As a teacher teaching during distance learning, I have to say that I am very concerned about students and the chronic absences that I am seeing on a daily basis.  According to Harrington (2020), “some districts are finding an alarming percentage of students missing from the virtual classroom with the worst absentee rates occurring among homeless students, foster youth, English learners, Black students and high school seniors” (para. 1).  What can school districts do to find ways to track down and re-engage students?    The state of California is requiring districts to track students’ daily participation in distance learning and to outline strategies for reaching students.  Unfortunately, no statewide data is available yet.  Some of the most common strategies to date so far for re-engaging students have included phone calls, emails, letter home to families as well as other outreach and support that intensifies the longer students are absent.  In my school district we have home visits that have been put in place so that our administrators, counselors, and some teachers can check up on students.  Although we are not yet where we need to be there are many people working across the district for students and families.  For the 2020-2021 school year, Attendance Works recommends adding four key metrics to support families and lessen the absences, contact, connectivity, relationships and participation. 

Another key dilemma school districts are facing during distance learning and absences is student participation.  How do you measure student participation when students are not in school?  Some states were given very specific recommendations and guidelines for monitoring attendance and participation.  For instance, in California if a student doesn’t show up to virtual class but completes that day’s assignment, they are not considered absent because they participated.  At the beginning some districts required teachers to interact with all their students.  If the students responded through interacting with the teacher by responding to her out loud or through the chat, they are considered present.  If a student refuses to answer or is silent the entire time they are absent. Attendance through distance learning varies between states and within school districts.  Not all are the same.  According to Jordan and Change (2020), “in California, the legislature weighed in with a budget bill that became law in late June requiring every school district to develop a learning continuity and attendance plan” (para. 10).  Basically, districts can choose their own guidelines on how to account for attendance but without evidence of daily contact or online participation, students will not be considered present. We don’t know yet what the collective impact of the lost instruction will be, but we do know that showing up matters.  When students show up to learn, they are most likely able to stay on track.

References:

Harrington, T. (2020, October 16). How some California school districts deal with students absent from virtual classrooms. Retrieved October 24, 2020, from https://edsource.org/2020/how-some-california-school-districts-deal-with-absent-students/641504

Jordan, P. W., & Chang, H. N. (2020, September 28). The Challenge of Taking Attendance in Remote Learning. Retrieved October 24, 2020, from https://www.future-ed.org/the-challenge-of-taking-attendance-during-the-pandemic/

Monitoring Attendance in Distance Learning. (2020, July 22). Retrieved October 24, 2020, from https://www.attendanceworks.org/chronic-absence/addressing-chronic-absence/monitoring-attendance-in-distance-learning/