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D019 Task 2 TASK 1 A.1 Discuss an educational problem that can be investigated by researching and analyzing existing data. At Cumberland County Schools in Cumberland County North Carolina, one of the biggest problems that is faced in this school district is chronic absenteeism. If students are not showing up to school consistently they will fall behind at a rapid rate, and teachers are unable to meet the needs of these students consistently. According to the Cumberland County district website they state that “In Cumberland County Schools, chronic absenteeism has surged to 34.5% in 2023, which is a 72.5% increase from pre-pandemic levels (MyFutureNC). The chronic absenteeism rate in Cumberland County is also 23.9% higher than the North Carolina rate” (Cumberland County Schools, 2024). A2. Describe the educational setting or context relative to the problem discussed in part A1. The educational setting that is relevant to this problem is the 49,183 total students that attend Cumberland County Schools. There are 956 students in Preschool, 22,308 students in elementary school, 10,936 middle school students, and 14,983 students in high school (Cumberland County Schools, 2024). There are a total of 14,375 military-connected students which means these students have a parent or guardian who is in the military, and this number makes up 28% of the students in the school district. The student demographics in Cumberland County are 46.27% African American, 23.94% Caucasian, 16.61% Hispanic, 1.98% Asian, 1.26% Native American, 0.47% Hawaiian/Pacific, and 9.47% Two/Or More, this information comes from Cumberland Counties district website (Cumberland County Schools, 2024). With Cumberland County School District being the fifth largest school district in the state of North Carolina it is apparent that this is a major problem, and something needs to be done to fix this
and fix it quickly because if students are not in the classroom consistently teachers cannot teach them, and if teachers cannot teach the students, the students will fall behind. A2A. Describe the participant group that is relevant to the problem. New Century International Elementary School in Cumberland County, North Carolina. NCIES has 686 total students that are served in grades PK- 5 th
. NCIES minority student enrollment is 75%, and at this school, the student-to-teacher ratio is 13:1. This school consists of 25.1% Caucasian students, 41.5% African American students, 16.5% Hispanic students, and 43% students who come from military families (SchoolDigger.com, 2025. A2B. Describe at least two participant subgroups that are relevant to the problem. The two subgroups of the New Century International Elementary School student population that are relevant to the problem are, the 41.5% elementary African American students, and the 43% elementary military students at this school. A3. Summarize the characteristics, benefits, and limitations of qualitative and quantitative data about the problem discussed in part A1. Both Qualitative and Quantitative data will be used when discussing chronic absenteeism as these data types bring different things to the table to help understand the underlying problems when dealing with this issue. Qualitative data will be used to help shed light on the factors that affect attendance and can be used to help guide interventions to address major barriers and improve student engagement in the classroom. Quantitative data can help detect the extent of chronic absence, and if it is a major concern or a minor concern. The use of Quantitative data is beneficial because it offers large sample sizes when dealing with data presented and can allow more reliable and conclusive research findings compared to using qualitative data by itself. When using quantitative data it can be valuable
and if used correctly can help guide instruction. The quantitative data showed that African American students as well as military students have a higher rate of absenteeism and we need to cater to their needs more to help them get to school to learn and have a higher chance of succeeding in the classroom. The subcategories looked at and described below are African American students in New Century International Elementary School, as well as military students in the same school. In terms of this data, comes from reports from PowerSchool. This system is used to track attendance daily. It calculates several school days missed, and tardy, as well as when students attend school. In the first semester of school (August-December) I compiled data in terms of NCIES as a whole school, PK- 5 th grade, as well as my subgroup from the same grades just looking at African American Students and military students. The data comes from Powerschool which is the attendance platform we use at our school to track attendance on a daily basis. B1A. Relevance The data and sources below are relevant to chronic absenteeism because they show a detailed account and detailed data to indicate how often students at NCIES are absent, and then provide a detailed description of African American students, and military students that are chronically absent. B2A. Valid and Relaiable The data source is valid and reliable because it is from research conducted by the state, as well as district and school-level research. Since attendance is something that is tracked by each school it is easily deemed to be credible. The data shared below is my own personal data from the previous semester in my school that is PreK- 5 th^ grade and the school district numbers as a
whole in regards to student absences. I compare three groups of students, African American students, military students, and nonmilitary students. C. Data Representation The quantitative data I am collecting from Powerschoopl represents the percentage of chronically absent students which is defined as missing more than 10% of school. This information not only details NCIES as a whole school, but also the two subgroups of students African American students, and military students. With NCIES having 41.5% of its student population being African American, and 43% being military students these two groups make up a significant portion of the school's population and will be looked at when detailing the struggles of absences. C1. Visual When talking about students who are chronically absent a bar graph would be incredibly useful and could be used as a visual. In an instant or a glance, someone would be able to see a representation of student attendance. If the bars are taller, a student has been absent a significant amount and is chronically absent. If the bars are shorter then the student is not chronically absent and there is no concern regarding these student's attendance. This specific data breaks down and gives specific data for African American students and military students that is reliable and meaningful. C2. Participant Data As described previously the analysis of chronic absences will be from the absence management company that my school district uses called Powerschool. NCIES has a student population of 686 students that are in grades PK- 5 th^ grade. The amount of students chronically absent throughout the entire school which again chronically absent means students that miss
numbers are astounding and there is an even larger gap at NCIES with these two groups of students compared to the state as a whole. D2. Inferences The biggest inference that can be made when looking at the raw data detailing chronic absences among African American students, and military students at the elementary school level is we as educators are first and foremost not meeting these students' needs. If we are not meeting students needs who make up more than 40% of our school population we are failing our students and not giving them the education they need and the education they deserve. The second inference that can be made is each school in the U.S. needs to have a family engagement coordinator. This job would be specifically to help support our families, getting these students in inner city areas, the African American population, military families, and any other struggling families the support they need to get their students to school on time, and consistently. The third and final inference that can be made is as educators we have to do a better job of reaching out to families directly to know that we support them. We want what is best for our students and care about them being in school. D2A. In a post by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education talking about African American students who struggle with chronic absenteeism the article says, “black students tend to have more “unexcused” absences than their white peers. Nearly 53% of Black student absences were unexcused, and the researchers noted that they’re typically due to transportation issues, family concerns such as providing care for younger children so parents can work, safety concerns, truancy, etc”(WordInBlack.com, 2023). This goes exactly to the point I made, if families are having these struggles we as educators have to bridge this gap and create a sense of security and
comfortability with our African American families, and we can do this by having a family engagement coordinator in every single school. In regards to military students, students move around frequently due to a variety of reasons and have a hard time attending school because there is a lack of stability regarding where they are going to be on a monthly and yearly basis. In an article by Penn State University that deals with addressing absenteeism among military students, they say that. “Establishing truancy prevention programs for all students,” would be extremely helpful. They go on to say that something that could help this issue in schools would be, “rewarding students for improved attendance by providing special recognition, certificates, letters to parents, and special events” (Chronic Absenteeism: Strategies and Resources to Improve Attendance: Rapid Literature Review, 2018). I love this idea, and we need to start rewarding kids at a young age even for little things like showing up to school daily. This is a great way to encourage students to show up to school positively. The U.S. Department of Education states, “Though chronic absence derives from multiple, often interconnected factors, research points to student disengagement, lack of access to student and family supports, and student and family health challenges as significant drivers. The Department is calling on States and districts to address these factors and send a clear message that students need to be in school” (Chronic Absenteeism, 2021). As state educators it is our job to fix this issue, we have to work together with other teachers, administration, and most importantly families of these students who struggle to attend school to fix this issue.
school climate where students feel valued in the school and when students feel valued they want to attend school. As a school it will be important to celebrate positive attendance behaviors and recognize these students who attend school consistently. With regards to this step it is extremely important to have curriculum that is engaging for all students and use teaching methods to keep all students interested and engaged. The fourth and final action step would be to identify at risk students, and identify these students early in the school year so it does not get out of hand. As a school it is important to monitor attendance data regularly so that students with concerning absence patterns can be identified. In doing this a school can create an attendance team with staff that are dedicated to addressing chronic absenteeism. If necessary then staff can conduct home visits or outreach opportunities to these families. B2. The stakeholders who would implement the changes. The stakeholders that would help implement these changes would be the district office in hiring certain positions necessary to help this issue, the principal, assistant principal, family engagement coordinator, classroom teachers, and families. Each of these stakeholders has an important role within the implementation process. The principal and assistant principal will be responsible for the professional development and setting up the necessary meetings between different stakeholders. The family engagement coordinator will be responsible for bridging the gap between school and families, to be in constant communication with at risk students. This person will be in charge of keeping the families in the look and show the families that the school is here to support them, and wants to make positive changes. The school district would be in charge of vetting candidates and hiring these positions. The school teachers would be in charge of communicating with parents on a consistent basis in how to help students get to school on a consistent basis, and be the middle man in terms of how we can support these students. The goal
at the end of the day is to get these students to school on a consistent basis and all of these actions will help in supporting all the necessary stakeholders. B3. The resources that you would need to implement the action plan. To help effectively adress the issue of chronic absenteeism schools must have resources that support a positive school culture and climate, the importance of constant communication with families that is proactive, services that can address underlying family needs, and finally a system that monitors attendance data. Staff need to be trained on attendance strategies, so a lot of professional development for staff is a resource that is necessary for the success of this action plan. Another resource that is needed is staff that are strictly dedicated to attendance, other staff needed for this implementation is a dedicated family engagement coordinator. Allowing mental health support with families that are struggling is necessary as well, and another key resource. The final resource that is necessary to implement this action plan would be the use of data analysis tools to help identify at risk students, and the ability to identify these students before it is too late. B4. A timeline including the overall duration and the duration of each step of the action plan. This is where it becomes a little difficult, chronic absenteeism is not a quick. It is not something that can drastically change over the course of one or even two years. It will take a long time of consistent work and an effort to bridge the gap of trust between all stakeholders. My school district and state is currently in a ten year plan to help fix this issue and is hoping to get down to 17% of students chronically absent by the year 2030. Overall this plan will take 5- years to fully be enacted and it will be enacted in a few different steps.
The third step in the implementation plan would take place throughout the first school year, and could even go into the second and third year as new problems arise. This step would be geared towards students who are already struggling with attendance and would be targeted interventions.
References Chronic Absenteeism: Strategies and Resources to Improve Attendance: Rapid Literature Review. (2018). https://militaryfamilies.psu.edu/wp-content/uploads/Absenteeism_- and_Resources_to_Improve_Attendance.pdf Chronic Absenteeism. (2021). U.S. Department of Education. https://www.ed.gov/teaching-and- administration/supporting-students/chronic-absenteeism WordInBlack.com. (2023, November 7). Why Are So Many Black Students Absent? The Sacramento Observer. https://sacobserver.com/2023/11/why-are-so-many-black- students- absent/ Cumberland County Schools. (2024). K12.Nc.us. https://www.ccs.k12.nc.us/o/ccs/page/everyminutecounts SchoolDigger.com. (2025). New Century International Elementary. SchoolDigger. https://www.schooldigger.com/go/NC/schools/0001103160/school.aspx
