St Charles CUSD 303 reports multi‑year drop in chronic absenteeism after student survey and attendance committee work

Dr. Audra Christiansen and family‑community liaison Atlee Smith told the St Charles CUSD 303 Board on Nov. 10 that the district’s attendance committee has produced measurable declines in chronic absenteeism across elementary, middle and high schools.

The presenters said the district uses the Illinois School Code definition of chronic absenteeism (missing 10% or more of school days) and analyzes attendance in eight blocks through the year to maintain consistent comparisons. Atlee Smith said the committee expanded outreach and data work, and “we ended up successfully serving 5,156 secondary students,” a sample the presenters described as roughly 80% of the district’s secondary population.

Board members were shown eight years of report‑card data that, the presenters said, reflects a pandemic spike in 2020–21 and a steady reduction since the attendance committee began meeting monthly. The presentation called out block‑by‑block improvements: at the elementary level presenters reported a 6.8% reduction in students meeting the chronic‑absence threshold in block 1 and a 10.9% reduction in block 2; middle schools showed a 4.5% block‑1 reduction and 7.2% block‑2 reduction; and high schools showed a 7% block‑1 reduction and a 9.3% reduction in block 2.

Smith summarized how the committee is combining quantitative metrics and student voice to prioritize interventions. The district surveyed nearly 5,200 secondary students with about 30 questions on attendance perceptions, family expectations and barriers; preliminary aggregates show students generally agree that daily attendance links to future goals, while peer‑conflict is a cited barrier. Smith said the team has begun quantitative analysis and has not yet completed review of 15,000 open‑ended responses.

Board members asked whether the committee can disaggregate responses for chronically absent students and how tardiness is treated. Presenters said the current survey round is not yet configured to identify individual students but that future rounds will enable disaggregation; they also clarified that chronic absenteeism is calculated period‑by‑period and that missing first period repeatedly can count toward the threshold, while tardies (late arrival past the bell) are recorded separately.

The presenters said the next steps include deeper qualitative analysis of the student responses, a parent survey planned for January to capture family voice and targeted resources for families and staff. The board thanked staff for the presentation; no formal action was required.