Board gets creative in bid to curb student absenteeism

EDMONTON A southern Alberta school district has developed a system that slashed chronic student absenteeism at participating schools by 90 per cent.

A daunting 22 per cent of students enrolled in Rocky View Schools just outside of Calgary were missing at least 10 per cent of school days, the school district discovered after spending a year gathering and sorting data.

“People don’t talk about it. It’s kind of the elephant in the room,” said educational psychologist Mitchell Colp, who leads Rocky View’s attendance innovation campaign.

Research suggests 10 to 15 per cent of students across North America are chronically absent from school, he said. Alberta Education doesn’t collect data on absenteeism. The closest measure is the dropout rate, which was 3.2 per cent when last tallied in 2015.

The reasons for missing school are many — temporary or longer term illness, family problems, a lack of transportation to school, feelings of disengagement, failure, and anxiety, and parentally sanctioned absences like vacations or sports camp are all on the list.

Regardless of whether parents or guardians have excused their child’s absence, the effect is the same — it puts students at higher risk for an academic slump, mental and physical health problems, dropping out of school, living in poverty, and ending up in jail, said Colp and fellow district psychologists Kristy McConnell and Chris Pawluk.

Colp initially dived into Rocky View’s attendance records as an intern, hoping to track students with learning disabilities. What he found was a mess, McConnell said. Each school had its own set of codes for absenteeism — one even had a code for an absence excused for graduation dress shopping.

It took Colp a year to standardize the information, and what he found “put fire alarms off.” About 4,400 students were missing 18 days of school or more each year.

A $312,000 grant helped turn that around. They created a colour-coded database of student information that compiles lateness, absences, engagement and academic status in one place, and raises red flags when one of those measurements is troubling. That system should be launching across the school district next month.

Meanwhile, they compile monthly attendance reports that flag the signs of chronic absenteeism early. For example, missing four days of class in September is worth looking into, he said.

At four schools, staff tried a consistent set of techniques to try to reel students back into class before their relationship with school became fractured. Teachers call students who miss class, not to complain, but to impart more positive messages, like, “Hey, we really missed you today.’ ”

Although teachers were reluctant to call parents whose children were reported sick, they found revealing information when they did. Some kids had separation anxiety, and others had physical symptoms of stress, not a cold or a flu.

Schools also used grant money to pay for expenses that were stopping students from attending school, like an overdue electrical bill or transportation. Before and after school activities, such as a free breakfast, also helped moti- vate attendance, McConnell said.

The more kids were absent, the more the school stepped up the response. Some students were paired with a mentor they felt connected to, and when students missed more than 20 per cent of classes, staff called in health-care workers, social workers, and other agencies, depending on the problems.

Compared to last year, the number of students with good attendance at the four test schools has jumped to 93 per cent from 84 per cent. There are now 20 chronically absent kids at those schools. Last year there were 200.

Next year, the approach will expand to all district schools.

Drawing back students who have missed a lot of school for many years may take more work, Colp said.

“It’s moving a mountain — sometimes it feels like that. And that’s OK. It took a while to build it, and it’s going to take a while to break it down.”