As noted, one important purpose of this data story is to better understand school's tendencies to use/not use ExD across time and how these relate to important student/school outcomes. In this chapter, we examined how changes in use of ExD relate to chronic student absenteeism -- defined as the number of students who miss at least 15 days of school during the school year (CRDC, 2016).
Education can only be effective when student attend school regularly and receive the support they need to learn, thrive, and be successful. When students are chronically absent, they are at serious risk of falling behind, performing poorly, and dropping out of school (Healthy Schools Campaign, 2016; The White House, 2023). In fact, some research suggests that absenteeism is a better predictor of whether a student drops out of school before graduation than are test scores and grades (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Additionally, chronic student absenteeism has been found to negatively impact not only the students missing school, but their classmates as well (Gottfried, 2015). Ultimately, these impacts have longer-term consequences such as poor employment opportunities, diminished health, and involvement in the criminal justice system (Rafa, 2017).
Similar to the findings for the use of ExD, student chronic absenteeism is more likely to occur for minority students (U.S. Department of Education, 2019). Using the CRDC data noted previously, Figure 7.1 presents the mean rate of chronic student absenteeism (per 100 students enrolled) for Black, white, Native American, and Hispanic students across the three CRDC data collections. The U.S. average rate is also depicted.
Here are some takeaways from Figure 7.1:
To explore the degree to which the use of ExD relates to chronic student absenteeism, we first compared the rates of absenteeism for those schools that used ExD consistently across all three data collections (the U/U/U group) to all of the other Use/No Use groups. These data appear in Figure 7.2.
Here are some takeaways from Figure 7.2:
To drill down even further to understand how "change" in the use of ExD may related to a school-climate outcome such as chronic student absenteeism, we next explored how those ExD that change from either Use to No Use or from No Use to Use at either 2013/14 to 2015/16 or from 2015/16 to 2017/18 (e.g., the N/U/U, N/U/N, U/N/N, and U/N/U for earlier dates and N/U/N, U/U/N, N/N/U, and U/N/U for the later dates). Comparing these groups, both concurrently and over time, provide some insight into how changes in use of ExD may relate to changes in rates of chronic student absenteeism. The results of these comparisons are presented in Figure 7.3.
Here are some takeaways from Figure 7.3:
Because of the disparities in both ExD use and in rates of chronic student absenteeism, we next explored the relation of change in use of ExD and absenteeism separately for each of the race/ethnic groups in our sample. These data are presented in Figure 7.4.
Here are some takeaways from Figure 7.4:
This research was supported in part by a grant from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) of the United States (U.S.) Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award (Grant #: (90Y#0122-01-00) totaling $95,790 with 25 percentage funded by ACF/HHS and 75 percentage funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACF/HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit the ACF website, Administrative and National Policy Requirement. Support was also provided by funding from the Spencer Foundation and the Sanford Foundation.
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