XPost: ba.politics, dc.media, soc.penpals   
   XPost: alt.burningman   
   From: dlb@welfare.com   
      
   Black students in California elementary schools were chronically   
   truant at nearly four times the rate of all students in the past   
   school year, according to a report released Friday by the state   
   Attorney General’s Office.   
      
   The report, In School + On Track 2014, concluded that black   
   students and those from low-income families miss a   
   disproportionate amount of school each year. More than one in   
   five black students were chronically absent — more than double   
   the average of white students, according to the Attorney   
   General’s Office.   
      
   Overall, about 250,000 elementary school students across the   
   state missed 10 percent or more of school during the 2013-2014   
   school year, and nearly 90 percent of elementary students who   
   missed more than a month of school were from low-income   
   families, according to the report.   
      
   Absences were highest among students at the lower grade levels,   
   which are critical times because students are learning to read   
   and are developing other foundational skills, according to the   
   report.   
      
   Thirty-seven percent — nearly 73,000 — of black elementary   
   school students sampled were truant, the highest of any subgroup   
   including homeless students, according to the report.   
      
   In Los Angeles Unified School District — Calfornia’s largest   
   school system at 650,000 students — Superintendent John Deasy   
   told the crowd, “We are well ahead of all the school districts   
   in California and in most of the nation when it comes to this   
   issue of attendance.”   
      
   LAUSD, Deasy said, monitors attendance daily and analyzes the   
   numbers as part of an effort to prevent truancy.   
      
   “If you can’t be with us, you’re not going to learn,” Deasy   
   said. “And I think it is worth repeating one more time that we   
   want graduation and not incarceration.”   
      
   Harris released her first In School + On Track report last year,   
   which concluded that students who reach third grade without   
   being able to read at grade level are statistically more likely   
   to drop out of high school. Dropouts cost taxpayers about $46.4   
   billion a year in costs for incarceration, lost productivity and   
   lost taxes, according to the 2013 report.   
      
   California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson   
   said he has made chronic student absence a top priority of his   
   administration.   
      
   “Every day a child misses school is a missed opportunity for the   
   child to learn, grow and prepare for a bright future,” Torlakson   
   said in an email Friday. “Students who are chronically absent   
   score lower on achievement tests and are more likely to drop out   
   than students with good attendance records.”   
      
   Torlakson has worked closely with Harris on promoting her   
   legislation to reduce truancy and improve the collection of   
   attendance data, convened workshops statewide focusing on ways   
   to fight chronic student absenteeism, and provided technical   
   assistance to student review boards to help them better monitor   
   student absences.   
      
   “Reducing and preventing chronic student absence requires all of   
   us — parents, teachers, administrators and community members —   
   to work together to identify chronically absent children and   
   intervene quickly so we can determine why the student is absent   
   and help find a solution,” Torlakson said.   
      
   The truancy epidemic has come at substantial cost to school   
   districts statewide, which have lost more than $3.5 billion in   
   the past three years due to student absences, according to the   
   Attorney General’s report.   
      
   In a survey of 59 school districts, more than 40 percent   
   reported they lost $100,000 or more in funding in the last   
   school year due to truancy, and nearly 20 percent reported   
   losing more than $500,000 in ADA (Average Daily Attendance)   
   funding. Overall, the 59 school districts surveyed reported   
   losses of more than $31.2 million in ADA funding.   
      
   California Attorney General Kamala Harris sponsored legislation,   
   Every Kid Counts, that has passed the legislature and is now   
   before Gov. Jerry Brown for consideration. The legislative   
   package would provide local schools district more resources to   
   better track and prevent truancy.   
      
   Harris appeared Friday at Los Angeles Unified’s Malabar   
   Elementary School to promote her legislation. She stressed the   
   importance of identifying chronically absent elementary school   
   students as means to prevent those kids from dropping out of   
   school and ending up in prison.   
      
   “What this legislation is directed at doing is tracking these   
   children and, in particular, making sure our highest need   
   children don’t fall through the cracks,” Harris said.   
      
   Less than 50 percent of California school districts can track   
   attendance after children transfer schools — a failing grade in   
   a crucial subject, as many at-risk kids move from school to   
   school. Additionally, California is one of only four states   
   without standardized attendance tracking, Harris said.   
      
   Nearly 30 percent of public school students in the 2012-2013   
   school year were truant, which mirrors truancy rates from the   
   previous year. For those two school years, nearly 40 percent of   
   the 1.9 million truant students were in elementary school,   
   meaning that 1 in 5 elementary school students were truant in   
   the 2012-2013 school year, according to the report.   
      
   The report gave a breakdown of truancy rates for counties across   
   the state for the 2012-2013 school year. Rates for the last   
   school year were not yet available.   
      
   http://www.dailynews.com/social-affairs/20140912/state-report-   
   black-low-income-students-truant-much-more-than-other-elementary-   
   students?nstrack=sid:4870192|met:300|cat:0|order:6   
      
       
      
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