Higher absence rates are the most important factor explaining why students with disabilities fail more courses and earn lower GPAs than students without identified disabilities¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2009 · checked against its sources 2026-10-17 (automated, 2 of 2 entries) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Once higher absence rates are taken into account, course failures and grades of students with disabilities are similar to those of students without disabilities; background characteristics and school type explain less of the difference. → Julia Gwynne 2009 q2 i? Self-reported study habits were not important in explaining the weaker course performance of students with disabilities. → Julia Gwynne 2009 (2)

Evidence¶

Julia Gwynne 2009¶

Julia Gwynne, Joy Lesnick, Holly M. Hart, Elaine M. Allensworth. (2009). What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with Disabilities. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/what-matters-staying-track-and-graduating-chicago-public-schools-focus-students

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Chapter 4 statistical modeling of the 2004 freshman cohort examining background characteristics, school type, absences, and study habits as explanations for course failure and GPA differences between students with and without disabilities.

"However, absences were the most important factor explaining these differences. Once we take into account the fact that students with disabilities miss many more days of school, their course failures and grades are similar to those of students without disabilities."

Julia Gwynne 2009 (2)¶

Julia Gwynne, Joy Lesnick, Holly M. Hart, Elaine M. Allensworth. (2009). What Matters for Staying On-Track and Graduating in Chicago Public Schools: A Focus on Students with Disabilities. Consortium on Chicago School Research, University of Chicago Urban Education Institute. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/what-matters-staying-track-and-graduating-chicago-public-schools-focus-students

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Chapter 4 finding from the same explanatory models: self-reported study habits did not account for the course-performance gap between students with and without disabilities.

"Self reported study habits were not important in explaining the weaker course performance of students with disabilities."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Access — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes
• Learning Disabilities and Developmental Differences — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Low attendance is linked with lower academic skills, grades, and high school graduation, and high attendance with higher ones — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Students with disabilities attained postsecondary readiness and success outcomes at about one half to one third the rate of students without disabilities, the largest difference between any student group and its counterpart — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it

• Freshman-year performance of Chicago ninth-graders falls into three tiers, with students two or more years below grade level and students with emotional disturbances performing worst across GPA, course failures, absences, and on-track status — related
• Within every student category, freshman GPA, course failures, and absences are strongly related to five-year graduation rates, with large drops per half grade point, per additional course failure, and per absence band — related
• Students with learning disabilities and mild cognitive disabilities benefit less from rigorous study habits than students without identified disabilities, and for mild cognitive disabilities there is no relationship between study habits and course failures — related
• Schools with strong social-emotional value-added help ninth-grade students stay on track and miss school less often — related
• Unexcused absences quadruple from eighth to ninth grade, explaining most of the drop in grades and pass rates across all student groups — related
• Ninth-grade GPAs varied substantially by gender, race/ethnicity, neighborhood SES, incoming test scores, course level, and school — related