OAESD Chronic Absenteeism Project

In the first few weeks of school, our students are forming/reforming habits that will carry them through the rest of the year and the years that follow.  They are learning how important showing up to school is and what our response will be if they don't.  An analysis of the state attendance data submitted by each district each year was conducted by ODE.  They were able to make a comparison between the number of days missed in the first month of school and what percent of those students ended up chronically absent by the end of the year. The results of that analysis can be seen below.

The 2016 Legislature, through HB 4002, requested the Chief Education Office (CEdO) and Oregon
Department of Education (ODE) to develop a statewide plan to identify and address chronic
absenteeism in Oregon public schools and districts. The 2017 Legislature approved the Statewide
Chronic Absenteeism Plan and provided funding to the Oregon Department of Education to begin the
implementation of the Plan. The goal of the Plan is to publically identify the degree of chronic
absenteeism in Oregon schools and provide technical assistance and best practices to support schools
and districts in their efforts to reduce chronic absences.

ODE reviewed the attendance and other data from the 2016-2017 school year and determined the
degree of chronic absenteeism by percentages in Oregon’s school districts. The OAESD Support
Network made application to ODE to receive grant funding to support regional efforts of coaching and assistance for schools/districts which have chronic absenteeism rates between 10.1% and 29.9% and are geographically located throughout the state. (ODE will work directly with school districts which have a range of 30% and above chronic absenteeism in their schools.) In submitting this grant, OAESD projected that the percentage of students who are chronically absent should decrease statewide by 1.9% during the 2017-2019 biennium as a result of grant activities.

In the grant submission, the OAESD Support Network identified eight regions to work cooperatively with schools and districts across the state and to work cooperatively with each other. The regions and identified ESDs are: Multnomah Region – Multnomah ESD, Clackamas ESD; Northwest Region – Northwest Regional ESD; Willamette Region – Willamette ESD; Valley Region – Linn-Benton-Lincoln ESD, Lane ESD; Southern Region – Douglas ESD, South Coast ESD, Southern Oregon ESD; Columbia Region – Columbia Gorge ESD, North Central ESD, Grant ESD; High Desert Region – Jefferson ESD, Harney ESD, Lake ESD, Malheur ESD; and, Intermountain Region – Intermountain ESD, Region 18 ESD.

With Clackamas ESD as the designated fiscal agent for this project, the OAESD Support Network received $2.7 million in grant funds to be spent on activities identified in the Statewide Chronic Absenteeism Plan. These funds are being distributed to each of the eight regions to be spent on the following: statewide coordinator (employee of Clackamas ESD); regional allocations for the hiring of regional coordinators and targeted district activities; and, regional allocations based on 2018-19 enrollment projections for general awareness activities related to chronic absenteeism.

Specific activities associated with the implementation of the Chronic Absenteeism plan to be conducted by the regional coordinators include: professional development and coaching for all staff in schools and districts to develop their ability to encourage and support students in attending school on a regular basis; development of district and school attendance teams; parent and community meetings to gain feedback on how to get and keep students in school on a regular and timely basis; community engagement activities for parents and students throughout the entire school year; public awareness campaign activities in conjunction with ODE; and, other supports such as mentoring programs and safe and friendly school environment activities.

The Power of Expectations

https://youtu.be/UdVxv330n1I

Not dismissing Student experiences

Teachers: Here are the Top Five Ways to NOT Dismiss Students' Experience

By Contributing Blogger on June 21, 2018 12:04 PM | 

By Gary Chapin and Sarah Chapin       

My 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, and I had a conversation some weeks ago. We talked about her junior year and how it was progressing. "Mostly great," she says. "But there are times..." Over the course of our meal, she reflected upon how the normal interactions of school can leave her feeling diminished, disrespected, or 'less than.' She has experienced this as contempt. Her friends and peers confirm this. So, here are five "don'ts" based on the experience of Sarah and her friends:

1. Please don't tell students that they just have to work harder. First of all, diminishing the effort they've already put into the work will not build trust or buy-in. Second, if "just working harder" will bring them to success, then the structure of the task is based on student effort, not student mastery.
2. Please don't use analogies to justify seemingly arbitrary requirements. For example, we've heard, "If they're late, it's a zero. If the train leaves at 6:30 and you are there at 6:31, you miss the train." Kids do need to learn that time is a factor in achievement. But you know what happens if you miss the 6:30 train? You catch the 7:30 train. There are other analogies you can use. Perhaps the pace of learning is not a punishing, intractable steam engine. Maybe it's a garden. When the asparagus doesn't come in on schedule, you don't blame the plant. You don't blame anyone. You tend to the conditions.
3. Please don't tell kids that their world is fake. The world of school is as real to our kids as the world of work, mortgages, and taxes is to us. There is love and death. There are mistakes and triumphs for them, just like us. The challenges that they face within our system are genuine. 'Authentic' is more than a brand of assessment. And it should be real. We guide them for more than a dozen years. Telling them, "Wait until you get into the real world!" reveals more about us than them.
4. Please don't end a hard conversation by putting kids in their place. Yes, they admit, kids can be a pain in the butt and can push our buttons...and they can also catch us in our own nonsense. Nevertheless, I urge you not to end those hard conversations with some variation of: "...because I am the teacher." They know that you are the teacher. If the only thing you have left is to put kids in their place, then you need to consider the validity of your point.
5. Please don't hold students' failures against them forever. Don't average scores. Okay, I am bringing up this mainstay of Competency-Based Learning, but seriously, don't average. Averaging scores over time is like tying a weight to a kid because, at one point, they did not learn the thing we wanted them to learn in the timeframe that suited our plans. It adds no value to student learning, obscures deficits that should be addressed, and can create insurmountable burdens.

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