The importance of participating in a full day of school

POLICY

New laws aim to help students get the most from the school day

It is well recognized that a high-quality K-12 education increases the likelihood of future academic success and the attainment of career goals and objectives. For students to achieve these desired outcomes, regular attendance and active participation in district and county office of education programs are essential. Each school day serves as a crucial building block in a student’s educational journey.

Attendance Works, a nonprofit organization that focuses on reducing chronic absenteeism, has found that “chronic absence — missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any reason — excused, unexcused absences and suspensions — can translate into students having difficulty learning to read by the third grade, achieving in middle school, and graduating from high school.” Additionally, the National Center for Education Statistics, in its publication Every School Day Counts: Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data, notes that that absenteeism in lower grades has immediate negative ramifications and is also associated with future negative outcomes including higher dropout rates. Conversely, school attendance is positively correlated with graduating from high school.

Recognizing the significant role that attendance and participation play in the education of students, the California Legislature has passed several recent bills in an effort to increase attendance and daily participation. One such bill, Senate Bill 274 (2023) authored by Sen. Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), addresses absences due to suspensions by extending the prohibition on suspensions for disruption or willful defiance, formerly applicable to students in grades K-8, to students in all grade levels.

“Students belong in school,” said Skinner in a press release. “Suspending youth for low-level behavior issues leads to significant harm, including learning loss and a higher likelihood that affected students will drop out of school completely. SB 274 puts the needs of students first. Instead of kicking them out of school, we owe it to students to figure out what’s causing them to act out and help them fix it.”

Absenteeism in lower grades has immediate negative ramifications and is also associated with future negative outcomes including higher dropout rates. Conversely, school attendance is positively correlated with graduating from high school.

National Center for Education Statistics, Every School Day Counts: Forum Guide to Collecting and Using Attendance Data

Another such bill is SB 291 (2023), which states that a student may not be denied recess unless the student’s participation poses an immediate threat to the physical safety of the student or to the physical safety of one or more of the student’s peers. If, due to such an immediate threat, a student is denied recess, school staff is required to make all reasonable efforts to resolve the threat and minimize the student’s exclusion from recess to the greatest extent practicable. The author of the bill recognized the importance of unstructured play in terms of peer-to-peer social interactions, student health and well-being, and behavioral and academic outcomes.

Another approach to keeping students learning, made possible by SB 153 (2024), is the concept of attendance recovery programs. The bill authorizes, beginning July 1, 2025, districts and county offices of education to implement attendance recovery programs for students in grades TK-12, as an optional way for students to make up lost instructional time and offset absences for up to 10 days of attendance in a school year. The programs may be operated before or after school, on weekends or during intersessional periods. Attendance recovery programs aim to give students a “second chance” at attendance and the benefits that are correlated with attendance.

Additionally, SB 691 (2024) aims to help turn attendance around for students who are truant by amending the parent/guardian notification required when a student is truant. The bill removes the requirement for the notification to include punitive information related to parent/guardian violations. The bill adds the requirement that the notification include information related to the availability of mental health and supportive services, and the availability of school personnel who are able to assist in developing strategies to support student attendance. The notification also requires the inclusion of a statement regarding research that supports the negative effects of missing 10 percent of school.

In light of this recent legislation and the importance of attendance and participation in each school day, the following CSBA sample policies have been updated, making now a great time for your district or county office of education to consider its policies and practices related to attendance:

BP/AR 5113.1 – Chronic Absence and Truancy
BP/AR 5144 – Discipline
BP/AR 5144.1 – Suspension and Expulsion/Due Process
BP 5147 – Dropout Prevention
BP/AR 6112 – School Day

Other resources:

CSBA’s policy brief, “Seize the Data: Using Chronic Absence Data to Drive Student Engagement” (csba.pub/ChronicAbsenceBrief24) provides research and strategies for districts to use to reduce chronic absenteeism.
The California Department of Education’s “School Attendance Improvement Strategies” (cde.ca.gov/ls/ai/cw/attendstrategy.asp) identify strategies and activities that have a positive effect on encouraging students to regularly attend school.
The Institute of Education Sciences’ “Preventing Dropout in Secondary Schools” (bit.ly/3AanhdB) includes evidence-based recommendations for reducing dropout rates in middle and high schools and improving high school graduation rates.
The U.S. Department of Education’s “Guiding Principles for Creating Safe, Inclusive, Supportive, and Fair School Climates” (bit.ly/4dKBoEo) includes five guiding principles and actions that can be taken to create inclusive, safe, supportive and fair learning environments.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights and Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division’s “Resource on Confronting Racial Discrimination in Student Discipline,” (bit.ly/409UYGS) is a resource to support efforts to effectively confront the issue of race discrimination in student discipline.

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