In order to bridge the As-Is… and the To-Be… a series of strategies and actions were developed and are summarized in Appendix C. This section provides additional details for these strategies and actions that address the specific issue of chronically truant / absenteeism in each of the four areas for change (competencies, conditions, culture, and context).
Competencies
The key strategy is to develop collaborative relationship among the adults within the school to build their knowledge base of truancy and absenteeism. In order to build to these collaborative relationships, the first step needed is to rewrite the job description of the attendance clerk to identify key areas to monitor student attendance. Then, on-going professional
development needs to be provided to the staff around the importance of establishing relationships with students. Next, other stakeholders must be engaged. For example, professional
development should also be offered to parents / guardians around core problems associated with absenteeism and the importance of student attendance. Lastly, continuous meetings between all key stakeholders would need to be established to monitor the effectiveness of the professional development around attendance and the attendance trend data.
Conditions
To foster the appropriate positive conditions for student attendance, resources (time, physical, and financial) must be reallocated to better support student attendance. If District L were to fully implement this change plan, then they would have an attendance clerk whose professional responsibilities included building ownership of student attendance. The attendance clerk would ensure all office staff are cross trained on attendance monitoring and reporting. There would be established after-school programs to extend the day and provide wrap around
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services that also monitor student participation in these programs. An annual analysis will be conductive of the effectiveness of these programs and their correlation to students’ annual daily attendance.
Culture
High expectations are needed around student attendance. Too often educators fail to hold all students to the same expectations. The key culture strategy is for District L to have all
students believe that they can succeed! To gage the students’ perspective, they should be
surveyed to see if the after-school performing arts programs motivate them to attend school more frequently. Based on the data, a clear timeline should be developed with benchmarks to
dramatically decrease the number of students defined as chronically truant / absent. Next, professional development needs to be implemented and on-going around core problems of absenteeism for students, parents and staff. These actions will ensure the culture around student attendance is transformed and continuously maintained to ensure high expectations are applied to all students regardless of their demographics. This culture will hopefully in turn build student confidence as their academic and behavior performance increases with their increased
instructional time. Thus, eventually lead to all students believing they can succeed. Context
In order to get to the To-Be… culture of high expectations for student attendance, District L must effectively develop processes to monitor and improve absenteeism. The following action steps are needed to put the structures in place to tackle student absenteeism. First, professional development needs to be provided to the appropriate staff on how to analyze data and how to maximize the reports in PowerSchool. Ongoing professional development around core problems of absenteeism must be offered to students, parents, and staff. Next, incentives and tiered
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intervention programs for students and parents need to be implemented. The incentives can be taken a step further to focus on the First Day of School attendance and registration. Lastly, District L would need to establish extended school hours at its schools with wrap around services and extensive After-school Performing Arts Programs.
60 REFERENCES
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Appendix A: 4C’s As Is… Context: Majority of students in poverty; high Latino
population that takes
extended vacation for weeks; first day of school is before Labor Day; lack of parent support.
Culture: No clear district priority on improving student attendance; low teacher/ admin/parent trust; insufficient focus on core problem of absenteeism
Conditions: No set
consequences; high number of students defined as chronically truant/
absenteeism; high mobility rate; insufficient number of staff to monitor student attendance.
Competencies: No staff member monitors/tracks student attendance; PowerSchool does not provide meaningful reports; insufficient knowledge shared with staff, students, and parents.
Context
Cultur
ConditionsCompetencies
School Culture that does not support student attendance. Culture
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Appendix B: 4C’s To Be… Context: Majority of students in poverty; low Latino
population that takes
extended vacation for weeks; first day of school is before Labor Day; welcome back attendance marketing plan; high parent support.
Culture: Improving student attendance is a goal on the District’s Strategic Plan; high teacher/admin/parent trust; Clear focus on core
problem(s) of absenteeism; ownership of student attendance - no blame; high staff attendance.
Conditions: Tier
intervention plan for truancy and absenteeism; low number of students defined as
chronically truant/
absenteeism; high mobility rate; enough staff to monitor attendance; targeted and effective PD for staff and parents.
Competencies: Identified staff member monitors/tracks student attendance; staff develop and continue to deepen knowledge of PowerSchool reports; admin continuously learn how to support teachers, parents, and students on attendance.
Context
Cultur
ConditionsCompetencies
Adult culture that takes ownership of student attendance. Culture
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Appendix C: Strategies & Actions
Strategies Actions
Competencies Develop collaborative
relationships among adults to build their knowledge base of truancy/absenteeism.
Rewrite job description of Attendance Clerk to identify key areas to monitor student attendance; Provide PD to staff around the importance of establishing relationships with students; Provide PD to parents around core problems associated with absenteeism.
Conditions Reallocate resources to better support student attendance.
Have office staff cross train each other around Attendance Clerk’s professional responsibilities to build ownership of student attendance; Establish Community School within the district with wrap around services and extensive After- school Performing Arts Programs; Develop clear set of consequences for high truant / absenteeism.
Culture To have all students believe that they can succeed.
Survey students to see if after-school performing arts program motivates them to attend school more frequently; Develop a clear timeline with benchmarks to dramatically decrease the number of students we have defined as chronically truant; Provide ongoing PD around core problems of absenteeism to students, parents, and staff.
Context To develop processes to
monitor and improve absenteeism.
Provide PD around how to analyze data and how to utilize PowerSchool; establish extended school hours within the district with wrap around services and extensive After-school Performing Arts Programs; Provide ongoing PD around core problems of absenteeism to students and parents; Offer incentives to students and parents who attend school on the first day and are registered.
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Appendix D: District L Student Survey
After-school Performing Arts: Student Survey
Question 1: Survey Number _____________
Question 2: Grade Level _____________
Question 3: I am more interested in attending school.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 4: My interest in school has increased since participating in the after-school performing arts program.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 5: I am more engaged or interested in learning.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 6: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has helped me learn to read better.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 7: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has helped me understand math better.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
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Question 8: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has helped me learn how to share my feelings better.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 9: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has helped me feel proud about my work.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 10: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has provided me a safe place to spend my time after-school.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 11: Participation in the after-school performing arts program has helped me to enjoy school more.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 12: I look forward to continue participating in the after-school performing arts program next year.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 13: Please provide some specific examples that will help us understand your ratings. ______________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________
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Appendix E: District L Parent Survey
After-school Performing Arts: Parent Survey Questions
Question 1: Survey Number _________
Question 2: Student Grade __________
Question 3: My child is more interested in attending school.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 4: My child shows interest in being in the after-school performing arts program.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 5: My child appears more engaged or interested in learning.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 6: My child has shown improved reading performance because of participation in the after-school performing arts program.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 7: My child has shown improved math performance because of participation in the after-school performing arts program.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
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Question 8: My child has shown improved their social skills because of participation in the after-school performing arts program.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 9: My child is learning to express ideas through words or the arts.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 10: My child is learning skills in an art form (visual art, dance, music, etc.).
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 11: My child is learning how to work with other students.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 12: My child is learning how to deal with conflict or difficult situations.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 13: My child is learning how to work towards a goal or final product.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 14: Please provide some specific examples that will help us understand your ratings. _________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________ Parents, thank you for your time!
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Appendix F: District L Teacher Survey
After-school Performing Arts: Teacher Survey
Question 1: Survey Number: __________________
To what extent have you observed these behaviors in your students who attended the After- school Performing Arts programs:
Question 2: Student collaborates with his/her peers more frequently.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 3: Improved his/her student attendance.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 4: Improved his/her performance in reading.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 5: Improved his/her performance in math.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 6: Improved his/her social skills.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 7: Exhibited more persistence in his/her work in class.
Strongly Disagree Undecided Agree Strongly Disagree Agree
Question 8: Please provide some specific examples that will help us understand your ratings.
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Appendix G: District L Survey Informed Consent
Survey Informed Consent
My name is Robert G. Hubbird, and I am a Doctoral student at National Louis University. I am asking you to participate in this study, “Does Performing Arts Programs Impact Student
Attendance?”, occurring from September 2016-June 2017. The purpose of this study is to understand how participation in after-school performing arts programs affects student
attendance. This study will help researchers develop a deeper understanding of the correlation between absenteeism and participation in after-school performing arts programs. This form outlines the purpose of the study and provides a description of your involvement and rights as a participant.
By signing below, you are providing consent to participate in a research project conducted by Robert G. Hubbird, Doctoral student, at National Louis University, Chicago. As a participant, you may withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.
Please understand that the purpose of the study is to explore the impact of participation in an after-school performing arts programs correlation to a student’s daily attendance and not to advocate for performing arts programs. Participation in this study will include:
● 1 end of the year survey to be completed at your convenience in spring of 2016 – 17 school year. See Appendix A.
● The survey will last up to 12 min. and include approximately 10 - 15 questions to understand how participation in an after-school performing arts program impacted their absenteeism.
● Survey responses will be anonymous.
The results of this study may be published or otherwise reported in group form, and employed to inform policy change around interventions to tackle student absenteeism and funding for
performing arts programs.
Participants’ identities will in no way be revealed (data will be reported anonymously and bear no identifiers that could connect data to individual participants).
To ensure confidentiality, the researcher will secure data on a locked computer; only the researcher will have access to the data.
There are no anticipated risks or benefits, no greater than that encountered in daily life. Further, the information gained from this study could be useful to the after-school program organizations
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and school districts looking to initiate or refine student absenteeism initiatives.
Upon request, you may receive summary results from this study and copies of any publications that may occur. Please email Robert G. Hubbird, at [email protected] to request results from this study.
In the event that you have questions or require additional information, please contact the