The Extent of the Elementary Attendance Crisis

Because California lacks important statewide attendance data, since 213 the Attorney General’s Office has commissioned research to estimate the extent of elementary school absenteeism in California. We use multiple sources of data for this purpose, including: 

Data from Aeries client school districts representing over 350,000 K-5 California students 

Data from over 250 California school districts in on our 2015 district leadership survey

Statewide data on truancy and average daily attendance from the California Department of Education (CDE) 

Through a partnership with Eagle Software and the participation of their Aeries client districts, we have access to a unique dataset that provides detailed information about elementary school absenteeism in California. Data from over 350,000 K-5 students in the state indicate that high levels of elementary school absenteeism continue to be a serious problem in California.

Chronic absence rates19 remain just over 8% for K-5 students, meaning that an estimated 230,000 students in California missed 18 or more days of school in the 2014-2015 school year.20 Furthermore, as many as 31,000 students in California are estimated to have missed more than 36 days of school, or 20% of the 2014-2015 school year.

Truancy rates also remain high. Data from the California Department of Education indicate that elementary truancy rates have increased slightly in the state from 21.3% in 2012-2013 to 23.2% in 2013-2014. Data from Aeries similarly suggest that the elementary school truancy rate is 23.8% for the 2014-2015 school year. However, the slight increase in truancy rates over the last three years must be interpreted with caution. Interviews with school district officials and a specialist in attendance information systems suggest that school districts have developed improved systems for tracking and monitoring truancy and chronic absence. Therefore, these increased rates may actually be an indication of better reporting rather than an increase in the number of unexcused absences in the state. Similar to previous years, elementary school truancy represents 40% of all truancy in the state.

More information in ....

https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2015