Anchorage School District: First-semester data show mixed attendance effects after start-time changes

Anchorage School District staff on March 18 told the school board that one semester of data after the district’s shift in bell times shows limited, mixed effects and is insufficient to draw firm conclusions about academic or attendance impacts.

Superintendent (name not specified in transcript) opened the work session by saying the presentation would summarize the timeline of the start-time change, a snapshot of key data points and the limits of the analysis. “We really have to look at any data point with a grain of salt, just so we can look at this through the research lens,” the superintendent said, adding that the district’s chi-square analysis can show correlation but not causation and that more years of data would be needed for stronger conclusions.

The nut graf: district staff reported small year-to-year changes in overall attendance and course failure (F) rates, statistically significant decreases in chronic absenteeism at elementary and middle school levels, and mixed results for tardies. Officials and board members repeatedly emphasized that multiple simultaneous changes — including moving sixth graders to middle school, later middle-school start times, and PLC (professional learning community) Mondays — complicate any attribution of…