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¶

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 Students with only moderate prior-year absences started the next fall significantly behind no-absence peers in math. → 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

Fixed-effects models on the same pooled district cohorts show moderate absentees (1-8 days missed) started the next year at Cohen's d effect sizes of ".07 to .15 SDs" below no-absence peers in math, supporting the claim that harms begin before the 10% chronic threshold.

"Interestingly, MA students (0.1-5.0% absences) also started the following school year at a significantly lower achievement level in mathematics than their NA peers (effects ranging from .07 to .15 SDs)."

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
• 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 — 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 — a broader claim this one bears on
• Prior-year absence effects on starting achievement are much smaller in reading than mathematics and non-significant in most grade levels — related