This week, I am going to discuss the impacts of absenteeism on student achievement.

Teacher quality is the single most important in-school factor influencing student achievement (Hattie, 2009). However, the relationship between teacher quality is mediated by the amount of time students spend in the classroom. Irrespective of the reasons for absences, non-attendance affects students outcomes (AITSL).  

Most Australian students attend school regularly, with 75% of Year 1-10 students attending at least 90% of school days. However, if 75% of students attend at least 90% of the time then the reverse suggests that 25% (1 in 4) Australian students are absent for more than 10% of school time, or 20 or more days. These students are missing at least a month of school over the schooling year.

Absenteeism (including regular late arrivals and early departures) have both academic and social impacts on students. It increases social isolation, including alienation and a lack of engagement with their community and peers. Attendance is also an important contributor to a student's overall academic achievement and all school days matter. The correlation between absences and achievement is consistently negative and declines in achievement are evident with any level of absence. "Although authorised absences and smaller amounts of absence were associated with only small declines in achievement, all absences count, and the impact of absence increases with the number of absences" (Hancock et al., 2013).

"Studies of chronic absenteeism (missing more than 10% of school days) show that absenteeism (regardless of the type), has a compounding negative impact on academic performance. As absences accrue over several years, the effect on a student’s academic achievement is cumulative. Hancock et al. (2013) found that Year 3 students with an accumulated absence rate of 10% in each of their first three years of schooling achieved approximately 36 points lower in Year 3 on the NAPLAN numeracy domain than students with no unauthorised absences during the same period. As students generally gain 100 points from Year 3 to Year 5 (Hancock et al. 2013), a 36 point difference is almost two thirds of a year’s growth in achievement that students with high rates of unauthorised absences fail to reach. This impact continues to be evident in further years as well" (AITSL).

Further information about the importance of attendance at school can be found Attendance_Matters.

Catholic Education (CECG) identifies the following levels of attendance:​

• Excellent Attendance - 95% and above ​
  2.5 days absence or less in a term or 10 absences over a year​
• Regular Attendance - 90%-94.9% ​
  2.6 to 5 days absence in a term or 10.1-20 absences in a year​
• Emerging Absenteeism - 80%-89.9% ​
  5.1 to 10 days absence in a term or 20.1-40 absences in a year​
• Chronic Absenteeism - less than 80% ​
  more than 10 days absence in a term or 40 absences in a year​

Most of the above information has been sourced from the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership’s (AITSL) Spotlight Paper on Attendance Matters.