2024 Chronic Absenteeism

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Regarding Information Item #13.3 on [2/12/2025] agenda, “Annual Presentation on the Sequoia Union High School District Attendance,” we again see a district-wide approach that obscures critical site-level insights, especially as it lacks comparisons to statewide data. By aggregating the data, the presentation misses stark differences in chronic absenteeism rates across schools, particularly for specific student subgroups.

Sequoia High School, in particular, has seen a troubling rise in chronic absenteeism since the extended Covid shutdown, while peer schools and the state have made improvements. The analysis also fails to compare SUHSD’s performance to state-level results, which highlight challenges for our district, particularly among underserved student groups: Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, English Learners, Long-term English Learners, Hispanic, and Pacific Islander students. This comparison is critical for understanding the scale of the issue and identifying areas for improvement.

We raised this concern last year and requested a review of subgroup data at the site level, along with comparisons to statewide results. This remains a key ask for our community. Focused analysis of this data is essential to identifying where and how interventions should be tailored to address disparities in chronic absenteeism.

We urge the board to review site-specific and statewide data by subgroup to identify the root causes and effective interventions as well as provide helpful insights to school leadership. The current district-wide rollup overlooks significant discrepancies in student performance that must be addressed.

Some key questions include:

• Why do SUHSD’s schools’ chronic absenteeism rates by subgroup persist so far below state?
• Have interventions varied across SUHSD schools?
• Are student subgroups different across the schools in ways that could explain the attendance disparities?
• Are feeder schools contributing to these differences somehow?
• Has the district explored successful interventions from schools outside SUHSD?
• Is Sequoia HS experiencing lower engagement compared to its peer schools?
  

Without examining these questions to glean insights, we cannot make the necessary improvements.