Gunderson, Jessica et al, Getting Teenagers Back to School: Rethinking New York State’s Response to Chronic Absence, The Vera Institute, New York, NY October 2010
This policy brief looks at one response to the statewide problem of chronic school absence in New York State: reporting parents to the child protective system, which handles allegations of child abuse and neglect. It determines that the system is ill equipped to deal with school attendance and that punitive approaches fly in the face of research on adolescent development. The report concludes that the first step toward more effectively addressing chronic absence among teens may be to remove them from the jurisdiction of the child protective system, while simultaneously creating a less adversarial set of interventions to keep youth connected to schools. This would allow the child welfare system to focus on the most vulnerable abused and neglected children in the state.
Mac Iver, Martha A., Gradual Disengagement: A Portrait of the 2008-2009 Dropouts in Baltimore City Schools, Baltimore Education Research Consortium, August 2010
The majortiy of students who eventually drop out of high school enter 9th grade with a pattern of chronic absenteeims that goes back at least several years, the study shows. Many have been retained and are behind at least one grade. It is critical to begin interventions in middle school. For those already in high school who have become entrenched in patterns of chronic absenteeism and course failture and have not succeeded in earning many high school course credits, it appears that more non-traditional options for earning a diploma would be helpful. At the same time, a more intenstive focus on intervention and prevention during the middle grades is one of the most crucual directions for reducing the dropout rate.
Allensworth, E. M., & Easton, J. Q. (2007). What Matters for Staying On-track and Graduating in Chicago Public High Schools: A Close Look at Course Grades, Failures, and Attendance in the Freshman Year.Chicago, IL: University of Chicago, Consortium on Chicago School Research. Retrieved November 8, 2008
In this study of the freshman year of high school, researchers found that attendance in this pivotal transition year was a key indicator of whether students would finish high school. A high rate of absenteeism, described as missing 10 percent or more of the school year, was identified as a key warning sign for freshmen. The study also found attendance and studying more predictive of dropout than test scores or other student characteristics. In fact 9th grade attendance was a better predictor of dropout than 8th grade test scores.
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Silver, David et al, What Factors Predict High School Graduation in Los Angeles United School District, California Dropout Research Projet Report #14, June 2008
In collaboration with LAUSD, the authors of this study analyzed district data to track the educational progress of all first-time 2001-02 9th graders from the 6th grade through to their expected graduation in the spring of 2005. This group consisted of 48,561 students who attended 163 LAUSD middle and high schools. The analysis of transcript records, standardized test scores, and a broad database of student and school characteristics exposes troubling rates of academic failure, but it also offers reasons for hope, demonstrating that academic experiences and school factors play a much larger role than student demographics in determining graduation rates.
Balfanz, Robert, Lisa Herzog and Douglas J. MacIver. Preventing Student Disengagement and Keeping Students on the Graduation Path in Urban Middle-Grades Schools: Early Identification and Effective Interventions,EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST, 42(4), 223–235 Copyright 2007, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
This article considers the practical, conceptual, and empirical foundations of an early identification and intervention system for middle-grades schools to combat student disengagement and increase graduation rates in our nation’s cities. It offers data revealing how four predictive indicators reflecting poor attendance, misbehavior, and course failures in sixth grade can be used to identify 60% of the students who will not graduate from high school. Fortunately, by combining effective whole-school reforms with attendance, behavioral, and extra-help interventions, graduation rates can be substantially increased.