Gavin Myers

EDAD 694

Action Research Project

 Chapter 1

Introduction

Introduction to the topic

Bester Elementary is a populated community in the southern side of Hagerstown. Bester

has around 650 students in attendance each year and of those students are many walks of life.

Students are almost all in walking distance of the school and about 60% of students walk to and

from every day. The other 40% is comprised of car riders and two busses that take students to the

Winter street district that recently closed in Spring of 2016. Due to many variables, there is

deficits in attendance. Chronic absenteeism the past year for Bester was 163 students. This

means that 163 students missed 18 or more school days in one year. There is also deficit with our

testing data on MAP. Map is an assessment given three times throughout the year measuring

math and reading capability. Our school uses MAP as a guideline for success and goal setting on

our SIP (School Improvement Plan). Due to attendance data and MAP scores decreasing, I

conducted a research on the correlation of attendance for third, fourth and fifth graders to the

MAP test scores for the 2017-2018 school year.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of my research is to determine a correlation between attendance and

performance on standardized tests. Does decreasing attendance decrease performance on MAP

scores? Does chronic absenteeism affect performance?

Importance of the study

To improve a community around a school it starts with attendance. There are many

factors that support being at school such at graduation rate, preparedness for job interviews,
overall success. Determining the correlation between attendance and MAP data will continue to

push schools toward seeking higher attendance. A school knowing that performance will

increase with attendance will allow buy in from staff to promote ideas for success. Success with

bringing students and parents into schools on a consistent basis. Furthermore, students need to be

at school for safety and security. Finding solution toward attendance will overall impact the

community in a positive way.

Definition of terms

 Chronic Absenteeism- When a student has missed 10% or more days of school. This

correlates to 18 or more days of school.

 SIP- School improvement plan is the desired goal for success for a school. They base

goals for attendance, performance, and growth for a year. It is a living a breathing

document that is revisited throughout the year and changed if needed depending on

outcomes of the school.

 MAP- Standardized test given triennially in the Fall, Winter, and Spring. This assessment

is technologically self-guided and measures students’ performance in math and reading.

Data is computer generated and compiled either individually or clustered by grades.

 Bester Elementary- School at which study is conducted. Bester is a title one school with

100% FARM (free and reduced meals).

 Synergy- attendance database for Washington County Public Schools.

Chapter 2

Review of the Literature

Chronic Absenteeism
What is Chronic Absenteeism

McKenna Wierman defines chronic absenteeism as “students who miss a defined number

of school days, usually about 10 percent or about 15-18 days in most school districts, for any

reason, are considered chronically absent” (Wierman 2017). Wierman also defined the

percentage of students based upon disability and race. She explained how black students are

more likely to be chronically absent by 36% of their white peers (Wierman 2017). It is also

stated that chronic absenteeism is more common among high school and primary elementary

students. “In 2013-14 nearly 1 in 10 kindergarten and first grade students and 1 in 5 high

schoolers were chronically absent” (Wierman 2017). Robert Balfanz and Vaughan Byrnes agreed

with Wierman’s definition in their report on absenteeism in 2012. Their study focused on six

states, Maryland being one of them. They describe chronic absenteeism as missing 10 percent of

a school year as well (Balfanz, Byrnes 2012). Moreover, their statistic showed that chronic

absenteeism can be higher than the missing percent each day. They stated that “A school can

have average daily attendance of 90 percent and still have 40 percent of its students chronically

absent, because on different days, different students make up that 90 percent (Balfanz, Byrnes

2012 pg. 3). This could mean that a school with high attendance rates can still hold high chronic

absenteeism due to the students missing different days but still meeting or exceeding 10 percent

or more days missed. Chronic absenteeism is not all unexcused absences. This is including both

excused and unexcused and could be from health, suspension, family matters, or other reasons

(Balfanz, Byrnes 2012).

Long Term Effects of Chronic Absenteeism

 One in 10 Kindergarten and first grade children are missing the equivalent of one full

month of school a year. According to a study by Michigan State University, “chronically absent

kindergarteners gained 14 percent fewer literacy skills” (Innis 2016). Having a child behind early

on in their learning career can lead to many deficits. These deficits can include not graduating,

being below a third-grade reading level by third grade, and not being prepared for the future.

The Fonda-Fultonville Central School District in New York posted an article with an

estimated chart about attendance. The primary data suggests that Kindergaten chronically absent

students have an 81% chance of not reading on grade level in third grade (“Attendance and

academic performance”). Additionally, a leading indicator for high school dropouts is seen by

sixth graders who are chronically absent (“Attendance and Academic Performance”). The article

clarifies that not only from kindergarten will there be setbacks from absenteeism, but failure will

continue to arise to the point of dropping out of school. The Fonda-Fultonville school district did

note that if a chronically absent student does graduate, which is 7.4 less likely, and enroll in

college, their chance of receiving a degree is 11%. From their research, there is notably less of a

chance of success the further absenteeism is carried into their learning career. The school district

states that “There are an estimated 5-7.5 million students in the United States who are

chronically absent from school” (“Attendance and academic performance”). This radical number

is not only affecting the students, but will soon affect the nation in the future, with less degrees

and lower reading capabilities.

Correlation with absenteeism and performance

Anna Lukkarinen, Paula Koivukangas, and Tomi Seppala from ScienceDirect conducted

research on 86 students in 2014. Their study focused on students at Finnish university. At this

institution, there is free charge, and there is a high level of academic freedom. This can be
compared to free public education in the united states. Their data focused on student attendance

and performance for lecture and exercise sessions. The lecture attendance was not mandatory;

however, the data was collected by circulating an attendance list at every teaching event, which

was signed by students who were present. There was cross checking to ensure no signatures were

forged. Data collection for exams were taken by the two exams given. The highest score was

kept and students had choice whether to attend one or both. When the exam was given at the end

of the course, there were 43 of the 86 students who had not taken it or dropped out. The

remaining students were split into clusters of 29 and 14. The group of 29 was much higher in

attendance than the group of 14. Results were determined that the data didn’t show much

difference in performance. Both groups had a similar mean of 56.2 for the group of 14 and 53.6

for the group of 29. As Lukkarinen, Koiyukangas, and Seppala broke down the data, they found

that there were more answers within subgroups. For the poor attendance group, they found that

100% of the students were male and had other course loads and were spending considerable

amounts of time on homework and assignments for this course to perform well. Moreover, they

determined that males are higher risk-takers. Knowing this information, they determined that “it

makes sense not to assess all students as one homogeneous group but as several subgroups”

(Lukkarinen, Koiyukangas, Seppala 2014). These subgroups, they found, were putting

significant participation into coursework that was not assessed in performance other than on the

final exam. Although students were missing school, they were doing average or above average

work during the semester compared to students in full attendance. These similarities could be

seen at the elementary, middle, and high school level if the amount of work was put in away

from school. However, this isn’t always the case.

 A similar study was completed by Valentin Kassarnig, Andreas Bjerre-Nielsen, Enys

Mones, Sune Lehmann, and David Lassen. They focused on attendance, measured by

smartphone data via Bluetooth, and its correlation to exam performance. “How accurate was the

measure of students’ attendance at predicting their subsequent exam performance?” (Kassarnig,

Bjerre-Nielsen, Mones, Lehmann Lassen 2017) About 1,000 students at Technical University of

Denmark were measured over a period of 2 years. 78% of the students were male and 22%

female. They were divided into 24 subgroups by their major. During their term, they determined

attendance based upon their GPS location from their phone. If they were within 200m of each

other to form a cluster they were considered attended. They found that over time, attendance

decreased. They created a box plot to show attendance correlating to course grade. Average

grades for students who were at 40% attendance was a 0 or F. Students who had 80% attendance

had an average of and A, 90-100% (Kassarnig, Bjerre-Nielsen, Mones, Lehmann Lassen 2017

Fig. 3). They had many tables representing correlations, all of which showing higher average

scores for higher attendance. There were difficulties with attendance collection due to GPS

signals and noise from cell towers. They also found difficulty with accuracy due to GPS being

accurate distance from the class. However, during the observation time they calculated over

26,000 class location estimations. More than 75% of them were within 100m of the class

location (Kassarnig, Bjerre-Nielsen, Mones, Lehmann Lassen 2017). Overall the research

meticulously carried out a plan that proved attendance effects performance.

The final research was by Michael Gottfried who evaluated the relationship between

attendance and achievement in urban elementary and middle schools. Their goal was “using

quausi-experimental methods to explore the precision of the relationship by which student

attendance is related to both grade point average (GPA) and standardized testing outcomes”
(Gottfried 2010). Their data was comprised of Philadelphia Schools in the 1994/1995-2000/2001

school years. There were 223 elementary and middle schools during this time with 86,000

students K-8. Over the period there were 332,000 student observations (Gottfried 2010). The

attendance records were kept from the District’s office. The data was divided by algorithms that

determined percentages of day attended, organized by race and gender. Their GPA was also

organized as such. What was found was that in Elementary schools, it wasn’t necessarily

attendance that only improved GPA. Attendance did have an influence, but he found that a

higher block of whites gave outcome to higher GPA’s. This didn’t hold true for middle school

due to performance being more individualized with less group work and more independent

practice. Overall, the variables proved positive between individual attendance and student-level

achievement. In conclusion, students who attend school have a higher GPA.

Chapter 3

Methodology

Participants

Bester Elementary is in the Southern end of Hagerstown. As of July 26, 2018, there is

692 students in enrollment. 100% of students at Bester have free and reduced meals (FARM).

Within each classroom there are 20-28 students, that range between Hispanic, American Indian,

African American, White, and other. Students who were documented were all third fourth and

fifth graders throughout the 2017-2018 school year. All students within the grade range was

included in the study, including GATE and special education students. Any students that enrolled

during the school year that met the age requirements were included in the study. Of the 692

students, 310 third, fourth, and fifth graders were documented. Ethnicities are as follows: 11%
Hispanic, 18% two or more ethnicities, 26% African American, 45% White. Data was derived

from Bester Elementary Student Ethnic Distribution List as of July 26, 2018.

Materials

For attendance data, synergy provided an ethnic distribution list to determine percentages

of each ethnicity. Furthermore, synergy provided monthly attendance percentages. Human

resources department held professional development where the attendance committee present a

table for chronic absenteeism for each school for the 2017-2018 school year.

MAP and performance data was derived from the Bester Elementary School

Improvement Plan (SIP), NWEA MAP database, and charts created my administration

documenting goals and growth for MAP and Lexile for the 2017-2018 school year.

Procedures

The study was documented starting Winter of 2018 and continued through July of 2018.

Each month passing provided data for attendance. Fall, Winter and Spring provided MAP data

for student performance. Data was documented on NWEA and pulled to provide Lexile and

performance growth. As the data was collected, the months would be layered to show

correlations between attendance and performance for months of testing and leading up to testing.

After the testing date, the following months were documented leading up to the next testing date.

Testing data was percentage based and was measured by two categories. Students who met the

Washington County goal for the term and students who met their own personal goal. The scores

differ because students of lower capability may not meet the county goal but can achieve growth

by meeting their projected score for each term. I looked at the attendance on an increasing or

decreasing measure and then compared it to the increase or decrease in scores for the testing

data.
 Chapter 4

Findings

Does decreasing attendance decrease performance on MAP scores? Does chronic

absenteeism affect performance?

During one year at Bester Elementary, we had 190 students miss 0-4 days, 211 students

miss 5-9 days, 180 students miss 10-18 days, 71 students miss 19-26 days, and 55 students miss

27 or more days in a year. For Chronic absenteeism to occur, a student should miss 10% of their

days which is equivalent to 18 days. According to the student enrollment count, we have 163

students in that category. Moreover, there are an extra 18 students in the habitually truant

category. Overall there were 707 absences during one year. We are the second most absences in

the county for elementary schools which is a major issue. Attendance is an issue for Bester

Elementary.

MAP testing was taken in the fall, Winter and Spring. Students who were absent the days

of testing were given the test upon the day of return. The chart below describes student data

compared to national norms and their attendance for the term.

MAP MAP Bester

MAP Bester Bester
national national MAP
national MAP MAP
Grades norm norm average
norm average average
Winter Spring Spring
Fall 2017 Fall 2017 Winter2018
2018 2018 2018

3 188.3 182.8 195.6 191 198.6 192.6

4 198.2 188.9 203.6 194.6 205.9 197.6

5 205.7 200.8 209.8 202.7 211.8 205.0

 As seen above, Bester Elementary students in grade three are behind an average of five

points. Grade four is behind the national norm by an average of nine points and grade five by

five points. There is an increase in scores, but overall the data is behind.

Fall 2017
Attendance Term Winter2018 (January) Spring 2018 (April)
(September)

Bester 3rd, 4th, and 5th

1,202 excused and 930 excused and 214 excused and
cumulative
unexcused absences unexcused absences unexcused absences
attendance.

Being that there is an average incline for MAP testing but not a large growth index, the

students are not performing at the standard expected. From looking at the attendance records and

seeing that there is a decrease in attendance, there can be a correlation made. From the decrease

of attendance, there is a gradual increase in performance. Keeping in mind that January and April

have less school days due to weather and breaks. Nevertheless, September has over 5 times more

absences than April and over 30% more than winter.

Chapter 5

Discussion

This study was to determine a correlation between secondary elementary student

performance and attendance. Students are measured on performance and a measuring aspect is the

MAP test. As goals for performance aren’t met, there needs to be answered and I believe that

attendance is an outstanding factor. The attendance results were taken from a database request at

Human Resources via the school secretary. The MAP data was derived from an admin account

that compiled the data from each trimester that the assessment was taken.
 Overall, the findings of attendance correlation to performance shows a positive

relationship. As the attendance of students decreased over the course of the 2017-2018

school year, the performance of third, fourth and fifth graders increased. The MAP data

did not have as dramatic of an increase as the attendance did though. Nevertheless,

there shows to be stronger performance while students are in school.

By knowing the extent that attendance is affecting our school, it is imperative that

in a classroom, one works towards getting students to school. Strategies can include

engaging projects and STEAM activities where attendance is needed to complete the

task. As a school, there can be many different school activates during and after school

that require attendance percentages above a certain amount to attend. Having buy in

from the staff to push being in school is imperative. Furthermore, pushing the

importance of standardized testing is also a must. Many teachers feel it isn’t necessary

and doesn’t hurt or benefit the students. Buy in to support students when working

toward the MAP assessment is necessary. There can be rewards for meeting goals and

national norms. For example, my classroom voted on their own rewards for meeting

their goals and were engaged in doing their best. This needs to be consistent

throughout all grade levels so that students understand the importance through all five

years.

During the study, it was first determined to find a correlation between behavior

and performance. However, as the year moved on there were too many recurring

incidents. Although there were many referrals and behavioral incidents, there was not a

strong correlation between behavior and performance because the behavior community

was so consolidated. As attendance was the new focus, there were setbacks that
followed. Looking for student attendance reports was difficult. I searched for a more

individual student focus such as a group of 30 third, fourth, and fifth graders. However,

not being administration made it difficult to access those individual records.

In the future, students need to be split into sub categories. By race, ethnicity,

area of housing, and climate. If these groups are broken down, then there can be a

determination made on what subgroup struggles the most with attendance and can find

solution to follow. Performance is necessary but without students in school, there will

never be an increase in effort or performance. Future correlations can consider student

attendance based on ethnicity, climate, parents, behavior, and siblings. Overall there

needs to be improvement made. One stepping stone at a time should be built to overall

improve student performance.

 References

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