Absences Matter

Each day, teachers collect data on students who are absent. When we send attendance reports to the state department, they merge all data from our four schools and assign a collective percentage as the attendance rate. In 2014-2015, the TCS attendance rate was 97.32%.  What does that percentage really mean? The video, intended for awareness and education, reveals current attendance data and the impact on students. 

Let's Look At Our Data

Statistics can hide attendance issues.  For instance, since our attendance rate last year was 97.32% and we had 4290 students enrolled, then only 128 students had attendance issues. Wrong!  

There are so many patterns hidden within attendance data when an overall percentage is given. For instance, the national organization "Attendance Works", defines chronic absence as missing more than 10 percent of the school year (2 days each month during the school year).

During the 2014-2015 school year, TCS had 229 students who missed at least 10% of the school year. This is equivalent to 5% of our student population.

The table to the right, shows research from a study at Johns Hopkins University concerning implications of freshman absences.

In the current school year, we have 213 freshman students who have up to four absences since August 12, 2015. 

This NAEP data shows students in 4th grade and 8th grade,who miss three or more days of school in a given year, score 10 points lower on the test.This is equivalent to a year of learning!!

How Do We Improve?

We must communicate this information to parents. The video can assist parents in making informed decisions regarding student attendance. If we share this information with students, they may become more aware of their personal attendance rate. Overall, I am thankful the TCS attendance rate is high. However, no matter if the number is great or small they are our students, and we must do whatever it takes to put them on the most successful path.
Feel free to share the video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNv1zaIXvcc