When teachers just don’t show up

As I document in a new report, teachers in America’s traditional (i.e., district-run) public schools are almost three times as likely to be chronically absent as teachers in charter schools — meaning, they miss 11 or more school days per year. Data for New York City, where 23.8% of teachers in traditional public schools and 5.4% of teachers in charter schools are chronically absent, reveal a similar pattern.

Notably, the teacher chronic absenteeism rate that the city Education Department reported in 2014 was 15.9% — significantly lower than the 23.8% figure it most recently reported to the feds. According to the city, this difference is attributable to the fact that the department’s preferred number excludes things like maternity, jury duty or a death in the family (all of which are included in the federal data).

But even if that spin is correct, a 15.9% chronic absenteeism rate is nothing to be proud of, since it still implies that at least 10,000 teachers in New York are chronically absent, meaning that between them they miss, in sum, at least 100,000 instruction days per year. And of course, each of those teachers is responsible for multiple classes with dozens of kids in them.

It’s really important to interrupt this argument to state that I’m not vilifying the vast majority of teachers. Most are diligent. Many work long hours in a stressful, demanding job.

But there’s a small minority who take too much time off; that’s a strain on their fellow educators, and a disservice to their students.

We know students don’t learn when teachers aren’t there. For example, studies show that a 10-day increase in teacher absence means kids lose about six to 10 days of learning in English language arts and 15 to 25 days in math.

Thus, even a marginal improvement in teacher attendance could yield significant academic benefits for New York students.

So what can policymakers do to help make that happen?

First, don’t let teachers carry over unused sick days from one school year to the next.

Consistent with state law, teachers in New York City public schools are entitled to 10 days of paid sick leave per 180-day school year, which is generous but not obviously outrageous.

What is outrageous is that New York law allows teachers to carry over their unused sick days from one year to the next, and that teachers in New York City can accumulate up to 200 days of unused sick leave.

Advocates of carryover provisions will argue that it is necessary in case teachers get pregnant or become seriously ill. But if that’s the case, we should just provide short-term disability and maternity leave — which the current district contract doesn’t do.

Second, let teachers sell back their unused sick days at the end of the year.

Currently, teachers in New York City can sell back their unused sick days for 50 cents on the dollar when they retire, which is a decent way to encourage better attendance.

An even better approach would be to let them sell their days back at the end of the year at full price — in other words, for what they would normally earn by working an equivalent number of days. In combination with the abolition of the sick-day carryover policy, this step would do wonders for the district’s teacher attendance numbers.

Third, incentivize improvement at the school level by including teacher chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality in New York’s federal education plan.

Under the new Every Student Succeeds Act, states have a golden opportunity to redesign their education systems so they do a better job of holding schools accountable, without relying solely on test scores.

Unfortunately, New York’s current plan — which it just submitted to the feds — includes student chronic absenteeism as an indicator of school quality but not teacher absenteeism. That raises the obvious question: How can we possibly hold students accountable for their attendance if we aren’t willing to do the same for teachers?

Woody Allen said 80% of success is showing up. That may be a bit of an exaggeration; in addition to being there as often as possible, teachers need to do their jobs well. But until we take serious aim at chronic educator absenteeism, we’re holding back thousands of kids.