Reply to Roughly 25% of MCPS students are chronically absent, and absenteeism response plan delayed

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Here's an article with details spelled out more clearly. https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2023/11/more-than-20-per-cent-of-students-in-montgomery-county-schools-are-chronically-absent/

The first thing that caught my eye was the comments by Council member Gabe Albornoz who noted that, according to demographic data provided by the school system, 31.5% of the students who are chronically absent are Hispanic. That’s double the number of white students and nearly 12 percentage points above Black students who are chronically absent. He then went on to relate that to a increase in gang activity.

But, wait a minute - is that actually disproportional? According to these numbers, of the total students who are chronically absent (10% of school days) the demographic breakdown is:
31.5% Hispanic
15.8% White
19.6% Black
33.1% Asian, 2 or more races, & other (by subtracting from 100% total)

Hmmm. According to the data on MCPS website from 2022-23, the student body is:
34.6% Hispanic/Latino, 24.4% White, 21.8% Black, 13.9% Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander, 5.1% two or more races, and 0.2% other (19.2% for Asian, 2+, other).

So, Hispanic and Black students are actually slightly underrepresented, white students are significantly underrepresented, and [b]the actual scofflaws are students who are Asian & 2+ races[/b].  :shock:

I realize DCUM loves to jump into favorite stereotypes like a comfy pair of slippers, but it would be nice if occasionally people exercised some critical thinking.

Let's put some context onto the "chronic absences" category. This is 10% of school days, which for 1st quarter (45 days) is 5 absences. That's one bout of Covid and not coming on the half day. Hardly a crisis. Also, that is total absences, regardless of whether or not they are excused. What I wish we would first focus on are the students who are chronically truant (20%) absences.

I teach high school - here's a quick summary for 80 kids across three sections of an Honors class. Pretty mixed demographics.
8 kids out for Covid at some point for at least 4 days.
3 kids with serious medical issues (surgeries) out for more than a week.
2 kids with mental health issues out for more than a week, and another 4 or 5 with excused absences pretty regularly that I think are mental health related.
1 kid participating in an elite sport that was only supposed to be one absence a few times, but has ended up as many extra absences afterwards due to illness or injury.
9 kids who are actually unexcused absent fairly often (one specifically skipping my class) and who are definitely being affected grade-wise.

So, 35% of my students in Honors classes are chronically absent, but only about 11% of them are an actual problem. Do the absences affect the learning for all of them? Absolutely. But an awful lot of kids who are chronically absent have legitimate reasons (illness, appointments, funerals). Screaming about total numbers detracts from solving the real problems for a subset of kids who have unexcused absences.
[/quote]
Your numbers are all wrong.

The 2022 Chronic Absenteeism Data are:
https://reportcard.msde.maryland.gov/Graphs/#/Demographics/ChronicAbsenteeism/3/99/1/6/15/XXXX/2022

2022	African Am.	22.2%	7741/34910
2022	HI/Pac.Isl.	        21.8%	31/142
2022	White	        13.6%	5509/40437
2022	2+	                17.8%	1442/8086
2022	Hispanic	        36.6%	19942/54446
2022	Am.Ind/AK	30.0%	93/310
2022	Asian	        11.5%	2608/22767[/quote]
It’s useful to read carefully.

#1 I’m using the data stated in the article and how council member Albornoz responded to it.

#2 The rates as reported in the article were percentage of total chronic absences, not absence rates per group. If absence rates were uniform, they should be proportionate to the percentages of the demographic for the whole student body. As reported in the article, they are not.

#3 Your data is from 2022, and the article and discussion is about 2023 data.

#4 The whole point being that people love to misuse data to reinforce a preconceived notion. See #1.[/quote]

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