How Much is Too Much? Academic Correlations to Chronic Attendance Issues

Date of Award

Fall 12-20-2018

Document Type

Project (696 or 796 registration)

Degree Name

Master of Science in Curriculum & Instruction

Department

Graduate Studies

Committee Chair

Dr. Michael Coquyt

Keywords

attendance, chronic, elementary, rural, SES, reading

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine if Midwest elementary students with absenteeism and chronic absence attendance patterns in a rural population displayed negative academic effects on formative reading assessment measures. Formative assessment data from STAR Reading and STAR Early Literacy assessments were evaluated for all students with special attention to students highly absent with 10 to 16 absences and chronically absent with 17 or more days absent during the 2017-2018 school year. Additional attention was given to discern if socioeconomic status had any relational patterns in student academic growth.

Students who were absent 10-16 days performed similarly to those with regular attendance and chronic attendance patterns on measures indicating end of year STAR Reading and STAR Early Literature goals. Regularly attending K-6 students scored an average of 18.49 points higher than students absent 10-16 days when comparing scaled score growth from September to May benchmark data. The researcher identified that student scaled score growth decreased for chronically absent students as the grade level increases compared to the mean growth of grade level peers. The study also concluded for this rural population, students who were eligible for Free and Reduced were no more likely to be absent, however academic growth was lower for low SES students as they continue through elementary school than peers not eligible for Free and Reduced lunch. Further research needs to be completed to include larger sampling sizes for those with chronic attendance issues and compared to data over multiple years to determine true academic trends in relation to attendance concerns.

Abstract only: No full text available.

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