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27J reports large gains in social-emotional proficiency amid rising chronic absenteeism
Summary
District officials told the board they saw a 37.66% increase in students meeting social-emotional learning (SEL) proficiency and 479 fewer suspensions, but also a rise in "at-risk" identifications driven by growing chronic absenteeism; the board approved the SEL dashboard report and accepted state attendance initiatives and a new EARS grant to expand interventions.
The School District 27J Board of Education heard a detailed social-emotional learning dashboard report on March 11, 2026, that showed significant gains in measured SEL proficiency but raised new concerns about student attendance.
Darcy Brown, director of intervention services, told the board the district recorded a 37.66% increase in students meeting SEL proficiency from school year 2023-24 to 2024-25, citing improved participation in district common assessments and a shift away from exclusionary discipline. "We had 479 fewer suspensions across the school year," Brown said, adding that restorative practices and alternatives to suspension helped keep students in class where instruction and SEL skill-building can occur.
At the same time, Brown said the district's percentage of students identified as "at risk" rose from 9.17% to 14.26%. She attributed that increase largely to a rise in chronic absenteeism at the secondary level, which now drives more students into the at-risk category under the district's definitions. Brown explained the report uses the federal chronic-absence metric (missing 30% of school days) for the at-risk indicator, a higher-threshold measure than the district dashboard.
Board members asked how attendance policy and classroom practices interact. Brown said the district has revised attendance procedures this year, is piloting a "come to school" program that pairs school staff with judicial partners for targeted family outreach, and recently won a competitive EARS grant to expand that work districtwide. She described the Riverdale Ridge pilot as a model where school teams meet families in the evening, provide supports (food, case management), and give students two weeks to show improvement before further interventions.
Board members discussed whether to move the SEL report presentation to June to capture a full school-year data cycle; they also asked for clearer school-level comparisons by elementary/middle/high school for future reports.
The board voted to accept the SEL dashboard report as conveying a reasonable interpretation of executive limitations. The district will continue to scale attendance interventions, refine family engagement strategies at the high school level, and use the EARS grant to expand the pilot programs.
