Kentucky Department of Ed Presents Chronic Absenteeism Resources
Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) team members provided an update on efforts to combat chronic absenteeism during a Superintendents Webcast on August 14.
KDE defines a student as chronically absent if they have missed more than 10% of the enrolled time in school. This includes both excused and unexcused absences. Chronic absenteeism affects nearly 30% of students across the Commonwealth each year.
“When students miss school, they miss out on learning, meaningful relationships, and countless other opportunities that are crucial for their development and future success,” said Commissioner of Education Robbie Fletcher.
Data presented by KDE Division of Student Success Director Christina Weeter shows that while districts have been dealing with chronic absenteeism for years, the problem spiked following the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2018, 5% of districts were considered to have high or extreme levels of chronic absenteeism; in 2023, that percentage was 77%.
Weeter said there are four contributing factors to chronic absenteeism including the following:
- Barriers like chronic health conditions, family responsibilities, transportation, housing or food insecurity, and community violence;
- Aversion to school because a student may be struggling academically, behaviorally, or with their peers;
- Disengagement with school because the student feels bored or has a lack of connection and enrichment opportunities; and
- Misconceptions about staying home for illness and the belief that attendance “doesn’t matter” or that only unexcused absences are a problem.
KDE just launched a public messaging campaign to raise awareness of the issue, which includes ads on television, radio, and billboards across the Commonwealth emphasizing that attendance matters. The billboard images feature messaging about how much students miss when they aren’t in school, like class, football games, band, gym class, lunch, or playing with friends at recess. The TV and radio ads follow a similar theme.
KDE also provides tools in Infinite Campus to help school leaders track chronic absenteeism. For example, the Early Warning tool examines a composite of factors such as attendance, behavior, stability, and academics in order to identify students at higher risk for dropping out. Infinite Campus also includes Insights data visualization dashboards, including attendance data and reports on chronically absent and transient student populations.
“We want to make sure it’s very evident what we have available already at the state level so that your district leaders and your school leaders can really make some decisions about how to address (chronic absenteeism),” Weeter said.
KDE also revamped its Chronic Absenteeism webpage with new resources for schools, families, and communities.
Assessment and Accountability
The Kentucky United We Learn Council has been developing a number of assessment and accountability system prototypes that describe how Kentucky might revise its systems to align with the council-adopted moonshot: “To build a prosperous Kentucky, we will launch an accountability system that is meaningful and useful to all our learners.”
Fletcher provided an update on the Kentucky United We Learn Council meeting in July, where members started narrowing down what options would be in the product.
Since the meeting, a new prototype has been in development, focusing on an accreditation-style model that includes a vibrant learning experiences indicator. Schools would submit evidence to an external evaluator and the local board of education and receive ratings on rubrics with feedback for improvement.
Kentucky Board of Education (KBE) Chair Sharon Porter Robinson said the work of the council is “amazing,” and members are “helping us dream big, be strong and bold and determined to have an accountability system that really serves the purpose that we are all devoted to.”
KDE is now entering the study phase of the new prototype, which will involve 36 districts providing direct feedback to KDE staff members and Kentucky United We Learn Council members — 18 districts from the Local Laboratories of Learning (L3s) and 18 others across the Commonwealth.
“There’s a specific set of questions we’d like for everyone to answer. What does this particularly look like? If we talked about through-course assessment, how is that implemented?” Fletcher said. “(And) what type of questions that you may have.”
Fletcher said the department is also going to seek input from all districts once the process starts.
Fletcher also thanked lawmakers who participated in the council’s discussions: Rep. James Tipton, Rep. Tina Bojanowski, Rep. Timmy Truett, Sen. Max Wise, and Sen. Matt Deneen.
Read the full release on KDE’s website.
Tags: State issues, state policy
