Writing for Education Week, Sarah D. Sparks uncovers the troubling issue of teacher absence:
More than 6.5 million students in 2013-14 attended a school where at least half of teachers missed 10 days of school or more, according to the most recent estimate from the U.S. Department of Education.
Now, a new analysis by the Education Week Research Center adds some context to those numbers. Looking at the same data from the federal civil rights office, it finds that nationwide, slightly more than 1 in 4 teachers missed 10 days or more of school in 2013-14.
Prior research has found students whose teachers miss 10 days of school have lower math achievement and less engagement in school.
Hawaii had the highest absentee rate, at 75 percent of teachers taking more than 10 days off, while in Utah, the lowest, only 16 percent do so. In Nevada, which is coping with deepening teacher shortages, nearly half of all teachers miss more than 10 days of school a year, and long-term substitutes often fill in for teachers in high-need areas like special education.
The policy mechanisms that exacerbate or curb teacher absences are hard to pinpoint. Across 40 of the largest school districts in the country in 2013, Joseph and her colleagues at NCTQ analyzed differences between districts with rewards for perfect attendance, strict reporting, and other punitive measures intended to discourage taking time off, and other common initiatives.
“We just didn’t find any correlation between those policies and teacher absences,” Joseph said. “We couldn’t find a concrete reason why. It sounded like it was more something related to school culture; it was anecdotal, but pretty consistent in the people we talked to.”
Researchers and teachers alike argue districts could do more to plan for teacher absences in ways that keep students on their academic path and engaged in school.
Students can be more likely to disengage with a teacher who is absent frequently, particularly at the start of the year, according to Robert Balfanz, education professor at Johns Hopkins University. “Obviously, if the kids see that teachers are absent on a regular basis and there are a lot of subs, it sends a signal that not much is happening at school,” Balfanz said. “If teachers aren’t attending, it’s hard to make a convincing case that students should be attending regularly.”
For more, see http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2016/06/27/1-in-4-teachers-miss-10-or.html
