Parent Representatives

Date: Tuesday January 10, 2023

From: Parent Representative on Dingle School Site Council

Subject: Input on Chronic Absenteeism

Dear Parent Representative,

Thank you for your service on the Dingle School Site Council (SSC). On the bottom of this email are results from research. In short, I haven't found any interventions on chronic absenteeism that are evidence-based. Therefore, I recommend the SSC ask Principal Valencia / WJUSD the following (edit as you see fit):

1. Thank Principal Valencia and staff for all of their help addressing this issue, it sounds difficult and frustrating.

2. Does Dingle/WJUSD have a list of interventions that work and didn't work?

3. If not, can they create the list and publish it on the WJUSD website for future reference? (start somewhere)

4. Do they have simple measure(s) of what interventions STAFF are doing to reduce absenteeism?

5. If not, can they create the measures? (home visits, phone calls, rewards, etc.)

6. If they depend on community partners, volunteers, or others, then include relevant measures.

7. Who's role is it to lead and execute the interventions? Dingle staff, WJUSD staff, etc.? Are there staffing issues? If yes, then track them as measures/status and report back at the next SSC.

8. What percentage of these parents have HEARD and SEEN visually their scholars' academic status (above, at, below grade level)?

Thank you for letting us share input!

Educational Leadership Committee, Dingle Community PTA

## Research ##

• The What Works Clearinghouse of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) within the U.S. Department of Education had a few studies, but all showed "uncertain effects". https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/FWW

• Also at IES, they provided a reference list of articles. "Home visits" is mentioned multiple times. Ihttps://ies.ed.gov/ncee/edlabs/regions/west/Ask/Details/99

• CA Department of Education's page on attendance is not very helpful. It's mostly about penalties and reporting. https://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/tr/

• CA Attorney General's attendance toolkit has resources: https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/toolkit

• The WJUSD should be tracking interventions that worked and/or didn't work.

• This consulting firm is presently helping the State of California: https://www.attendanceworks.org/chronic-absence/addressing-chronic-absence/strategies-for-school-sites/

• This is a study by UC Davis in Sacramento schools. Scroll down to see "promising" experiments. https://regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/report/chronic-absence-sacramento-city-unified-school-district

• Per Dingle Community PTA's parent survey last year and ongoing conversations, parents do not understand that their scholars are below grade level. Once they know, we have seen that be incredibly motivating. PTA has a great 1-sheet for parents to make sense of iReady scores. Parents need to hear and see where that their scholars are at.