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.
