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Absenteeism in Tennessee schoolsMary Batiwalla
Office of Research and Policy
Agenda
Absenteeism definitions Absenteeism in the state Chronically absent students Lost instructional time due to disciplinary
action The relationship between attendance and
student outcomes
3
Absenteeism definitions
Definitions of terms Absent: Student is marked not present at school, for either
unexcused or excused reasons. According to the state attendance policy, a student who is absent for half of the school day should be marked absent.
Excused absent: A student is absent due to excused reasons. This usually requires documentation. However, what constitutes an excused absence is determined by district policy*.
Unexcused absent: A student is absent due to unexcused reasons. District policy defines an unexcused absence*.
Chronic absenteeism: absence rate greater than 10%.In a 180-day school year, a student is missing more
than 18 days.
*Excused or unexcused absences are a matter of local school board policy as long as the local policy is not in conflict with state law, State Board of Education Rules, Regulations and Minimum Standards and the Student Membership and Attendance Accountability Procedures Manual. (NOTE: See School Approved Activities Section D-104 and B-105)
5
Absenteeism in the state
On average, Tennessee students missed 8 days of school last year.
P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Excused Unexcused
Aver
age
num
ber o
f abs
ence
s
Each bar represents a grade level.
Attendance has been stable across the last six school years.
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 201490%
91%
92%
93%
94%
95%
96%
97%
98%
99%
100%
94.3% 94.4% 94.5% 94.7% 94.4% 94.5%
95.1% 95.1% 95.1% 95.4%95.0% 95.2%
92.4%93.0% 93.0% 93.0% 93.0% 93.0%
All grades (P3-12) K-8 HS
Att
enda
nce
Rate
8
However, the attendance rate hides the fact that some students are missing a lot of school.
P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
16.1%
23.6%
12.6%
10.1%8.6% 7.9% 8.2% 8.7%
10.2%11.6%
12.8%
16.0%17.6%
19.4%
25.4%
Perc
ent o
f chr
onic
ally
abs
ent s
tude
nts
Each bar represents a grade level.
9
Chronically absent students
Some student subgroups are overrepresented in the chronically
absent student population.
All White Black Hispanic ED Not ED ELL SWD0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
16%
18%
20%
13.1%12.2%
17.1%
10.5%
17.5%
6.9%8.3%
16.7%
Perc
ent
of s
tude
nt s
ubgr
oup
that
is c
hron
ical
ly a
bsen
t
About half of chronically absent students in the 3rd and 9th grades have been chronically absent for multiple
years in a row.
3rd graders n=6,045 9th graders n=12,6420%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
51.4% 50.3%
20.5% 22.6%
7.9% 11.0%
20.2% 16.1%
1 year 2 years 3 years 4 or more years
Perc
ent o
f chr
onic
ally
abs
ent
stud
ents
Students missing two or more days in August are five times as likely as
their peers to be chronically absent.
Less than two days
Two days Three days Four or more days
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
8.7%
31.4%
45.9%
67.0%
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s w
ho a
re c
hron
ical
ly a
bsen
t
13
The percent of chronically absent studentsdiffers substantially across districts.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
Perc
ent o
f chr
onic
ally
abs
ent s
tude
nts
Each bar represents a district.
14
Lost instructional time due
to disciplinary action
15
Disciplinary actions are actions that result
in the removal of a student for more than half of an instructional day.
In school suspension: The student was removed from his or her regular classroom and assigned to an in-school suspension program for 10 or fewer days.
Out of school suspension: The student was removed from his or her regular classroom and barred from school grounds for 10 or fewer days and did not receive educational services.
Expulsion: The student was expelled from all school district settings, for more than 10 days, with total cessation of educational services.
Change of Placement: The student was assigned to another school facility or program (for more than 10 days) that allowed him/her to continue to participate in the general curriculum at a school setting.
16
On an average school day, about 5,000 Tennessee students are absent from their classroom due to a disciplinary
action.
Average dis-ciplinary ac-
tion
In School Suspension
Out of School Suspension
Explusion0
5
10
15
20
25
30
2.6 1.7 3.1
25.2
Ave
rage
num
ber o
f ins
truc
tiona
l da
ys m
isse
d pe
r dis
cipl
inar
y ac
tion
17
The vast majority of students receive disciplinary actions
due to violation of school rules.
84.5%
7.4%
1.7% 1.3% 1.1% 1.0% 0.9%
Violating rulesFightingBullyingThreatAssault of studentTheftPossession/Use drugsOther
18
The type of disciplinary action differs by the disciplinary reason.
All
Violating rules
Fighting
Bullying
Threat
Assault o
f student
Theft
Possessi
on/Use dru
gs0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
ISS OSSExplusion Change of Placement
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s
19
The number of instructional days missed varies by the disciplinary reason.
Violating r
ules
Fighting
Bullying
Threat
Assault o
f stu
dentTheft
Possessi
on/Use
drugs
02468
101214161820
2.2 3.3 3.16.3 4.9 3.2
18.8
Num
ber o
f ins
truc
tiona
l day
s m
isse
d
20
In 2013, one in four 9th graders experienced at least one disciplinary action.
P3 P4 K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 120%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s w
ith
a le
ast
one
disc
iplin
ary
actio
n
Each bar represents a grade level.
21
The relationship between attendance and student
outcomes
22
As absences increase in freshman year, the likelihood that a student will
graduate on time decreases.
0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%93.5%
89.9%84.5%
77.8%71.4%
65.9%
50.2%
Perc
ent o
f coh
ort g
radu
ating
on
time
23
Students are less likely to score a 21 or higher on the ACT if
they are chronically absent.
Not chronically absent Chronically absent0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
38.1%
19.0%
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s sc
orin
g a
21 o
n th
e A
CT
24
Even when we control for prior achievement, chronically absent
students are less likely to score a 21 or higher on the ACT.
Not chronically absent Chronically absent0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
35.6%
25.3%
Perc
ent o
f 2nd
qua
rtile
stu
dent
s sc
orin
g a
21 o
r hig
her o
n th
e A
CT
25
Students who are chronically absent score proficient or advanced on math TCAP at much lower rates than their
peers.
Below Basic Basic Proficient Advanced0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
16.1%
33.3%
29.1%
21.5%
33.2%
38.5%
19.8%
8.5%
All Chronic
Perc
ent o
f stu
dent
s
26
Takeaways
Students are missing lots of instructional time, especially in P4 and high school.
Attendance rates mask the issues the state and some districts are having with chronic absenteeism.
About half of chronically absent students are chronically absent for two or more years in a row.
Students who miss school early in the year are very likely to chronically absent.
Students lose considerable amounts of instructional time due to disciplinary actions.
Absenteeism has a negative relationship with student success on achievement measures.
27
Appendix
28
Disciplinary action disparities across student
groupsNote: The following slides focus only on 9th graders. However, these trends are similar across all grades.
29
Some student subgroups are overrepresented in student population with at least one disciplinary action.
All 9th grade
students
White Black Hispanic ED Not ED ELL SWD Male Female 0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%
25.4%
17.6%
45.9%
30.1%
35.9%
13.1%
32.5% 32.8%30.2%
20.3%
Perc
ent
of s
tude
nt s
ubgr
oup
wit
h at
leas
t on
e di
scip
linar
y ac
tion
30
Black students make up 25% of the 9th grade student body across the state
but more than 80% of expulsions.
9th Gra
de Racial/E
thnic Dist
ribution
Any Disc
ipline
In school S
uspensio
n
Out of s
chool S
uspensio
n
Explusio
n
Change of Place
ment0%
10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%
100%
25.4%45.8% 41.3%
57.9%
80.7%
37.2%
5.6%
6.7%7.1%
6.4%
4.6%
2.4%
66.9%
46.3% 50.2%34.9%
13.7%
60.0% OtherWhiteHispanicBlack
Perc
ent o
f Stu
dent
s
31
Black females receive about one more day of out of school suspension for fighting compared to white males.
Suspension
Non-black males
Black males Black femalesNon-black females
