The Signaling Power of Unexcused Absence from School

State and national school accountability policies situate preventing chronic absenteeism on par with meeting state standardized test benchmarks. We question relying on school attendance as both a component of accountability policies and a means of enhancing equity in schools. Our research suggests out-of-school factors unrelated to missed instruction account for most of the associations between absences and test score achievement—with unexcused absences driving those associations. Excessive absences—and particularly unexcused absences—don’t harm students mainly through missed instruction. Instead, they reflect out-of-school harms students endure that have produced inequalities for years—and will continue to do so even if students show up or parents call in.

ABSENTEÍSMO E CONDIÇÕES DE TRABALHO DOCENTE: o que narram os professores?

Este artigo faz parte de uma pesquisa de doutorado, de cunho etnográfico, realizada em uma escola pública estadual na periferia de Campinas-SP. A pesquisa etnográfica foi composta de observação participante, com registro em diário de campo e entrevistas com os diferentes sujeitos da investigação. Após observar o cotidiano da escola durante um ano letivo, constatou-se uma elevada percentagem de absenteísmo dos professores, que impossibilitava os alunos de garantir seu direito à educação e se tornava o maior problema estrutural da escola. Deste modo, além da observação da rotina escolar, das aulas, da sala dos professores e de conversas informais realizou-se entrevistas com alguns professores da escola, com o objetivo de analisar suas condições de trabalho e o motivo das ausências excessivas. Os resultados demonstraram que não somente a degradação salarial era um desestímulo para a carreira do professor causando o absenteísmo, mas igualmente a sobrecarga de trabalho, as constantes mudanças de equipe gestora, a falta de valorização de projetos inovadores, a discordância da progressão continuada e/ou promoção automática, entre outros, eram aspectos considerados massacrantes para os entrevistados. As ausências dos professores eram justificadas como uma forma de se manter sua saúde física e mental e para os alunos, essas ausências representavam uma defasagem ainda maior na qualidade da educação pública.Palavras-chave: Professores. Condições de trabalho. Educação Pública. AbsenteísmoABSENTEEISM AND WORKING CONDITIONS DOCENT: what do teachers tell?AbstractThis article is part of my doctorate degree research, of ethnographic die, developed in a state public school, in the suburbs of Campinas-SP. The ethnographic research was composed of participant observation, with record in field journal and interviews with the different subjects of the investigation. After watching every day routines of this institution, along a school-year, a high percentage of absentee is was verified, making impossible to assure the student rights to education. This was the major problem in the school. In such way, after this observation of school dail y activities, of classes, teachers´ room, and after informal conversations we performed interviews with some teacher soft his scholar institution, our objective was to analyze the working conditions and there a sons behind the excessive absences. The results demonstrated that, not only the degradation of salary compensation was discouraging to the teachers´careerrs causing absenteeism, but the constant work over load, constant changes of the managing team, the lack of valorization of innovating projects, disagreement son continuity y of progression and/or automatic promotion, a mongothers, were some of the aspects that, according to the inter viewees, were ex hausting. Teachers´ absences were justified as a way to guarantee e psycho-physical healthand for students, these absences represented a bigger gap of the public education.Keywords: Teachers. Working Conditions. Public Education. Absenteeism.ABSENTISMO Y CONDICIONES DE TRABAJO DOCENTE: ¿qué narran los profesores?ResumenEste artículo es parte de una investigación de doctorado, de cuño etnográfico, realizada en una escuela pública estatal en la periferia de Campinas-SP. La investigación etnográfica fue compuesta por observación participante, con registro en el diario de campo y entrevistas con los distintos sujetos de la investigación. Después de observar el cotidiano de la escuela durante un año, se constató un elevado porcentaje de absentismo de profesores, que imposibilitaba a los alumnos de su derecho a la educación y se convertía en el mayor problema estructural de la escuela. De este modo, además de la observación de la rutina escolar, de las clases, de la sala de profesores y de conversaciones informales se realizaron entrevistas con algunos profesores de la escuela, con el objetivo de analizar sus condiciones de trabajo y el motivo de las ausencias excesivas. Los resultados demostraron que no sólo la degradación salarial era un desestímulo para la carrera del profesor causando el absentismo, pero también la sobrecarga de trabajo, los constantes cambios de equipo gestor, la falta de valorización de proyectos innovadores, la discordancia de la progresión continuada y / o promoción automática, entre otros, eran aspectos considerados masacrantes para los entrevistados. Las ausencias de los profesores eran justificadas como una forma de mantener su salud física y mental y para los alumnos, estas ausencias representaban un desfase aún mayor en la calidad de la educación pública.Palabras clave: Profesores. Condiciones de trabajo. Educación Pública. Absentismo.

Linking Getting to School With Going to School

Researchers, policymakers, and practitioners have recently aligned efforts to reduce school absenteeism, particularly during kindergarten when excessive absences are highest out of all elementary grades. Little is known, however, about whether the way in which students get to school might influence if they go to school. To address this gap, this study was the first to address the role of school bus-taking on reducing school absences. Using a national large-scale dataset of children (the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study–Kindergarten Class of 2010–2011), the findings suggest that children who took the school bus to kindergarten had fewer absent days over the school year and were less likely to be chronically absent compared with children who commuted to school in any other way. Given that many districts are considering cutting or restricting bus services, this study brings to question whether doing so might limit the resources upon which families rely to ensure their children attend school each day. Implications are discussed.

School Experiences of an Adolescent with Medical Complexities Involving Incontinence

The educational implications of chronic illnesses which involve incontinence are not well represented in the literature. The experiences of an adolescent with multiple complex illnesses, including incontinence, were explored via an intrinsic case study. Data were gathered from the adolescent, her mother, and teachers through interviews, email correspondence and school documentation over four months. Analytic memo writing was used to promote reflexivity and address researcher subjectivity. Three prominent themes emerged. There were excessive absences from school which were not always due to the physical implications of the student’s incontinence. Some absences were attributed to fear of accidents at school or even fabricated by the student to avoid attendance. Next, an incomplete and inconsistent support and communication system was found which contributed to academic underachievement. Finally, the persona presented by the student led to inaccurate assumptions by school personnel and sometimes her mother regarding her ability to cope with her condition.

An Analysis of the Effectiveness of Telephone Intervention in Reducing Absences and Improving Grades of College Freshmen

A telephone intervention to reduce student absences was implemented during the 2000–2001 academic year in freshmen English classes at a southern university. A total of 345 students were included in 2 experimental studies. Students in the intervention group who obtained more absences than allotted by class professors received telephone intervention, whereas students with excessive absences in the control group did not receive telephone intervention. Results revealed that students in the intervention groups had significantly fewer absences and higher grades ( p < .01) than students in the control groups during both semesters of the study. Also, more students in the intervention group were retained from the Spring 2001 semester to the Fall 2001 semester as compared to students in the control groups.