At some Maryland high schools, you can. Hundreds of students are excessively absent.
By Donna St. George and Donna St. George Reporter covering education Email Bio Follow Justin Wm. Moyer Justin Wm. Moyer Reporter covering breaking news Email Bio Follow May 25 at 6:35 PM As graduation approached last year, the list of often-absent students at Albert Einstein High School in suburban Maryland was long. More than 175 seniors repeatedly missed classes, many in courses required for their diplomas.
Students head toward the Einstein campus. But the absenteeism also touches on broader questions nationally about the value of attendance and the push to award diplomas. Rising graduation rates have been touted across the country as badges of school success. The Einstein documents obtained by The Post create an unusual snapshot of absenteeism — with absences noted student by student, course by course — providing far more detail than is offered by state data and showing that scores of diplomas were at risk if students failed to earn credit.
School officials said attendance issues are not limited to the Kensington school. County data show that unexcused absences were abundant among last year’s seniors. The Einstein email acknowledged that some staff members felt uncomfortable and pressured as administrators communicated about protocols that were new and that allowed students multiple opportunities to show their academic gains before graduation.School system officials emphasized in interviews that unexcused absences do not directly factor into course grades. That’s part of the system’s “standards-based” approach, which focuses on student learning, not attendance, they said.
Montgomery County’s graduation rate — 88.4 percent in 2018 — has been strong for years, with some high schools exceeding 95 percent. Einstein’s rate was 83.7 percent last year.Longtime Einstein Principal James G. Fernandez, who recently announced his retirement, declined to speak about absences or related issues, school system officials said.
Now, the school system says it focuses on attendance intervention plans, and some educators use a special grade — E3 — to convey that a student is failing because of absences. At Einstein last year, about 40 percent of students were from low-income families, and 17 percent were English-language learners.
Missing even five days in a high school semester increases the likelihood of failing a class or not graduating, said Elaine Allensworth, director of the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. Maryland education officials have recently intensified their focus on chronic absenteeism, which they define as being absent for 10 percent or more of school days for any reason, excused or not.
Baltimore city schools do not factor unexcused absences into student grades, with the idea that grades reflect mastery of content, not student behavior. Many teachers argue that most absences are not related to extenuating circumstances. Rather, they assert, many students miss classes because they see few consequences.
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