Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions from a variety of stakeholders regarding which interventions are most effective in engaging families to reduce chronic absenteeism of students with disabilities in early elementary in a small public school district in northern California. This mixed-methods study investigated perceptions of current methods of improving attendance in students with disabilities in elementary school who are chronically absent in addition to gathering perceptions of methods of parent/family engagement. The study sought to also compare methods of improving attendance and engaging parents both during in-person learning and during distance/hybrid learning during the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020.
Quantitative and qualitative data were collected through two online Qualtrics surveys completed by 17 employees from a small northern California school district and 2 parents. Survey data was based on percentages of support for each method of improving attendance or engaging parents on a Likert scale (very ineffective, ineffective, neither ineffective or effective, effective and very effective). The majority of participants indicated methods of improving attendance and engaging parents were more effective during in-person instruction. Employees in the surveys favored direct methods of engagement, such as holiday events at school, back to school night and home visits, in addition to practical means of improving attendance such as providing bus transportation. Parents in the survey found phone calls ineffective for improving attendance while they were more responsive to phone calls for general parental engagement and indicated paper attendance reports were most effective in improving attendance.
Qualitative data was also gathered via two semi-structured interviews, one with an employee and one with a parent. Themes from the interviews highlighted barriers to attendance including behavior, minimum day schedules, communication, and confusion with quarantine protocols post return to in-person instruction. On the other hand, both parent and employee shared in-person engagement was an effective intervention to barriers, including face-to-face interactions and a welcoming countenance from staff when seeing parents. In addition, both interviews highlighted the success of daily check-ins with students that struggle with behavior that included tangible rewards for attendance as well as all-call text messages using the Parent Square application.
This study found that there needs to be further research to identify successes and draw data from a larger pool of respondents in order to distinguish which methods are effective interventions for reducing chronic absenteeism of elementary students with disabilities and engaging their families. In addition, it must be considered that employees and parents have largely different perceptions of how parents are engaged. Therefore, communication using a variety of methods is necessary in order to reach families and to consider their individualized needs in order to improve/sustain their child’s attendance.