Absent students, academic issues frustrate board

Lolli launches new districtwide campaign to get kids to school.

Chronic absenteeism continues to plague Dayton Public Schools and its efforts to avoid a state takeover, with up to half of some high school students missing more than 10 percent of the school year.

Students have slipped further away this year from attendance, discipline and academic goals set to turn the district around.

“That is frustrating to me,” Board Member Jocelyn Rhynard said. “I know that all of us look at these numbers, know we want to do better and feel the frustration and disappointment.”

Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli pointed out the picture is different on the school building level.

“This is a districtwide report,” she said. “We have 12 schools with Fs. We have 15 schools that do not have Fs.”

“Those 15 schools, if you look at their individual reports ... you will see improvements in many, many grade levels, you’ll see significant improvements in some of their grade levels.”

Chronic absenteeism

The number of students missing 10 percent or more of the school year increased from 27 percent last year to 30 percent this year districtwide. The goal is to nar- row its chronic absenteeism rate by 1 to 2 percent a year.

T hat u ndermi n es t he work the district has done to enhance classroom instruc- tion, Associate Superintendent of Student Services Sheila Burton told school board members this week.

“Until we have students physically in school it doesn’t matter the strategies that we have because they can’t benefit from them,” she said. “Whatever strategies teach- ers employ won’t work with 30 percent of the population because they are not there.”

The problem is most pronounced at the highest and lowest grade levels. Of the six DPS high schools, only Ponitz Career Technology Center and Stivers High School have chronic absentee levels below 40 percent.

The district this year launched an ad campaign aimed at enrollment and robocalls to parents to encourage them to get kids to school. Lolli announced plans to launch a community engagement effort similar to one in Cleveland, which included yard signs, knock- ing on doors and incentives for students and parents.

DPS Board Member Sheila Taylor expressed frustration that they didn’t already have in place a “real clear-cut, hands-on strategy.”

“Are we going out, knock- ing on doors ... to find out what problems (families) are having and why their children aren’t in school?” she said. “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to go out to people’s houses and knock on the door.”

Math and reading scores down

Another measure headed in the wrong direction is performance on math and reading tests.

A test in December found students made gains from the fall on both measures. But from winter last year to winter this year, scores in most grades dropped.

Chronic absenteeism is one of the drivers of the drop in math and reading performance, Burton said. It not only affects the child who missed school, she said, but also other students when the kid comes back and the teacher has to spend time catching him or her up.

Board Member Robert Walker asked where these scores suggest they may end the year. “We can assume that if we stay on the same trajectory, that our achieve- ment won’t be significantly different. However, we still need to see whether or not we’re going to make growth,” Burton said.

“It usually takes a couple years to see the kinds of changes we need to succeed. I would recommend we stay the course.”

This includes maintaining increased focus on classroom instruction strategies and professional development for teachers in research-driven teaching methods.

Suspensions up in some months

The board also set a goal to decrease suspensions by 1 to 2 percentage points a year. From August to February, suspensions increased year-over-year in all but two months. In November, they jumped from 346 to 451.

To address this, the district is helping teachers with classroom management and supporting the socio-emotional needs of students, officials said.

Lolli said it’s u nclear whether they are making enough progress to avoid state takeover, which will be measured largely by standardized tests that start next month.

“We’re hopeful that the work we’re doing and the monitoring we’re doing will make a significant difference,” she said.