Districtwide Family Engagement Strategies and Chronic Absenteeism Among California’s Kindergarteners and Multilingual Learners

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Unforgetting Family Wisdom: Immigrant Journeys, Engagement, and Educational Futures

Abstract

We investigate how California’s districtwide family engagement strategies and capacity building efforts relate to chronic absenteeism among the state’s kindergarteners and multilingual learners. Using multilevel growth modeling, we analyzed data from the 2021-22 to 2023-4 school years on approximately 5000 public K-12 schools serving kindergarteners and about 7000 schools with multilingual learners that are distributed across about 600 districts. We found that over a 3 year period, districts that have higher average self-ratings of their efforts to build relationships, build partnerships and incorporate parental input into decision making tend to have lower chronic absence rates each school year. This current study helps build a more robust evidence base about the role of family engagement in addressing chronic absence in California.

Author

• Kevin A. Gee, University of California - Davis