting for half of the chronically absent students in 2013-'14. According to the federal data, 30,196 (38%) of MPS students and 1,907 (20%) of West Allis-West Milwaukee students missed more than 15 days.

Some districts have challenged their inclusion in the report and the federal data. Greenfield schools, for example, are included in the study as having a 46% chronic absenteeism rate. But data at the Department of Public Instruction shows it as 15.8%, calculated using the Department of Education's same definition.

Schools around the country have raised concerns about the data, and Wisconsin DPI spokesman Tom McCarthy said "the state also has concerns about the quality of the federal data."

"This is the first year of this collection, and the first year always presents challenges. Districts also have questions and don't have time to resolve them" before completing the survey, McCarthy said.

Karen Horn, who oversees efforts to promote attendance at MPS, said the district was making a concerted effort to build positive relationships with students and their families and to educate parents about the importance of daily attendance.

"We're really communicating with families about how that impacts their child and academics," she said. "What we find is if you lose two days every month, over time you will see declines, and it adds up quickly."

Report findings

Among other findings in the report:

Chronic absenteeism was reported in 89% of U.S. districts, with the number of students chronically absent ranging from two to more than 72,000.

Half the chronically absent students were found in 4% of the nation’s districts and 12% of its schools. Those 654 districts are spread across 47 states and the District of Columbia. Two states with large student populations — Texas and California — account for 10% of chronically absent students that year.

Districts serving disadvantaged urban neighborhoods with high rates of poverty typically have both high rates and large numbers of chronically absent students. Districts in cities such as Milwaukee, Baltimore, Detroit, Philadelphia and Cleveland reported more than a third of students chronically absent. The report said absenteeism in these highly segregated communities of color “reflects a web of structural challenges that includes the lack of adequate affordable housing, limited access to health care and the absence of well-resourced schools.”

But the majority of districts reporting rates of 30% or more were in small, poor and rural communities, where challenges related to poverty and transportation can keep children from school. And some of the places with the highest numbers of chronically absent students were in affluent, suburban districts known for high academic achievement — a reflection of both their size and their growing populations of low-income students.

The report includes a number of suggestions for tracking and improving attendance, including better use of data; creating safe and welcoming environments; and forging partnerships with the broader community, including parents, government agencies and nonprofits. It highlights a number of programs around the country, all of which the researchers have been involved in, including the My Brother's Keeper Success Mentors Initiative and Diplomas Now, co-founded by Balfanz of​ Johns Hopkins' Everyone Graduates Center.