RUNNING HEADER: ATTENDANCE ANALYSIS 1

Attendance Analysis

Scott Schnitzer

EA 748

Christine Abbott

Oakland University

June 5, 2017
Attendance Analysis 2

Statement of Issue:

At School X, attendance is a major issue that we have dealt with since our opening day.

School X is a charter school through one of the largest charter companies in the United States.

The company has schools in nine different states, with over 30,000 students. School X is located

in Detroit and has been open for six years. One of the goals of the school through its charter and

the state is to maintain 91% attendance or better. While the school has seen many goals achieved

in its short history, the one goal it has not met is the attendance goal. By completing this

analysis, reflecting on the issue, and being proactive about the issue, hopefully this is a goal that

can be reached in the coming year.

Before reaching this goal, the school must look at some key points to analyze and reflect

on changes that could be made for these issues.

1. Currently, the school has 77% of its population that has a chronic attendance problem.

a. Some students have upwards of 30-40 absences in the school year as of the start

of May.

2. The school is currently just under 2% of its goal: current attendance count is 88.7%.

3. As stated above, the school has never met the 91% attendance goal.

Stakeholders involved:
In this issue, there are many stakeholders involved, in fact almost every, if not every,

stakeholder is involved. The most notably affected by this issue are the families of the school.

There are many things that go on at home in every child’s life, and everyone knows the inner city

just adds that many more issues to a child’s life and a family’s life. However, there must be some

change made in order for us to break this cycle. As an educational community, we cannot change

everything at home, but we must come up with a way to entice parents and families on why their
Attendance Analysis 3

child must be in school and not at home. Their child(ren) must be in a building learning and

seeing success at a firsthand experience to break the cycle of what is going on in the inner city

communities.

By drawing in families and showing them what the school has to offer will allow for the

parents to experience a positive education experience, as well, it will show students the positive

side and help build key skills needed to be successful in life. One key fact that parents and

families need to understand is the impact of attendance issue on the students and the school.

Parents need to hear that by missing so much school, their child(ren) is/are being put at risk of

being further behind in school. By giving parents more information about this and stressing the

importance of education to break the current situation, we as an educational community can

enlighten them to be the change at home to get students to come to school!

Another stakeholder involved in this issue, is the educational community at the school,

the staff and administration. One of the toughest task you will hear a teacher grumble about at

School X, and any other school, is the fact of making sure the student has the missed work to

ensure they do not fall behind. At School X, students miss multiple days in a row; some miss a

day, come to school, miss another, come, and then miss two more. It is very hard for the teachers

to help the student be successful when dealing with this type of attendance.

Administration is being hounded by the uppers in the company on how they are working

to get the issue under control. The whole issue adds so much stress to so many, and the

administration definitely take the brunt of it. When administration does take further steps, then

families become upset about the consequences. It is a very difficult spot to be in, so many

options to weigh, and the outcomes always vary from family to family. Through all of this, there
Attendance Analysis 4

is a much-needed change that needs to be made, and it needs to involve all in the school

community.

Along with all of these groups, the rest of the school community is impacted by this goal

not being reached. This includes the DSQ, the school board, and the charter company. These

three are on the same grounds, because they are not directly involved in the everyday school life

and function of the school, but they are the ones who oversee and question all issues. These

groups are impacted by this issue for various reasons. One, the school is theirs to oversee; two,

they are impacted by the morale and turnover, and three, they are capable of offering solutions or

helping proposed solutions. If this issue could be resolved or even reduced, the school would see

much higher results and many more positive benefits that benefit all stakeholders.

Analysis of Situation:
Throughout this situation, the biggest focus has to be shifted to target the students. The

students are the ones that must be shown the positives of coming to school and be successful in

life and school. This can be done through many various ways. Knowing that at School X every 3

out of 4 kids has at least 10 absences is terrifying. Seeing families struggle to get their children to

school is just as scary. There must be a way the school and community can change this to impact

the situation and benefit all.

When I looked at my most current attendance report, in my classroom of twenty-nine

students, I have six students who have less than two absences this school year. One of these

students has many tardies, but the student has no absences. From there, I have twelve students

who have fifteen or more absences. Of these twelve students, over half of them have twenty-five

or more absences, with two of them reaching the forty or more mark. It is hard to fathom all of

this as an educator. It is unreasonable of why a child misses this much school.

Attendance Analysis 5

While reflecting on my numbers, and then I look at the whole school application of these

numbers, there are many connections that are made. My class houses just twenty-nine of the

almost seven hundred students. 41% of my students have attendance that reaches twenty or more

days missed. Applying that number to the whole school, means that we have around 250 students

that have missed twenty or more days this year alone!

The school uses calamity days to cover attendance days. This year alone, the school has

used two of their calamity days due to attendance. There have also been multiple days were

attendance was met, but it was a struggle to get to the 75% requirement. Looking at various

reports has also shown that the school has a strong start to the year. From the start of the year in

September through mid-December, attendance achieves a 90%+ average. However, the closer it

gets to break, and further into winter, attendance begins to drop. Following breaks and the return

to school in January, attendance fluctuates at all levels. January’s attendance was averaged to

87%, 4% below the school’s goal. When looking at these numbers and facts, there is a huge issue

here and something must be done about this in order to help these students from falling even

further behind.
Attendance Analysis
Development Plan:
Date of Activity:
First month of school (end of
September)
October (weekly)
*** ONGOING through the
end of the year
October (end of month)
November and ongoing
Who is involved?
All of school community
Teachers and administrators
School secretaries, school
leadership
School secretaries, school
leadership
6
Activity taking place:
Recognition of students with
perfect attendance at school
wide assembly
- Recognize students
who have no
absences the first
month of school
- Call home and offer
positive feedback to
parents/families
- Enter students into a
drawing with goodies
- Enter families into a
drawing as well
- Offer students
certificates/awards/
high praise
Recognize perfect
attendance on a weekly basis
in the classroom
- Offer jean day
passes, free dress
passes, treats, etc to
students who have
maintained no
absences or tardies
- Offer extra prize with
leadership, such as
technology time,
recess, etc
- Send out an end of
month message about
attendance that
informs families
- Hold a parent meeting
that informs parents of
attendance
- Parent workshop on
attendance and
helping child be
successful
- Send out an end of
month message about
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attendance that
informs families

November (end of the month/ Whole school community - Discuss attendance

conference time) - Dean joins
conferences where
needed for students
with high absences
- Seek a resolution to
the issue

December Whole school - Parent workshop that

is centered around
students show casing
their work in the
school year, such as
an art fair or reading
night

January Whole School - Mid-Year celebration

for students with
perfect attendance
- Notes home to
families thanking them
- Drawing for students
to win prizes

February Whole school - Attendance pep rally

- Career night for all
grade levels
- Invite families into
classroom to come
read/work with
students

March Whole school - Parent/Family night at

school celebrating
students with perfect
attendance
- Workshop around
being successful
during testing
- Offer recognition to
students and families
for attendance

April Whole school - Reflection on school

year and
- Action plan creation
for maintaining
through the end of the
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year

May Whole school - Continue offering

prizes and recognition
of students with
perfect attendance
- Implementing end of
year action plan
created in April

June Whole school - End of year

celebration with all
students who
maintained perfect
attendance
- Final awards drawing
for students