Students highly absent (5-9.9% of days) in the prior year, below the chronic threshold, start the next year .14 to .22 SDs lower in mathematics than no-absence peers¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3 · i1 small
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i1 Highly absent students who did not meet the chronic definition still showed significant, persistent starting-achievement deficits in math across all grade levels. → King 2020

Evidence¶

King 2020¶

King, G., & Jensen, N. (2020). Looking Back: How Prior-Year Attendance Impacts Starting Achievement. (The Center for School and Student Progress at NWEA Working Paper). https://www.nwea.org/research/publication/looking-back-how-prior-year-attendance-impacts-starting-achievement/

q3 · i1 · associational · r2

Same fixed-effects models as the chronic-absence analysis, with HA defined as 5-9.9% of days absent (9-17 days of a 180-day year). Cohen's d effect sizes were ".14 and .22 SDs lower" in math and significant across grade levels; reading effects were smaller.

"HA students started the subsequent school year at an achievement level between .14 and .22 SDs lower than NA students in math. These effects are all negative and significant across grade levels."

Discussion¶

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
• Descriptively, prior-year chronically absent students achieved over half a standard deviation below their peers at the start of the following year — related
• Even moderately absent students (0.1-4.9% of days) start the following year at significantly lower mathematics achievement (.07 to .15 SDs) than no-absence peers — related
• Students chronically absent (10%+) in the prior year start the following school year 0.22 to 0.47 SDs lower in mathematics than peers with no prior-year absences — related
• Each single prior-year absence is associated with a .010 to .016 SD decrease in fall mathematics starting achievement the following year — related
• Prior-year absence effects on starting achievement are much smaller in reading than mathematics and non-significant in most grade levels — related