Chronic Absenteeism And Effective Intervention In Schools
Factors that Influence Absenteeism Among Students
School absenteeism is actually the habit of staying away from school without the provision of genuine reasons for not being present in class. This can be considered a truant ranger of mannerism, which negatively affects the performance of students at all levels of education. Due to the increased rate of chronic absenteeism which correlates with the success of the student, this paper is going to focus its attention on the factors that influence absenteeism among students. Furthermore, the paper is going to analyze qualitatively the relationship between parent income and student absenteeism.
According to a research that has already been conducted in many areas, the reasons for chronic absenteeism vary from one student to another and the family faces. Even though every factor that causes truancy among students may not be addressed completely, this paper try to elaborate the effects that are accrued from students attendance, it I important to try and strategize mechanism that can be used by both teachers and educators to prevent the truancy and reduces the cases of absence in school.
Consistency in school attendance is fur much important for a number of reasons. The problem with missing school without any firm reason always leads to missing relevant instruction in the class thus the student ends up getting many difficulties when trying to catch up with the rest. Attending school without Fil is important since each lesson adds a block in the wall of knowledge to the student thus, every chronic absenteeism mean that h student will miss important blocks in the school.
Chronic absenteeism, when used with reference to education, it entails the measure of the number of students who miss a defined number of school days often, this number is usually fifteen or more days from school without giving any concreate reason. It is mostly associated with a number of adverse consequences for the students such as lower achievement and disengagement from school among others.
Additionally, truancy can be said to be unapproved absence from school by students, it usually occurs in the absence of the parent’s knowledge. This is a common problem among students in the United States. According to many scholars, truancy is can be a powerful and accurate predictor of students getting involved in crime and violence which can be caused by reduced interest in education and school work. Absence on the other hand is a term used to mean the state or condition in which something or suuomebody expected, wanted or looked for is not present or may not exist. Can further mean failing to be present at usual or expected place.
Relationship Between Parent Income and Student Absenteeism
Attendance is another term that is mostly used when researching on school absenteeism. It refers to the measure of the number of students who attend school and the amount of time they are found to be present in the school system. In most cases, this can be proven through confirming the classes register in most schools.
Chronic absenteeism which is mostly characterized by a given percentage of number of times a student is out of school without concreate reasons that is missing 10% of school days has risen greatly in the recent past. According to research, the major issue causes chronic absenteeism or truancy is health issues. Most of the health cases include physical, mental, behavioral, vision and emotional issues, which are all fabricated in the student’s environment (Balkis, Arslan&Duru, 2016).Other severe cases that may lead to chronic absenteeism are violence, housing insecurity and food insecurity. According to Bloom’s hierarchy of needs, one has to satisfy the basic needs such as shelter and food before thinking of other auxiliary needs. Additionally absenteeism negatively impact students’ academic performance, self-motivation, goal setting ability, the attitude of students towards teachers and self-academic perception
Truancy and chronic absenteeism has proven over the years of that it can adversely affect the life of a student both academically and future life (Gottfried & Gee, 2017). NCCP’s national data analysis found that absenteeism in the pre-school age is associated with lower academic performance for all children irrespective of their sex, ethnicity or socioeconomic status. It has also been noted from the research that the rate of students who cannot read proficiently at the end of primary school level are likely to drop out of high school. It is important to note that the school environment plays a critical role in determination of whether a student feels secure or insecure thus influencing directly on the attendance of the student. With this in mind, all schools should try strategize plans that may help reduce cases of chronic absenteeism and try motivating intrinsically and extrinsically those students who do not attend schools to attend.
Eero County, the data collected confirmed that students who do not miss school performed much better than their mates who scarcely attend school. From the data analysis that was established, three vital strategies can be implemented effectively to enhance school attendance among students. With efforts to curb truancy among students, the first strategy that can be used entails connecting local players with interests in enhancing school attendance among students. The second strategy deals with the utilization of the data collected to illustrate the significance of attending schools as students. The third strategy involves implementation of a national mentoring model in specific schools to help guide students and create the urge of reading among them. The community plays an important role in enhancing the school attendance. The government should collaborate with the local communities so that they can organize on how to combat chronic absenteeism in the educational sector (D’Agostino, Day, Konty, Larkin, Saha&Wyka, 2018).
Adverse Consequences of Chronic Absenteeism on Students
Before carrying out the strategies of curbing chronic absenteeism in schools, it is important to determine the students who are at risk so that we can intervene before their isolated absence from school turns into chronic absenteeism. This can be achieved through forming an attendance review team to regularly monitor the attendance data and communicate with parents about issues that may arise.
According toBurton, Marshal & Chisolm (2014), chronic school absenteeism may be due to unconducive culture in the school, which does not favor most of the students to stay in school. This negative attitude can be dealt with through the creation of a more positive school culture and focus on engaging instruction by helping the students to achieve positive social and emotional character development. and acts positively. Providing the teachers and the school with multiple levels of support to help them stay more engaged It is also worth trying to implement goal-based incentives and rewards to motivate attendance in addition to positive student behavior (Nauer, 2016).
Additionally, educators have the role creating awareness among parents about the importance of students being in school. This entails encouraging the parents to volunteer getting involved in in the classroom, which is a great way of showing the kids that their parents take interest in their education and that school is a worthwhile Couse. Inclusion of the counseling office is a measure of improving attendance as the category that is dominated by truancy to curb the issue of chronic absenteeism (Hill & Mrug, 2015).
Conclusion
From the research that was carried above, it is very clear that a number of issues can cause students to stay away from school without apparent reasons. Some of these reasons include unconducive study environment and school culture, food and housing insecurity, violence among others. The government, community and the educators should take the responsibility of devising methodologies of curbing truancy and chronic absenteeism. The strategies that can be employed include, encouraging parent to take interest in the education of their children and creating a conducive school culture such as positive motivation and programs that monitor attendance of school.
Even though it may seem to be a common sense, student should not miss school, chronically absent students. Carrying out the strategies of curbing chronic absenteeism in schools, it is important to determine the students who are at risk so that we can intervene before their isolated absence from school turns into chronic absenteeism. This can be achieved through forming an attendance review team to regularly monitor the attendance data and communicate with parents about issues that may arise. With these in mind, keeping track of the number of day’s students is out of school. Some of the remedies include talking to the child with the aim trying to get a hint of the reasons why the child did not come to school. The government should collaborate with the local communities so that they can organize on how to combat chronic absenteeism in the educational sector
References
Balkis, M., Arslan, G., &Duru, E. (2016).The School Absenteeism among High School Students: Contributing Factors.Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 16(6), 1819 1831.
Burton, C. M. ., Marshal, M. P. 1,2. [email protected] ed., & Chisolm, D. J. .(2014). School absenteeism and mental health among sexual minority youth and heterosexual youth. Journal of School Psychology, 52(1), 37–47.
D’Agostino, E. M., Day, S. E., Konty, K. J., Larkin, M., Saha, S., &Wyka, K. (2018).The Association of Health-Related Fitness and Chronic Absenteeism Status in New York City Middle School Youth. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 15(7), 483–491.
Gottfried, M. A., & Gee, K. A. (2017).Identifying the Determinants of Chronic Absenteeism: A Bioecological Systems Approach. Teachers College Record, 119(7), 1–34.
Hill, D., &Mrug, S. (2015). School-Level Correlates of Adolescent Tobacco, Alcohol, and Marijuana Use. Substance Use & Misuse, 50(12), 1518–1528.
Nauer, K. (2016). Battling chronic absenteeism. Phi Delta Kappan, 98(2), 28–34.