Michelle Liu Photo
Sherban updates ed board.
New Haven schools have cut down on chronic absenteeism rates over the last two academic years, a new state report shows.
The report, based on data from the 2015 – 16 year, is the second issued by the state Department of Education under the “Next Generation Accountability System,” which aims to evaluate school and district performance holistically.
Notably, the city’s public schools have brought down the overall chronic absenteeism rate from 25.6 percent in the 2014 – 15 year to 19.9 percent in 2015 – 16; for high needs students, that number went from 30 percent to 22.9 percent.
Those rates are still higher than the state’s, at 9.6 percent for all students and 15.6 percent for the high needs subgroup. (The state Department of Education awards 50 out of 50 points for a rate lower than 5 percent; no points are awarded to a school with a rate higher than 30 percent. Points awarded to any rate in between are calculated with a formula)
The Michele Sherban, who runs the school district’s Research, Assessment, and Student Information, presented the numbers to the Board of Education at its biweekly meeting Tuesday evening at Beecher School. Sherban said the district received the results, which you can read in presentation form here, about two weeks ago.
“We’ve made progress but we still have a ways to go with chronic absenteeism,” Sherban said.
The district had already begun to implement an Attendance Matters campaign last year, when the state’s first accountability report awarded the district 8.7 out of 50 points on chronic absenteeism for all students, and 0.1 points for high needs students — making it the sole district in Connecticut to score essentially a zero on that latter indicator. New Haven has since continued its fight against chronic absenteeism, dedicating resources toward truancy officers and health clinics for students.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Sherban also highlighted the schools with an increase in their accountability index scores between the last two years. Six high schools, led by Hill Regional, improved their scores by 1.8 to 4.1 percent. In elementary and middle schools, Lincoln-Bassett led the way with a 23.6 point increase.
Of the district’s ten high schools, two — Hillhouse and High School in the Community — remain low-performing “turnaround” schools.
Conte/West Hills Magnet School, however, was recognized by the state as one of 116 Schools of Distinction, meaning it performed in the top 10 percent across the state.
The state evaluation awards points based on 12 indicators: state testing results; academic growth; assessment participation rate; chronic absenteeism; enrollment in AP/IB/career prep courses; exam scores for AP/IB/career prep classes or SAT/ACT; graduation preparation rate for ninth-graders; four-year graduation rate; six-year graduation rate for high needs students; college enrollment; physical fitness; and arts access.
The report card breaks out points in several indicators for high needs students — those receiving free or reduced lunch, English language learners and students with disabilities.
Interim Superintendent Reggie Mayo said the district is preparing to head into the state’s next round of accountability assessments next month.
The board is also finally moving forward in its search to replace ousted superintendent Garth Harries. Efforts to secure Harries’s replacement have plodded along, with the board acknowledging that it might need Mayo to stick around in an interim capacity for longer than anticipated.
Board member Che Dawson (pictured) said Tuesday evening the board’s governance committee chose the search firm Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates to help with the process. The board then unanimously voted to give Mayo the authority to negotiate a contract with the New Jersey-based firm.
After the vote, Dawson said he could not make any predictions on an updated timeline for the search, or confirm whether the board would find a new superintendent before the end of June.