Monday, September 15, 2014

California Elementary School Truancy Crisis Persists w/ Racial, Income Disparities


The second annual report on elementary school truancy in the state reveals that the truancy crisis in California continues. The report provides new research on how students of color and students from low-income families are missing a disproportionate amount of school each year.
Attorney General Harris’ second annual report, In School + On Track 2014, https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2014 outlines recommendations to reduce state truancy rates. These recommendations were put into action in the Every Kid Counts legislative package (http://bit.ly/X7pZYU) sponsored by the Attorney General that passed the state legislature and currently awaits Governor Jerry Brown’s signature.
Information broken down by school district and county is available here: https://oag.ca.gov/truancy/2014/ch1
The report contains key updates and new research on income and racial disparities, including:
         A quarter of a million elementary school students in California missed 10% or more of the 2013-2014 school year.
         Over the last three years, school districts have lost over $3.5 billion directly from student absences.
         1 in 10 school districts reported they do not know their chronic absence rate for the 2013-2014 school year.
         Almost 90% of the elementary students who are missing over a month of school per year are from low-income families.
         More than 1 in 5 African American students is chronically absent which is more than double the average for white students.
         African American elementary school students are chronically truant at nearly 4xs the rate of all students.


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