Classroom Technology

Perfect Attendance?

By Jessica L. Tonn — October 02, 2006 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow, a 6,700-student online charter school in Ohio, had a 100 percent attendance rate last school year, according to data required by the state education department.

“That obviously doesn’t sound right,” Nick Wilson, the school’s spokesman, acknowledged in an interview.

ECOT is not alone. Twenty of the state’s 41 online charters reported perfect attendance last year.

Those unlikely reports have prompted state officials to start rethinking the way attendance is calculated at the online schools. They are working to devise a formula that measures a “more meaningful attendance rate,” said Todd L. Hanes, the executive director of the Ohio education department’s office of community schools, the body that oversees online charter schools.

Under the present formula, Internet charter school students, most of whom take the classes from their homes, must complete 920 hours of instruction time per school year. The schools are required to withdraw students that are absent for 105 consecutive hours.

The state, however, did not require that students who were withdrawn be included in attendance reporting of online schools for the past school year. Therefore, attendance rates did not reflect the 10.5 to 21 days of unexcused absences—depending on the number of daily instructional hours the school reports—of students who were withdrawn for truancy.

“This sounds like just another way that charter schools are gaming the system,” Lisa Zellner, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Federation of Teacher, told the Associated Press.

In August, Mr. Wilson received revised attendance guidelines from the state Office of Community Schools for the current school year. The new guidelines say that students withdrawn due to nonattendance or truancy should have unexcused absences reflected in the year-end attendance record.

Based on the new guidelines, Mr. Wilson said, ECOT’s attendance rate would have been about 97 percent for last year. The requirement is 93 percent.

Mr. Hanes said the department wouldn’t ask the schools to recalculate last year’s attendance based on the new guidelines.

But e-schools whose attendance reports fail to reflect the new policy could face corrective action in the future.

A version of this article appeared in the October 04, 2006 edition of Education Week

Events

This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
Artificial Intelligence Webinar
AI and Educational Leadership: Driving Innovation and Equity
Discover how to leverage AI to transform teaching, leadership, and administration. Network with experts and learn practical strategies.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School Climate & Safety Webinar
Investing in Success: Leading a Culture of Safety and Support
Content provided by Boys Town
Assessment K-12 Essentials Forum Making Competency-Based Learning a Reality
Join this free virtual event to hear from educators and experts working to implement competency-based education.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

Classroom Technology Most Teens Believe Conspiracy Theories, See News as Biased. What Can Schools Do?
Teenagers—like adults—struggle to recognize accurate, unbiased information in a chaotic digital media landscape.
6 min read
Fake News concept with gray words 'fact' in row and single bold word 'fake' highlighted by black magnifying glass on blue background
Firn/iStock/Getty
Classroom Technology Spotlight Spotlight on Blended Learning
This Spotlight will help you analyze key research on school tech use, explore strategies for engaging virtual instruction, and more.
Classroom Technology Opinion This Group is Trying to Teach ‘Digital Literacy.’ Here’s How
How can students avoid getting duped by deepfakes online?
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
Classroom Technology Opinion Students Are 'Digital Natives,' But Here’s Where They Struggle
The internet is awash with dubious claims. How can educators teach students to distinguish fact from fiction?
6 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty