High chronic absenteeism will no longer hurt a school’s state rating.
By Hannah Schmid | Illinois Policy Institute
Illinois plans to eliminate poor attendance from school ratings at a time when a fourth of the state’s students miss a significant chunk of the academic year.
In an overhaul the State Board of Education approved in April, “chronic absenteeism,” or missing 10% or more of the school year with or without a valid excuse, will no longer ding a school’s rating. All nine current board members were appointed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
The new system will use the term “consistent attendance,” the percentage of students present 90% or more of the school year.
That semantic switch may confuse parents about what’s really being measured, though it’s just a different way of saying the same thing. But the revised system also changes attendance from a “core indicator” in the rankings to merely an “elevating indicator.”
Why that matters: Strong “consistent attendance” will raise a school’s rating, but a weak performance won’t hurt it.
The state calls this a “strengths-based” approach, but it means the high rates of students skipping class across Illinois won’t affect schools’ ratings.
Report continues here.
Gov Toilets and IL pols just keep lowering and lowering IL academic standards………eventually there’ll be NO standards but you will be expected to continue funding the failed IL government schools at a $30,000+ per pupil level. Is anybody tired of this?