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Attendance Audits

Determining what strategies are needed to improve attendance can be daunting for school and district personnel. It may also be hard for school staff to evaluate their own practices. An external evaluation can help schools understand what good practices they have in place, and what they need to improve.

Linn Benton Lincoln (LBL) Education Service District (ESD) in Oregon has designed an attendance audit process based on years of best practices research to help their district schools increase student attendance. The audit is combined with follow-up services for students in need, such as attendance officers, family liaisons, and social workers.

Because attendance services have been prioritized by ESD districts through a "resolution" process, the ESD uses some of the state funding for these services. The service is also available to districts outside the ESD for a fee (see the Web site for more information).

The attendance audit is an independent, objective, research-based system in which an expert team from the ESD visits the school, interviews staff and students, and documents and evaluates current attendance policies and practices to determine why students are absent from school, and what can be done to increase attendance. School audits are strictly voluntary—the district contacts the ESD if they want an audit. Many come back for follow-up assistance, as well.

Before the visit to the school, the school principal and administrative team are given a survey of the status and priority of evidence-based attendance practices in the schools. On the day of the audit, a team from the ESD visits with the school administration team and asks, "Which three major issues would you like to focus on?" Next, the audit team spends the day interviewing students and staff, and observes how students enter the building and begin the day. The team eats lunch with students and asks them for insights about attendance. The team also meets with students who have chronic attendance problems. They then review school attendance tracking processes. At the end of the day, the team and school administrative staff meet for an "exit dialogue."

Multipronged support

Attendance services are just one part of the "positive behavior supports" that LBL provides. ESD attendance audit staff members, many of whom have a background in social work, do not see attendance as isolated from other schoolwide issues. Attendance is not simply a problem to be fixed and then set aside. LBL ESD has developed the Hallmarks of Effective Schools model that overlaps positive behavior supports, effective instruction, and wraparound case management. The ESD recognizes that effective schools have clear, schoolwide systems of positive behavior support, teachers who understand and apply best practices in instruction, and the capacity to provide more intensive, wraparound care management for students with more intensive challenges. All these areas need simultaneous focus and all are related to school attendance. "We look at attendance as a symptom of larger issues," explain Judi Edwards and Scott Perry. "We emphasize that strictly enforcing policies is not the solution to schoolwide issues of why children are not coming to school. The important questions are: What is really going on with a child who regularly skips school? What are the barriers that are causing him/her to not want to come to school?"

In addition to providing attendance audits, Linn Benton Lincoln ESD is home to several attendance officers who serve area districts. Attendance officers identify students and families who need support as early as possible. They provide the link between student and school staff in many cases. Ann Lundeen, an attendance officer, explains that to start helping, she needs to understand why the student is not coming to school. She asks the student to tell his or her "story" in a personal conversation. "I might find out a number of things from the story—that the student is struggling academically, or maybe has problems handling drugs and alcohol. Students really need someone to hear them, and encourage them to speak up and voice their concerns. I want to develop a relationship with both the child and their family. I need to find out what the parents' stories are, too."

The ESD has recently completed its 25th attendance audit. The demand for their audits and wraparound services have steadily grown in the last few years. Increasing attendance has been a priority for district superintendents, and they have funded four attendance officers, up from two a few years ago. Not only do LBL staff emphasize that students will achieve to higher standards if they attend school, but they also present superintendents with data that make it clear the attendance support is providing a real cost savings. When students are absent for 10 or more days, the district loses basic school funding for each student. LBL calculated that in 2002–2003, 299 students returned to school as a result of LBL attendance services, which recovered 17,629 membership days, and equaled $493,612 district dollars saved.

The attendance audit staff has compiled some common challenges for schools in reaching attendance goals:

• Policy not in line with practice
• Inaccurate data collection
• Intervention systems largely consequence-based
• Intervention not systematic
• Lag time between student choice to not attend school and consequence
• Communication breakdowns
• Hall pass inconsistency

Some recommendations the staff have made are:

• Hold weekly or bimonthly attendance meetings to review lists of absent students, develop action plans, and review building processes including accuracy of data entry and communication systems
• Place teachers/administrators in halls during passing periods for middle and high school students
• Develop systems of rapid communication with parents
• Make sure all staff, especially the school secretary, understand the difference between excused and unexcused absences
• Make timely referrals to the attendance officer
• Use a consistent hall pass system
• Provide instructional alternatives that may be more meaningful to children who are likely to skip school
• Start lessons with an activity to keep children more engaged and less likely to be late to that class

West Albany High School recently completed an attendance audit. Susie Osborn, the assistant principal, said that having an unbiased audit process was beneficial in that both positive and critical comments came from outside the school. "We had the audit results shared with the entire faculty, and then the faculty broke into small learning groups and discussed the findings." One of the suggestions was to standardize hall passes so that they all looked alike. In this way it became easier to tell who was not in class. Another suggestion was to make sure staff were in key areas of the school to look out for students who weren't in class. The school also realized that consequences for missed school needed to be immediate to have the most impact.

The auditors also recognized and shared with us things that West Albany is doing well. When students were asked which policies deterred them from skipping school, they said that lunchtime detention was a good motivator. For students who need extra help with achieving standards, West Albany offers a self-contained academy program in which a husband and wife team-teach. The 30 students, mostly freshmen and sophomores, work together on social skills as well as curriculum. "This is a very welcoming environment," says Osborn. All the students have senior students as mentors.

These strategies seem to have had an effect. The dropout rate has been less than 3 percent, down from 6 percent several years ago. Attendance has improved as well, with an increase of 2 percent since last year.

Dayton High School, located in a small, rural town outside Portland, also completed an attendance audit. The district superintendent took the issue seriously enough to contract with the ESD for the audit. In addition to implementing new procedures using a computerized attendance tracking system, school staff are taking a more personalized approach to cutting down on class tardiness by standing outside classroom doors, greeting students as they enter, and making sure everyone is in class on time.

Dayton High School counselor Amy Aebi is trying out something new this year to encourage and support three ninth-grade students who have problems with attendance. She asked each student to select a teacher mentor with whom they meet daily after school. The students receive a candy bar when they have gone to every class that day. They also target short- and long-term goals for rewards. These rewards include $5–$50 gift certificates, balloon bouquets, lunch out with their mentor, etc. The students and teachers keep track of each class attended every day. Aebi also provides ongoing support for each student and has weekly meetings with all three together to discuss career goals, go on field trips to colleges, and discuss problems and concerns. Student progress is announced and celebrated by the entire school.

Aebi quickly realized that the positive attention was far more meaningful to the students than the short-term reward. She has seen a huge improvement in both attendance and grades. Most important, these students know they can accomplish their goals for improvement. "Having an advocate in school really has made a difference," says Aebi.

The home environment affects attendance the most, according to Aebi; students have usually experienced attendance difficulties for years. The positive experiences with the mentor and extra attention not only help them at school, but have also helped with their attitudes and relationships at home.

With additional resources, Aebi would like to expand the program to reach more students, and work with them throughout their high school career. For children who have few resources at home, making positive connections with adults in the school leads to more interest in doing well and accomplishing personal goals.