Student absenteeism remains under educators’ microscope

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This article was published 10/05/2023 (1070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are early signs the worst of student absenteeism is in school board leaders’ rear-view mirrors, along with the COVID-19 pandemic, but record non-attendance levels remain a pressing issue.

The Louis Riel School Division’s winter absence rate, a figure calculated with data collected from December through March, is 12.5 per cent this year — a drop, albeit smaller than a single percentage point — from 2021-22.

There appears to be a “leveling off” of absences across all grades, said superintendent Christian Michalik, who noted non-attendance figures climbed in autumn, but new winter statistics mirror those recorded last year.

The Winnipeg division published a report on local absenteeism statistics, a follow-up to an autumn edition, this month. It acknowledges students typically miss more classes over the winter period, an annual occurrence linked to factors ranging from illness to weather.

“We struck a task force and we definitely are trying to understand the complexity of what are factors that contribute to a student being absent, a prolonged absence or a frequency of absences that is cause for concern,” Michalik said.

A group of educational assistants, teachers, social workers, psychologists, youth care workers, principals and senior administrators in LRSD have been meeting to discuss responses to the higher-than-usual non-attendance.

Despite the latest statistics, the division leader said he remains deeply worried about trends in student presence and the “vicious cycle” of absenteeism.

The number of K-12 students who are “chronically absent” (anyone who has missed 10 per cent or more of all instructional days) remains remarkably high.

More than 41 per cent of LRSD’s student population falls into that category. And in kindergarten, there continue to be more children who have spotty attendance records than otherwise this year.

Between 2014-15 and 2018-19, the average winter absence rate was 8.9 per cent. The percentage of students deemed chronically absent throughout the last five school years unaffected by the novel coronavirus was, on average, 22.9 per cent.

The Winnipeg School Division recently began notifying individual communities about the local level of non-attendance in K-12 classrooms with banners posted on every building’s respective website.

There are three levels: normal; slightly below normal; and significantly below normal — each of which is tailored to a specific school’s historic attendance patterns.

Should a school enter the final and most alarming level, discussions between the principal, divisional directors and superintendent will be triggered in order to examine and address the issue, said WSD spokeswoman Radean Carter.

Carter said the updated protocols were rolled out in response to the board of trustees’ request to publish data and in anticipation of new requirements the province is instituting in the fall.

There were concerns about particularly high levels of absenteeism in January and February, owing to respiratory illnesses, she said, adding figures have been on a decline since.

All but one of WSD’s buildings are currently reporting status quo levels.

The education department released a new policy directive, in turn requiring boards to update policies on chronic absenteeism before the end of the current school year, and launched a public awareness campaign in January.

Critics accused provincial officials for being naive in their approach to re-engaging students who have stopped attending classes regularly by spending money on costly billboard ads bearing the phrase “School, Keep Going.”

Manitoba Education’s school and community support unit has been providing guidance to divisions on interpreting the directive since the announcement, a provincial spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday.

The spokesperson did not say whether any new policies have been submitted to date.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie