Time: 11:30 AM Pacific
Description: Nationwide, about 1 in 7 students is chronically absent -- defined by the Office for Civil Rights as missing 15 or more days in a year for any reason, or by others as missing 10 percent or more possible days of attendance, whether it is excused or unexcused. When students miss too much school, they fall behind their peers academically, which can have lasting effects throughout their education and hurt their chances to graduate. This webinar will address the importance of accurately tracking student attendance data and how it can be used to make decisions in policy and practice that will support students who are chronically absent get back on track with their attendance.
Presenters Sue Fothergill (Attendance Works) and Laura Hansen (Metro Nashville Public Schools) will share highlights from their work conducting "deep dives" into student attendance data, including understanding the reasons that students are absent and building effective interventions to directly address them. Drawing from the recent National Forum on Education Statistics' "Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data" and Attendance Works' "Key Ingredients for Systemic Change," this webinar will include concrete examples of how state and local education agencies can work within and across their departments and communities to address chronic absence.
As a result of their participation, attendees will:
- Learn about how attendance data, when examined effectively, can drive decision making to support chronically absent students;
- Be introduced to an inquiry process for examining attendance data that can uncover absence trends and help teams build shared understanding and consensus for problem solving; and
- Hear about actions other districts have taken as a result of effectively collecting and understanding attendance data.
Participants will also have an opportunity to engage in a group discussion and question-and-answer session with the presenters about what they can do in their settings to more effectively track, understand, and make decisions based on their students' attendance data.
Audience: State- and district-level staff who are supporting schools and local education agencies to implement effective systems to track student attendance data and make decisions on how best to support chronically absent students.
Speakers:
- Kenwyn Derby, REL West at WestEd (moderator)
- Sue Fothergill, Attendance Works
- Laura Hansen, Metro Nashville Public School
