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The Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Student Performance: The Case of the Co
County School District
Kennesaw State University
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Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects
Summer 2009
The Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Student
Performance: The Case of the Co
County
School District
Mary Finlayson
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County School District"
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The Impact of Teacher Absenteeism on Student Performance:
The Case of the Co
County School District
A Practicum Paper
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the:
Master of Public Administration
Mary Finlayson
Kennesaw State University
July 2009
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………3
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………4
Background……………………………………………………………………………10
Literature Review……………………………………………………………………14
Methodology…………………………………………………………………………..20
Findings………………………………………………………………………………...22
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………..31
Recommendation……………………………………………………………………33
References…………………………………………………………………………….35
3
Executive Summary
Common sense that is supported by research tells us that when a teacher is absent from
the classroom, student learning is disrupted. When that teacher is repeatedly absent,
student performance can be significantly impacted in a negative way. The more days a
teacher is out of the classroom, the lower their students tend to score on standardized
tests. Nationally, teachers are absent from the classroom on average 10 days per year.
Co
County School District teachers are out of the classroom on average 14 days per
year. There are other reasons to be concerned with teacher absenteeism:
• Financial costs to the school system – The Co
County School District spent
approximately $8.5 million dollars to pay for classroom and clinic nurse
substitutes during the 2008/2009 school year.
• Students attending school in low socioeconomic areas experience more teacher
absences. Research tells us that teachers tend to be absent more often from low-
socioeconomic schools, which has a detrimental affect on students who are
already struggling.
• Unmonitored usage of leave in a school can affect the absence behavior of
employees, leading to more leave usage.
This analysis was conducted in the Co
County School District, a large subu
an school
district with a total number of 114 schools, more than 6,800 classroom teachers, and
more than 106,000 students. Data was collected on 453 third-grade teachers and 7683
third-grade students from 64 elementary schools. A regression analysis was performed on
the variables of all Co
County third-grade teacher absenteeism rates and their student
scores on the math and reading sections on the Criterion Reference Competency Test
4
(CRCT). A regression analysis was also performed on the percentage of students
eceiving free and/or reduced lunch per school and those students’ scores on the math and
eading sections of the CRCT.
The results of the analysis support previous research findings that higher teacher
absenteeism leads to lower student math scores on standardized tests. This study also
found that students attending low-socioeconomic area schools scored significantly lower
on the reading and math sections of the Criterion Reference Competency Test (CRCT).
Recommendations to address this issue include better collection and monitoring of
teacher absenteeism data, requiring teachers to make personal contact with the principal
or other administrator when reporting absences, and implementing incentive programs to
improve teacher attendance.
5
Introduction
“I know no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people
themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a
wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them but to inform their
discretion.” Thomas Jefferson made this statement to illustrate that citizens of our
country are called upon to reach conclusions and make decisions on important matters
and having a good education makes them able to make informed decisions on important
issues.
Much attention has been focused on the attendance of children in schools and the
impact that frequent student absences have on student learning, so much so that parents
may face criminal sanctions if their children miss a certain number of days of school.
However, the same attention needs to be focused on the attendance of teachers who are
charged with the responsibility of teaching these children. By being absent, are teachers
failing to fulfill the vision of our founding fathers of educating all? An education analyst
who assisted in writing the report A Nation at Risk named Paul Copperman was quoted as
saying “Each generation of Americans has outstripped its parents in education, in
literacy, and in economic attainment. For the first time in the history of our country, the
educational skills of one generation will not surpass, will not equal, will not even
approach, those of their parents” (A Nation at Risk, 1983, p. 4).
From experience I have learned that if employee attendance is allowed to
ecome a problem in a school, it will affect other employees who also begin to take time
off from work. There needs to be an awareness of how pervasive this problem might be
and consistency among all schools about what is expected from teachers and staff.
6
The purpose of this research is to explore and answer the question “Does teacher
absenteeism affect student performance?” It was thus hypothesized, “Higher teacher
absenteeism leads to lower student performance.” Teacher absenteeism is measured
simply by counting the number of a teacher’s absences during a given year, including
sick leave, bereavement leave, and personal leave. Student performance was measured by
students’ scores on the reading and math portions of the Criterion Reference Competency
Test (CRCT), which is the standardized test used throughout Georgia public schools and
nationally. Studies like this are rare because it is extraordinarily difficult to detect the
effect of teacher absenteeism on student performance since there are so many other
factors that can impact student learning. The student’s individual attendance will have an
impact on what they learn; parental support will have an effect, as well as whether or not
that child had enough sleep or ate
eakfast that day. Typically, data on teacher absences
would be housed in the Human Resources department. Data on student performance
would be housed in another department such as the Accountability department and the
two departments would rarely compare data for this kind of study.
This issue arose during the performance of my duties as an Investigations
Manager in the Human Resources Department for the Co
County School District and
my assignment to an Attendance Policy Task Force charged with the development of an
attendance policy for faculty and staff. The Co
County School District is a large u
an
school district with a total number of 114 schools (68 Elementary Schools, 25 Middle
Schools, and 16 High Schools), more than 6,800 classroom teachers, and more than
106,000 students. Data was collected on 453 third-grade teachers and 7683 third-grade
students from 64 elementary schools.
7
In the performance of my duties, I have consistently seen what I consider to be
higher teacher absenteeism rates among lower performing teachers, those teachers having
job performance problems that are being addressed by my office. This observation is
supported by research by Pitkoff XXXXXXXXXXin which he found that teachers who receive low
performance ratings were absent significantly more often than teachers rated as
satisfactory. I therefore became concerned about this issue and the possible effect high
absenteeism rates may have on student achievement generally.
There are several reasons why this research is important and potentially
eneficial. First, research has already shown that teacher absenteeism can have a negative
affect on learning. Research conducted by Raegen Miller and colleagues at Harvard
University has shown that after using a substitute, teachers often have to re-teach
material, restore order, and rebuild relationships with students. Researchers also found
that when a teacher is absent ten days from class, student performance in math is
significantly reduced (Miller et al.). Studies also show that teachers are absent more often
in elementary schools, which has a significant impact on these students who are
developing their knowledge and skills at an increased pace during these years (Pitkoff,
1993). Another important finding in a study by Clotfelter et al. was that higher teacher
absenteeism is associated with more student absenteeism, which will also lead to poor
student performance as the student is not present in class to participate and learn. It seems
easonable to conclude that a student may not view school attendance as important if their
classroom teacher is absent from class regularly.
Second, teacher absenteeism has been shown to be more prevalent in lower-
income schools. In studies conducted at Duke University in 2007, Charles Clotfelter et
8
al. found that schools having more low socioeconomic and minority students also had
higher teacher absence rates and lower student test scores. They