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PGCPS reports small drop in elementary chronic absenteeism; board demands clearer reason codes and action
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Summary
PGCPS presented Q2 chronic-absenteeism and core-content pass-rate data: elementary chronic absenteeism fell from 27% to 23% year over year, middle school rose to 18% and high school remained at 34%; board members pressed staff for reason-code breakdowns in ParentVUE, clarity on transportation-related absences, and next steps from an attendance task force.
At the Academic Achievement Committee meeting on April 20, Anthony Whittington presented midyear chronic-absenteeism metrics and core-content pass rates for Prince George's County Public Schools and discussed the relationship between attendance and course outcomes.
Whittington defined chronic absenteeism for the record: "A student is considered chronically absent if they have been enrolled for at least 10 days and missed 10% or more of those days," he said, and explained that the metric counts excused and unexcused absences and is used in state accountability calculations.
Headline figures from the presentation: - Elementary chronic absenteeism (K–5) dropped from 27% to 23% (Q2 year over year). (Speaker: Anthony Whittington) - Middle school chronic absenteeism rose from 16% to 18%. (Speaker: Anthony Whittington) - High school chronic absenteeism remained around 34% for both this year and last. (Speaker: Anthony Whittington)
Whittington tied attendance to course outcomes: nonchronically absent elementary students earned A grades at 44% versus 26% for chronically absent peers; in high school, 36% of nonchronically absent students earned A's compared with 12% of chronically absent students; 30% of chronically absent high schoolers received failing grades.
Board members pressed staff on data fidelity and next steps. Multiple members asked for a detailed breakdown of absence reason codes now available in ParentVUE (versus the former SchoolMax system): how many absences are coded as illness, bereavement, transportation, or other reasons; and whether tardiness due to late buses is being captured separately.
Dr. Judith White and Whittington said the district can provide code-level counts and the processes schools use for coding and follow-up. Whittington noted the district has an attendance task force and will soon launch an "attendance ambassadors" initiative with a planned press conference. "We had about a 3 percent reduction for chronic absenteeism from the year prior," he said, and pledged continued work.
Contentions and policy context: Board member Boosie Struthers strongly criticized the chronic-absenteeism metric for governance use, calling it "not useful" without parsed reason codes and urging the district to separate legitimate excused reasons from other causes; staff and other board members acknowledged the policy constraints of ESSA (Every Student Succeeds Act) but said the district is advocating at the state level and will produce more disaggregated data for the board.
Commitments and follow-ups: - District staff agreed to provide to the board: the set of absence reason codes in ParentVUE, a breakdown of chronic-absence cases by reason category, and the process that schools use for coding tardiness and absence due to transportation. (Speakers: Dr. Judith White, Anthony Whittington) - Whittington said the attendance task force will continue and that the attendance ambassadors launch is imminent; staff will share related materials and timelines.
The committee adjourned at 7:12 p.m.; staff and board will continue to follow up on code-level attendance reporting and action plans.
