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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · 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? Half of entering ninth graders missed two or more weeks in at least one major subject in the first semester, and 89 percent of first-semester extreme truants ended the year with similar or worse attendance. → Roderick 1997 q2 i? Attendance problems spread: almost half of first-semester moderate truants became extreme truants by second semester, and over one-third of good attenders became truants by year's end. → Roderick 1997 (2)

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

Longitudinal transcript analysis across the two semesters of ninth grade for the 1995-96 CPS cohort. First semester, 50 percent missed two or more weeks in a major subject and 28 percent missed more than a month; early problems generally worsened by year's end.

"Of the students who began ninth grade as extreme tru- ants, 89 percent ended the year with similar or worse levels of attendance."

Roderick 1997 (2)¶

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

Same cohort analysis of attendance trajectories between first and second semester. The brief also reports over one-third of students who began as good attenders became truants by the end of ninth grade, indicating cutting spreads beyond initially disengaged students.

"Almost half of the ninth graders who began the year with moderate absences—missing 2 to 4 weeks of a major subject—became extreme truants 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
• 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 — 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
• Punitive responses to absence do not improve attendance and can worsen it — 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