Schools vary widely in attendance and cutting; in the ten worst-attendance schools the average ninth grader is an extreme truant in at least one major subject by second semester¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 1997 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2002: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q2 i? In the ten schools with the worst attendance rates, full day absences and class cutting are so high that the average ninth grader is an extreme truant in at least one major subject by the second semester; at Orr Community Academy the average student missed about half of instructional time in at least one major subject. → Roderick 1997

Evidence¶

Roderick 1997¶

Roderick, M., Arney, M., Axelman, M., DaCosta, K., Steiger, C., Stone, S., Villarreal-Sosa, L., & Waxman, E. (1997). Habits Hard to Break: A New Look at Truancy in Chicago's Public High Schools. Student Life in High Schools Project, School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/habits-hard-break-new-look-truancy-chicagos-public-high-schools

q2 · i? · associational · r2

School-level comparison of second-semester ninth grade attendance across CPS high schools. The brief reports at Orr Community Academy the average student missed about half of instructional time (44 of 90 days) in at least one major subject, and at Tilden and South Shore median class absences were twice median full-day absences.

"In the ten schools with the worst attendance rates, full day absences and class cutting are so high that the average ninth grader is an extreme truant in at least one major subject by the second semester."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• By spring of ninth grade, 64 percent of CPS ninth graders missed two or more weeks of instruction in at least one major subject — related
• Ninth grade attendance problems begin early in the year and generally worsen, with 89 percent of first-semester extreme truants ending the year at similar or worse levels — related
• Poor attendance occurs throughout the school day and across subjects; first period is most often missed but missing it does not explain overall truancy — related
• CPS has two distinct truancy problems—full-day absenteeism and class cutting—and about 40 percent of extreme truancy occurs through class cutting — related
• Students with weak eighth grade basic skills have the poorest attendance, but cutting is widespread even among top achievers (42 percent on or above grade level were moderate to extreme truants) — related
• Unexcused absences quadruple from eighth to ninth grade, explaining most of the drop in grades and pass rates across all student groups — related
• Average daily attendance and truancy metrics mask chronic absence, which reveals individual students missing 10% of school for any reason — related
• Punitive responses to absence do not improve attendance and can worsen it — related
• The school refusal-truancy dichotomy shows extensive overlap and heterogeneity — a broader claim this one bears on