NCAE SBE Review January 2018 The SBE approved the new policy defining student chronic absenteeism of missing 10 percent or more of school. Chronic absence differs from both truancy and average daily attendance. Daily attendance is the percentage of students present in a school each day. Truancy measures unexcused absences only. Chronic absence refers to missing so much school, for any reason – excused, unexcused, suspension – that a student is at risk of falling behind.
Links for HOT items: ESSA Update: State Plan Overview of Personalized Learning BUT without any suggestions on how to modify current assessments Update on School Connectivity and Digital Initiative Report to NC General Assembly North Carolina Innovative School District Report Teacher Preparation Policy Updates and Alignment with General Statute were approved. NCAE SBE Review January 2018
A common definition of chronic absenteeism allows for meaningful comparison of chronic absenteeism rates within the state and across the country. Here are some reasons for using the 10 percent definition: 1. It is based on research showing that missing that much school is associated with lower academic performance and dropping out. 2. It promotes the early identification of students, because schools and communities can use the 10 percent absence rate as a trigger for intervention from the start of school and throughout the year, rather than waiting for a student to miss 15 or more days before investigating. 3. It allows for better detection of attendance problems among highly mobile students who often move too frequently to ever accumulate 15 or 20 days of absence in a single school or district. 4. Starting in the 2016-17 school year, the U.S. Department of Education through the EDFacts Submission System requires all states to report chronic absence rates using the 10 percent definition annually. 5. The Every Student Succeeds Act requires that chronic absenteeism data be included on the state and LEA report cards starting with the report cards that include information for the 2017-18 school year. 6. It offers comparable data across states and districts that have school years of different lengths. Nine of the 14 states that have included chronic absence in their ESSA plans define chronic absence as missing 10 percent or more of total enrolled school days.
A new business item was shared with the SBE. An Evaluation of Policy Implementation Preventing Bullying, Cyber Bullying and Harassment mandated by the 2009 Safe Schools Act. The policy defined bullying to reach beyond the school day. Survey data you might find of interest: 19 percent of high school students say they have been bullied on school property the past 12 months 51 percent of high school students have seen other students being bullied over the last 12 months 55 percent of high school students who agree or strongly agree that their teachers care about and encourage them