Marin schools mostly reduce chronic absenteeism

Marin schools improved in several state metrics over the past year, especially student absences, according to new data.

“We’re moving along generally in the right direction,” said John Carroll, Marin superintendent of schools, referring to the aftermath of the pandemic. “But it’s not been what you would call a stellar year.”

Carroll’s comments follow last week’s release of the 2023-2024 California School Dashboard. The database by the California Department of Education is a snapshot of school district metrics in areas such as English and math achievement, chronic absenteeism, suspension and graduation rates.

Most improved in Marin was chronic absenteeism, which is defined as students missing more than 10% of the school year.

“We’re doing better with chronic absenteeism as more students return to school after the pandemic,” Carroll said.

Chronic absenteeism declined in almost all of Marin’s K-8 school districts, said Laura Trahan, assistant superintendent in the Marin County Office of Education. It is not measured in high schools.

Trahan said the Novato Unified School District, which had a 9.1% chronic absenteeism rate this year, had the largest decline, falling from 9.4% last year. That was the result, in part, of the district launching a specific targeted effort to reduce chronic absenteeism, Trahan said.

“Almost every district went down naturally, but this decline in Novato was on top of the natural decline,” Trahan said.

The chronic absenteeism rates for other select Marin K-8 districts, followed by the percentage decline over the prior year:

Bolinas-Stinson Union, 34.8%, down 4.2%; Kentfield, 6.1%, down 4%; Lagunitas, 26.9%, down 4.3%; Larkspur-Corte Madera, 12.3%, up 1.9%; Mill Valley, 7.2%, down 5.6%; Miller Creek, 10%, down 6%; Nicasio 24.4%, up 15.87%; San Rafael Elementary, 12.2%, down 5.9%; Sausalito Marin City, 26.6%, down 8.5%.

Statewide, the percentage of all K-8 students who were absent for at least 10% or more of the school year dropped from 24.3% in 2023 to 18.6% in 2024. Targeted student groups like English language learners, foster youths, homeless students, lower-income students and students with disabilities also dropped in chronic absenteeism.

But the data also revealed that Black, Native American and Pacific Islander students were more than twice as likely as White students to be chronically absent.

Marin also declined in the number of school districts that triggered special help from the state or county because of incidents that required discipline such as suspension, Carroll said. Last year it was 11 districts; this year, four.

“Student suspension numbers were down generally across the county,” Carroll said. “Even in schools where that wasn’t the case, actual numbers of students who were suspended were very low.”

Data on academic achievement were covered last month in the release of the California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress, or CAASPP, Trahan said. The CAASPP scores are folded into the dashboard, which is a more comprehensive measure.

In the CAASPP snapshot, Trahan said, Marin’s academic achievement rate in both English and math were flat over the 2022-23 results — and lower than before the pandemic.

Of the Marin students who took the 2023-24 tests, 61% met or exceeded the state standard for their grade level in English, while 52% met or exceeded the state standard for their grade level in math. Those numbers were identical to Marin’s 2022-23 test results.

All those numbers are lower than in 2018-19, the last full year of test results before the pandemic. In that year, 66% of Marin students who took the tests met or exceeded the state standard in English, while 58% of students met or exceeded the standard in math.

The Marin academic achievement numbers still exceed the statewide scores, which continue to trail pre-pandemic scores. Across the state, students remain 13.2 points below the English language arts standard and 47.6 points below the math standard to be considered on track for college and career readiness at their grade level.

The data are online at caschooldashboard.org.

While state leaders celebrated a drop in chronic student absences, stable growth in graduation rates and small gains in academic performance among higher-needs groups like foster, homeless and lower-income students, experts said the “incremental” progress needs context — and triggers alarm bells for California students’ post-pandemic recovery.

Alix Gallagher of the research nonprofit Policy Analysis for California Education said the data suggest California students are not recovering from the pandemic as well as those in other states, despite extensive funding from the state and federal governments.

“What we would want to see is that with those additional funds, we had a really strong recovery. Instead what we saw were really modest gains,” Gallagher said.

The Brookings Institution, a nonprofit research group, recently examined students’ academic progress post-pandemic across the United States. Researchers found that while most states, including California, were nowhere near full recovery and making minimal progress in English and math, some states — like Illinois, Wisconsin and Alaska — were improving, while others like Iowa, New Mexico and New York had fully recovered.

Lance Christensen, vice president for education policy at the conservative California Policy Center, said one of the most concerning findings is the discrepancy between improved graduation rates and stagnant test scores.

“A lot of these kids get to college and they can’t hack it,” said Christensen, who ran unsuccessfully for state schools superintendent. “I can’t imagine that we’re sending kids off more prepared when all the other scores seem to be down in English language arts and math.”

The Bay Area News Group contributed to this story.