PGCPS reports quarter‑one drop in chronic absenteeism; officials link absences to lower course grades
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Summary
The district's monitoring office reported reductions in quarter‑one chronic absenteeism and presented grade‑distribution data showing substantially lower passing rates for chronically absent students; district staff said attendance drives academic outcomes and that area teams and accountability staff use the data to target supports.
Prince George's County Public Schools' monitoring office reported early signs of improvement in chronic absenteeism but stressed that students who miss substantial school time post weaker course outcomes, the district told the Academic Achievement Committee on Feb. 10.
Anthony Whittington, director of monitoring and accountability, defined chronic absenteeism as missing at least 10 percent of membership days, counting excused and unexcused absences and suspensions. He reported quarter‑one reductions compared with the same period last year: about a five‑percentage‑point drop in elementary and middle school chronic absenteeism and roughly a four‑percentage‑point drop at the high‑school level.
Whittington presented grade‑distribution comparisons showing large gaps by attendance. "Seventy‑six percent of the students that are not chronically absent are receiving a grade of A or B" in grades 2–5, he said. By contrast, a much smaller share of chronically absent students received similar grades in middle and high school; Whittington said 65 percent of not‑chronically‑absent middle school students earned A or B grades versus 38 percent of chronically absent peers, and in high school 61 percent versus 29 percent.
The monitoring office also shared pass rates in core subjects (math, English language arts, science and social studies) broken down by student groups. Whittington said elementary pass rates are high (near 99 percent by his presentation), decline slightly in middle school (about 96 percent) and drop more in high school (around 88 percent overall). He noted service groups show similar patterns: for high school the pass rate for multilingual learners was about 81 percent and for students with disabilities about 86 percent.
Board members asked for more disaggregated and grade‑level breakdowns. Board member Gwen McCance asked the district to provide core content pass rates for students with disabilities and multilingual learners by grade and suggested looking at high‑school cohorts by freshman–senior year. Whittington said internally facing dashboards and reports are available to schools and central offices and that the Maryland State Department of Education website is used for cross‑district comparisons.
Whittington said the monitoring office distributes monthly chronic absenteeism rates by school and grade span and meets with academics and area leaders to examine trends and plan interventions. "These are meetings that happen on a regular basis with academics, as well as the area office leadership," he said.
