Unpacking School Absenteeism across the PreKindergarten and Elementary School Years

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

The literature on school absenteeism across the preK and elementary school years has consistently demonstrated the following: (1) absenteeism tends to be highest during the preK and kindergarten years; (2) children who are absent more frequently exhibit lower levels of academic and social-emotional outcomes; and (3) vulnerable populations are more likely to be absent and experience reduced learning due to absenteeism (e.g., Ansari & Purtell, 2018; Ehrlich et al., 2018; Gottfried & Hutt, 2019). As this body of research grows, there is still a need for greater nuance in understanding the who, when and where of absenteeism in order to support our ability of knowing how to best address absenteeism.

The present symposium advances this body of research forward by exploring absenteeism using Bronfenbrenner’s person-process-context-time framework (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006). The first two papers complement each other by viewing absenteeism through the lens of time, whereas the final paper examines processes within school contexts that can be leveraged to reduce absenteeism. More specifically, Paper 1 considers the heterogeneity in children’s absenteeism from preK to Grade 4 and how these patterns of absenteeism correlate with child- and school-level characteristics, as well as Grade 4 academic outcomes. Paper 2 examines the timing and cumulative nature of absenteeism by unpacking how grade-specific and cumulative absenteeism predict children’s academic and social-emotional development across elementary school. Finally, Paper 3 explores the role of kindergarten and first grade teachers’ pre-service preparation in feeling ready to reduce children’s absenteeism as one avenue for supporting future intervention development.

Sub Unit

• Education, Schooling

Chair

• Wendy Wei, SRCD Pre-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), Harvard University

Individual Presentations

• Exploring Patterns of Absenteeism from PreK through Elementary School and Their Associations with Academic Outcomes - Presenting Author: Wendy Wei, SRCD Pre-doctoral State Policy Fellow, Massachusetts Department of Early Education and Care (EEC), Harvard University

• The Grade-level and Cumulative Outcomes of Absenteeism During Elementary School - Presenting Author: Arya Ansari, Ohio State University; Non-Presenting Author: Michael A Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania

• Elementary School Teacher Workforce Development in Light of the Absenteeism Crisis - Presenting Author: Michael A Gottfried, University of Pennsylvania; Non-Presenting Author: Jacob Kirksey, Texas Tech University; Non-Presenting Author: Ethan Hutt, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill