Exploring the Effects of Full-Day Kindergarten on School Absenteeism for Children With Disabilities: Evidence From State Policy Mandates in the United States1

Student absenteeism is a barrier to learning and an issue that requires policy intervention. Students with disabilities are of particular concern, as they miss school more often than students in any other demographic group. Affecting a key attribute of school structures, policies promoting full-day kindergarten began as an effort to improve opportunities for students from disadvantaged backgrounds, but no studies have provided causal evidence as to whether full-day kindergarten enrollment relates to school attendance. No studies have examined whether effects exist for students with disabilities in the long term. Using a nationally representative sample of children with disabilities in the United States ( N = 2,120), we employed an instrumental-variable strategy that capitalized on state-level policy shifts of full-day kindergarten offerings as an exogenous source of variation. We found that full-day kindergarten structures related to a sharp increase in absenteeism for children with disabilities in kindergarten and first and second grades. We found no relationship to absenteeism for these children in later years of primary schooling. We discuss policy implications of these findings.

Absent on Absenteeism: Academic Silence on Student Absenteeism in Canadian Education

Despite mandatory school attendance policies, many students in Canada are frequently absent from school. Absenteeism is linked to numerous negative educational outcomes and is a growing educational issue internationally. This has lead universities in many countries to study the factors associated with absenteeism in order to reduce it. However, the Canadian educational discourse is largely absent on absenteeism. A review of faculty profiles revealed that no Canadian educational scholar investigates absenteeism as their primary area of research. The lack of empirical knowledge concerning student absenteeism is a contributing factor to the high levels of absenteeism evident in Canada. This article serves as a call to action for Canadian academics to research student absenteeism in order to alleviate the behaviour. Keywords: school attendance, student absenteeism, truancy, school refusal, school anxiety, school withdrawal

Can Community Crime Monitoring Reduce Student Absenteeism?

In this paper we study the impact on student absenteeism of a large, school-based community crime monitoring program that employed local community members to monitor and report crime on designated city blocks during times when students traveled to and from school. We find that the program resulted in a 0.58 percentage point (8.5 percent) reduction in the elementary school-level absence rate in the years following initial implementation. We discuss and explore potential channels to explain this and believe our results are most consistent with improved neighborhood conditions in the form of reduced crime as an underlying mechanism.

Do High School Students With a Same-Race Teacher Attend Class More Often?

Teachers of color increase school success for students of color. Yet, little attention has been paid to whether school attendance behaviors also increase from same race and ethnicity matches. To address this, our study used administrative data provided by a California high school district for the school years 2014 to 2018. We explored student absenteeism at the date and class period levels. Using this rich, longitudinal data set, we employed grade, school, class period, student, and date fixed effects models to examine the association between student–teacher matches and student absenteeism. Student–teacher race and ethnicity matches were associated with fewer unexcused absences for Latinx students. The results also indicate that associations were strongest for Latinx students in 11th and 12th grades—the age group in K–12 that has the most individual agency when it comes to getting to school. Furthermore, we found no evidence of declines in excused absences, which reflect health.

Familiar Faces in High School: How Having the Same Peers from Year-to-Year Links to Student Absenteeism

Student absenteeism is a persistent concern in K-12 education. Not only are the negative academic and social consequences of excessive absenteeism well documented, but states, districts, and schools are increasingly being held accountable for student attendance. As research indicates that disruptions in students’ learning contexts may exacerbate absenteeism, peer consistency shows promise as a force for improving student attendance. This article examines whether having familiar faces, or consistent classmates from one year to the next, influences student attendance. Using four years of administrative data from a small, urban high school district in California, we find that familiar faces are associated with reduced rates of overall absences, chronic absenteeism, and chronic truancy.

Cause-specific student absenteeism monitoring in K-12 schools for detection of increased influenza activity in the surrounding community - Dane County, Wisconsin, 2014-2020

Background: Schools are primary venues of influenza amplification with secondary spread to communities. We assessed K–12 student absenteeism monitoring as a means for early detection of influenza activity in the community. Materials and Methods: Between September 2014 and March 2020, we conducted a prospective observational study of all–cause (a–TOT), illness–associated (a–I), and influenza–like illness–associated (a–ILI) absenteeism within the Oregon School District (OSD), Dane County, Wisconsin. Absenteeism was reported through the electronic student information system. Students were visited at home where pharyngeal specimens were collected for influenza RT–PCR testing. Surveillance of medically–attended laboratory–confirmed influenza (MAI) occurred in five primary care clinics in and adjoining OSD. Poisson general additive log linear regression models of daily counts of absenteeism and MAI were compared using correlation analysis. Findings: Influenza was detected in 723 of 2,378 visited students, and in 1,327 of 4,903 MAI patients. Over six influenza seasons, a–ILI was significantly correlated with MAI in the community (r = 0.57; 95% CI: 0.53–0.63) with a one–day lead time and a–I was significantly correlated with MAI in the community (r = 0.49; 0.44–0.54) with a 10–day lead time, while a–TOT performed poorly (r = 0.27; 0.21–0.33), following MAI by six days. Discussion: Surveillance using cause–specific absenteeism was feasible and performed well over a study period marked by diverse presentations of seasonal influenza. Monitoring a–I and a–ILI can provide early warning of seasonal influenza in time for community mitigation efforts.

Best Practices of Principals to Increase Attendance in Low-Socioeconomic Status Rural High Schools

Securing attendance is challenging at rural high schools with a high percentage of students from low-socioeconomic states (low-SES) households. Best practices of principals to achieve high annual attendance rates (> 90%) were studied. Interviews were held with principals from 8 of 12 high schools across rural West Virginia that met the eligibility criterion of 100% enrollment of low-SES students. Six best practices emerged. Rural schools striving to increase attendance could reduce student absenteeism by implementing best practices suggested.

Aplikasi Mobile Presensi Siswa Terintegrasi SMS Gateway Menggunakan Algoritma Breadth-First Search (BFS)

Teacher attendance or student absenteeism is currently carried out manually. Therefore, researchers developed an Android-based application, with the aim of making it easier for teachers to carry out the student attendance process. This system is equipped with an SMS Gateway. So that with the system created, parents can monitor the attendance of their children in the course and training institutions. The SMS system gateway has an auto-response facility and by adopting an application from the Gammu system to bridge the SMS database Gateway to convey data to the SMS device using one of the search methods, namely the first wide search method, breadth-first search with reading and looking for connected data one by one. to data communication client-server. Using JSON as data exchange between the Android application and the web server for the student database. From the results of the tests that have been carried out, this student attendance application runs as desired with existing functions.Keywords:SMS Gateway, Android, Attendance, Breadth-First Search, Gammu.