(FRANKFORT, KY) – Kentucky Chief Academic Officers (CAOs) shared information on how education technology tools and resources could be used to monitor the effectiveness of interventions to reduce chronic absenteeism within schools during the EdTech Webcast on Wednesday, Oct. 16.

KDE defines a student as chronically absent if they have missed more than 10% of the time enrolled in school. This includes both excused and unexcused absences. Chronic absenteeism affects nearly 30% of students across the Commonwealth each year.

David Couch, Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) associate commissioner and K-12 Chief Information Officer said everyone plays a role and is responsible for addressing the need for reducing chronic absenteeism.

Couch said these resources include technology tools that can provide schools and districts with early warning indicators that can help teachers and school staff quickly see the impact of engaging student experiences.

Computer Science and Information Technology Academy

Sean Jackson, Computer Science and Information Technology Academy program manager and K-12 Computer Science Lead in KDE’s Office of Education Technology, said the Computer Science and Information Technology Academy is a growing program enabling students to earn valuable industry certifications in computer science-related disciplines.

“Computer science can impact student participation in the school community, especially when students feel excited about their learning,” Jackson said.

When students see their future impacted by what they are doing and learning, he said, they will tend to show up and perform.

“When they can see themselves in the jobs roles, we are trying to prepare them for, that is when they have a higher attendance,” said Jackson.

Since 2017, Kentucky has experienced an average growth rate of 7.7% annually with computer science, Jackson said. He also said the state is 16% above the national average for the number of high schools offering Computer Science and Kentucky has also seen a 1% increase in high school female students participating in computer science.

“These are huge celebrations,” Jackson said. “Providing an avenue for students to study Computer Science was one thing that was important to me, and I have seen it happen in schools.”

Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP)

Connecting students within their school community and culture also can decrease chronic absenteeism. Jeff Sebulsky, statewide program lead in the at KDE said one of those ways to connect students is through the KDE’s Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP).

“STLP is more than a club for students and should be thought of to build school culture and another resource to battle chronic absenteeism,” he said.

STLP offers hands-on solutions by fostering student engagement through technology-based demonstrations of learning and project-based learning for all students. Each year, students representing schools from all corners of Kentucky demonstrate what they can do with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics). Students take part in STLP competition areas – including robotics, coding, web design and newscasting – uniting bright minds from diverse backgrounds and communities.

“Anything you can do to get the student connected will be a good thing,” said Sebulsky. “STLP resources and activities are built from the ground up, utilizing Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for Technology.”

Because the key structure of STLP follows those KAS guidelines, he said STLP can play a role in every school and district.

“In everything that we do, for instance in our projects students are working on now, they are using this framework of academic standards to explain how their choice of project addresses each of these standards,” he explained.

Couch said not to underestimate the different areas of connectedness because these students are looking for a sense of belonging and want to know they are missed when they are absent.

Early Warning System Tool for Districts

KDE also provides tools in Infinite Campus to help school leaders track chronic absenteeism. For example, the Early Warning tool examines a composite of factors such as attendance, behavior, stability and academics to identify students at higher risk for dropping out.

“We have had an early warning system for quite a while and these tools provide us a lot of different factors that go into potentially why a student does not graduate, and those indicators start in the elementary school level so that early warning helps provide some of those indications,” said KDE Division Director and Chief Data Officer DeDe Conner.

In addition, Lisa Keeter, an Infinite Campus system administrator in KDE’s Division of School Data Services, also shared a resource from Infinite Campus that includes insights data visualization dashboards, such as attendance data, along with reports on chronically absent and transient student populations.

Other efforts by KDE focus on districts creating academically engaging and challenging environments with meaningful learning activities, frequent feedback and learning support. More resources are available on the KDE Chronic Absenteeism webpage.

Other resources mentioned:

  • Kentucky Educational Television (KET)
  • EverFi’s
    • Free resources for all 171 districts and their current uses in the Kentucky K-12.
  • KY Virtual Library
    • The goal of the Kentucky Virtual Library (KYVL) is to increase access to high-quality digital resources by providing access to all K-12 students in Kentucky. KYVL’s mission is to provide all Kentuckians with a common foundation of high-quality resources, support in their use, to enhance lifelong learning, working and living.
  • Online, Virtual and Remote Learning programs (OVR Programs)
    • Districts leveraging OVR Programs to provide additional learning opportunities that can address chronic absenteeism in some situations. The directors of pupil personnel from Rowan and Clark counties said their districts have restructured their programs to provide options for students who may be struggling with attendance.
  • Digital Learning Coaches
    • Digital Learning Coaches support teachers by staying up to date on emerging technological trends, addressing student privacy concerns and mastering new technology programs. Digital Learning Coaches help teachers incorporate technology into their instructional design strategies and maximize the effective uses and investments of technology, a crucial component in today’s digital age.
  • DDL for DigCit
    • DDL (Digitally Driven Learning) is a platform and experience hosted by the University of Kentucky’s College of Education and offers a digital citizenship learning experience for students and teachers through structured content focused on safe, responsible and empowered uses of technologies.