Schools use touchpoints, relations, personal connections to improve attendance

May 3—Kim Patterson has 128 total students, spread throughout her six daily classes.

But it's rare the seventh grade language arts teacher sees all of them on a given day.

On average, there are between eight and 12 students absent. In January and February, it was even more.

It's not uncommon at Eastern Middle School, where Patterson teaches, or really any school district in the state.

About 40% of Indiana students missed 10 or more days of school last year. That's two weeks. About 20% missed more than three weeks' worth of classes.

The kids notice when Patterson takes attendance. They'll make remarks like, "They're never here."

"They recognize they have classmates who don't come to school at all," she said.

It's a trend schools and the state legislature are urgently trying to correct.

More than one reason

Pinpointing why more kids are missing more days of school is difficult, though higher rates of absenteeism lines up with when schools reopened following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Educators say parents, especially those with young students, are more apt to keep their child home over minor symptoms like the sniffles or a headache. New parents might not know when to keep their kid home or send them to school, either.

Tipton Superintendent Ryan Glaze said anxiety is a common reason why kids don't come to school.

"This is definitely a post-pandemic thing," he said. "There's also a heightened awareness among medical professionals."

Patterson said some parents seem more indulgent while others are disconnected. She sends many messages home when a student misses class, including a wrap up of what they did that day and any slideshows shown to the class. Still, though, there are parents she won't hear from.

"It feels like everything changed after COVID," Patterson said. "There is a growing number of students and families who do not see the urgency and necessity to attend schools."

There are also socio-economic factors at play.

At Howard Elementary, principal Jordan Nelson and the school resource officer have both picked kids up for school when parents don't have a way to get their child there themselves.

"We do tend to struggle with car issues with out-of-district kiddos," Nelson said.

In a previous interview, Laura Fulton, principal at Pipe Creek Elementary, told the Tribune she sees many parents facing life challenges, such as eviction, keeping the heat on, domestic violence and lack of support.

Those challenges often play out by children missing lots of school.

The wide range of reasons why kids are missing more school makes the issue a difficult one to solve.

"There's a poverty connection to attendance for sure," Patterson said. "I don't know how you solve the problem."

Increasing attendance

The Indiana legislature passed a law that requires schools to intervene if an elementary student has five unexcused absences. For these students, the school must create an attendance plan.

Absenteeism was a key education issue at the statehouse this spring, however the law passed out of the shortened session only pertains to students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

Stacy Donato, R-Logansport, the author of the bill, asked the Legislature to study best practices for high school students who miss many days.

The new law requires schools to meet with parents of students who miss five or more days that are unexcused. Schools must also report to the prosecutor students who miss 10 or more days without an excuse.

For the attention placed on absenteeism by state legislators, school officials say the law isn't all that different from what they're already doing.

It also appears personal approaches are showing promise in getting kids to show up consistently.

Tipton Community School Corporation implemented a system this school year that aims to build relations with parents and guardians.

Assistant principals reach out to parents after a student misses five days, no matter the reason. The conversations are meant to determine if there are any issues going on.

"The idea is more communication, collaboration is how we get kids to school," said Scott Jaworski, assistant superintendent. "Having that dialogue with parents is key. A lot of the solutions aren't difficult. We just need to know the root cause."

Glaze said it's at a point where those principals know why most kids are absent on a given day.

"It allows us to be more supportive, and it allows us to have better relations with kids," he said.

Tipton school officials started tracking monthly student attendance rates this year. The state puts out yearly data, but Jaworski said the info isn't helpful in the moment.

Tipton administration hopes to reach a 70% attendance rate for the 2023-24 school year. The state figures a school district's attendance rate by the number of students who attend 94% of the time. Put another way, the percent of students who miss 10 or less days.

Tipton had a rate of 63% last year, according to the Indiana Graduates Prepared to Succeed dashboard, a new online accountability tool where certain school data can be accessed.

That was above the state average and a considerable uptick from 37% in 2022.

Though 2022 is the year where many schools showed a sharp decline in attendance, Glaze questions if Tipton's figure is correct. It'd mean a 30% jump from 2022 to 2023.

Glaze wondered if there was a coding issue when the school district switched systems it uses for data.

Nevertheless, attendance did rebound. Attendance was at 74% in October but fell over the winter. The drop was unexpected due to illnesses. It's expected to increase this spring.

Glaze said they will report children to the Department of Child Services or juvenile probation, however that's only when all other options have been exhausted.

Relations and touchpoints

Missing school is detrimental for most students, but it's especially true for the youngest learners.

The early years of school are when kids learn the building blocks of literacy, math and other subjects. It's not a time to be playing catch up.

Shelly Crozier, a kindergarten teacher at Howard Elementary, estimates her class is full 70% of the time.

"When little ones miss, continuously miss, it's hard for them to get into the deep dive of their skills," she said. "You're all of a sudden, as an educator, you're playing catch up, and you need to find the time to catch up."

That can be difficult with kindergarteners who require more attention than their older counterparts who can work independently. Crozier said having a paraprofessional in the classroom helps those students who need to make up lessons.

As a kindergarten teacher, Crozier makes it an emphasis to talk to parents about the importance of attending school. Those conversations are particularly important for first-time parents.

"Kids feed on structure," Crozier said. "They do really well when they have lots of structure."

Parent-teacher conferences and meet-the-teacher nights are good opportunities to make those connections with parents. Crozier said being a parent herself helps with commonality.

Howard Elementary's attendance rate has dropped each year since 2021, though it still remains above the state average. Northwestern School Corporation has the highest attendance rate in the county.

Nelson said a goal is to make school a place kids want to be. During ILEARN testing week, kids could earn raffle tickets, which can be exchanged for prizes, just for showing up. It can make for fun competition between friends, and it's a way to foster enthusiasm.

"The more we build relations with kids and create an environment where they want to be here, it's the positive reinforcement," Nelson said.

The principal recalled one student who was chronically absent.

"His attendance is 10 times better than it was before," Nelson said. "That's because he has someone here."

That's a philosophy that runs through the entirety of Northwestern.

At the high school, there's a class called "face to face." Sort of like homeroom or study hall, the same group of students have the same "face to face" time all four years with the same teacher. One of the intents is to have each student well-known by at least one teacher.

"We want kids to have as many touchpoints in the building as possible," Nelson said.

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.