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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r3 · q3 · i2 medium
Currency · newest study 2020 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i2 Prior-year chronically absent students start the next fall significantly behind no-absence peers in math, with effects significant in all grades except 5th. → 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 · i2 · associational · r3

Fixed-effects regression on two pooled cohorts of over 79,000 K-10 students from a large urban district, using lagged fall RIT scores, year fixed effects, and covariates. Cohen's d effect sizes ranged "0.22 to 0.47 SDs lower" in math, significant in all grades except 5th.

"Students who were CA in the prior year (10%+ absences), when controlling for prior fall starting achievement, year, and a vector of individual covariates (including FRL, ELL, SPED) start the following year achieving at a level 0.22 to 0.47 SDs lower than students with no absences in the prior year in math."

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
• 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
• Each single prior-year absence is associated with a .010 to .016 SD decrease in fall mathematics starting achievement the following year — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• Prior-year absence effects on starting achievement are much smaller in reading than mathematics and non-significant in most grade levels — related
• Chronically absent pre-kindergarten students (absent 10 percent or more of enrolled days) display lower academic and behavioral kindergarten readiness — related
• Four-year-olds who miss more preschool score lower on kindergarten readiness measures of math, letter recognition, and social-emotional development, even after controlling for incoming skills — related
• Chronically absent preschoolers are much more likely to stay chronically absent, and each successive year of chronic absenteeism compounds risk of low second-grade reading — related
• Chronic absenteeism is studied as a factor in student achievement over two years, with the 10 percent absence threshold questioned as a trigger point for action — related