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BESE hears attendance report; STAR Task Force issues recommendations and pilot results
Summary
BESE received an update on statewide attendance, including results from a Baker High pilot and eight STAR Task Force recommendations—steps to standardize data collection, strengthen school attendance teams, coordinate with juvenile courts and limit parent‑note excusals were proposed; staff set 2028 goals to reduce average days absent and chronic absenteeism.
The State Board of Elementary and Secondary Education received an attendance and key performance indicators update on Dec. 10 that outlined pilot results, standardization proposals and STAR Task Force recommendations to reduce chronic absenteeism and truancy.
Doctor Singleton, presenting for the Louisiana Department of Education, said the agency sees average days absent per student between nine and 12 in recent years and described statewide chronic absenteeism and truancy trends. The department recounted a Baker High School pilot in which targeted, school‑level interventions and a needs assessment reduced that school’s chronic absenteeism and truancy rates; at the school level, chronic absenteeism fell from 48% to 36% and truancy from 81% to 75% in the cited year, according to the presentation. "We found that by focusing work at the school, changes can be made with regards to attendance," Singleton said.
The STAR Task Force, chaired by Doctor Clark and reconvened in 2024, produced eight recommendations in the board packet. Key proposals include requiring schools to use an existing team (for example, an SBLC or attendance team) to monitor and analyze attendance data; maintaining statutory truancy definitions while creating a discretionary referral process to juvenile court partners; adopting a formal definition of chronic absenteeism (students enrolled at least 10 days and absent 10% or more of days enrolled); improving transfer of past attendance history between schools; creating model guidance for collaboration with juvenile courts and law enforcement; limiting parent‑note excused days to five per year (recommended as optional for systems); developing standardized optional parent‑note forms; and expanding career exploration and extracurricular delivery in elementary and middle grades to boost engagement.
Board members and superintendents stressed two recurring concerns: inconsistent data collection and reporting practices across districts and limited capacity at the department. Doctor Clark and others said differences—such as how many parent notes a district accepts—mean district comparisons can be misleading until data collection is standardized. "Before we make it punitive, I think we need to make sure that the data that's being collected is consistent from one district to the next," Clark said. Several superintendents and district leaders described local diversionary court programs that couple judicial oversight with wraparound community services and credited them with local improvements; one superintendent said collaboration with judges and district attorneys produced measurable change in attendance when courts required parent participation in diversion programming.
Practical tools and pilots attracted attention. A district representative described Everyday Labs, a dashboard and messaging system piloted in Tangi Parish, as an effective, color‑coded tool that increased parent engagement and eased the load on truancy staff. Board members asked staff to consider low‑cost technologies (for example, badge systems to record entry) and to surface policy recommendations with stakeholders in coming months; staff said some recommendations are policy matters that will be taken to the board for consideration after stakeholder engagement.
The department set measurable goals tied to the STAR Task Force work: by 2028 reduce the average number of days absent per student by two days and reduce the percentage of chronically absent students by five percentage points (for example, a target reduction from 24% to 18% in chronic absenteeism). Staff indicated additional metrics and reports will be provided next December and that targeted supports via funding reallocations may be part of planned super app allocations.
After discussion and public testimony, the board acknowledged the report and—by unanimous consent with no objection—received the update and directed staff to proceed with stakeholder engagement and any subsequent policy recommendations.
Next steps: staff will continue professional development for school attendance teams, finalize recommended policy language for board consideration in coming months and report incremental data on KPI measures at future BESE meetings.
