CHAPTER V.

ABSENCE AND ENTRANCE AGE IN RELATION TO PROGRESS THROUGH

SCHOOL.

ABSENCE AND PROGRESS THROUGH SCHOOL.

One of the complaints heard most frequently from teachers in school systems where there has been no compulsory school law is that absence is one of the chief factors in causing poor progress on the part of the school children. This complaint has frequently been heard in Richmond. Since there was no authority by which children could be compelled to attend and parents compelled to do their part to keep their children in school, the question of absence has been so serious that much of the time and the energy of the teacher and school administrator have been taken up with it. Teachers were obliged to do a great deal of visiting. Report blanks of various kinds and other devices had to be used to secure the cooperation of the parents, but, in spite of all these precautions, attendance has not been what it should be, and failure, due to absence, has been more pronounced.

The present section comprises an attempt to ascertain the extent to which absence has caused children to fail of promotion. The method of procedure consisted of scoring from the record cards the number of days absent in each term, or four and a half months, which every one of the 627 white children and the 547 Negro children who were in the 1A grade in September, 1906, made during the time they were in school. Units of 10 days were used, which gave the following classification: 0 to 9 days absent, 10 to 19 days absent, 20 to 29 days absent, 30 to 39 days absent, 40 to 49 days absent, and 50 and more days absent. There are, on an average, 90 days to a school term. The data regarding attendance are tabulated separately for the following groups: The accelerated, the normal, the dropped retarded and nonretarded, and the unfinished group.

ACCELERATED GROUP (WHITE).

In order to secure an understanding as to the extent to which irregular attendance affects progress, it is necessary to inquire into the amount of absence of those children who had made no failure. It is found that the four boys and two girls who were accelerated had been present 52 terms and 26 terms, respectively, during the time they were in the elementary schools, and that these terms show the following distribution with reference to days absent:

0 to 9.

10 to 19.

20 to 29..

30 to 39..

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Accelerated group.

40 to 49..

50 or more..

Total..

From this it is seen that 92.4 per cent of the terms of attendance made by the boys and 88.5 per cent of the terms of attendance made by the girls showed less than 10 days absent. Only a small percentage of the accelerated children were absent more than 10 days in one term. It should be noted, however, that one boy and one girl each show one term in which they were absent as many as 30 days or more and one boy (probably the same boy) shows one term in which he was absent between 20 and 29 days. Such cases are, however, exceptional rather than normal and occur in connection with the exceptional children.

NORMAL GROUP (WHITE).

The 20 boys and 30 girls composing the group of children who made normal progress show a total attendance of 280 terms and 420 terms, respectively, in the seven years they were in school. These terms show the following distribution with reference to days absent:

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Normal group.

In this group of children, 90.7 per cent of the terms made by the boys and 95 per cent of the terms made by the girls show an absence of less than 10 days to a term. Only a small percentage of the normal children are absent more than 10 days to a term.

It would seem, then, that a very large majority of the children who have been doing the work of the elementary grades in normal or less than normal time have been absent less than 10 days in one term, or 90 days of school work.

DROPPED GROUP NONRETARDED (WHITE).

There were 377 children who dropped out of school before the expiration of seven years. Of this number, 48 boys and 44 girls had made no repetition. An examination of the progress made by these children shows that the boys had been in school 151 terms and the girls had been in school 176 terms. The days absent during these terms are as follows:

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Dropped group-Nonretarded.

In this group of children, 76.8 per cent of the terms made by the boys and 76.1 per cent of the terms made by the girls show an absence of less than 10 days, while as many as 17.9 per cent of the terms made by the boys and 18.2 per cent of the terms made by the girls show an absence of 10 to 19 days. It would seem then that a great many of these children, while not absent in any one term long enough to cause failure, were, nevertheless, more or less irregular in attendance.

DROPPED GROUP-RETARDED (WHITE).

Of the 377 children who dropped out of school, 150 boys and 135 girls were retarded. The total attendance of these 150 boys during the time they were in school was 1,418 terms. During 493 of these terms, these boys failed on the work of their grade, and during the remaining 925 terms they were promoted on the work of their grade. When these terms are distributed in relation to days absent, the following data are secured:

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Dropped group-Retarded.

By this comparison it is seen that during 79.3 per cent of the 925 terms when these boys were promoted on the work of their grade they were absent less than 10 days, and during 16.6 per cent of these same terms they were absent from 10 to 19 days. These percentages of attendance are better than those made by the nonretarded dropped group. But during the terms (493) when these boys failed on the work of the grade their attendance was not nearly so good-only 58.5 per cent of these terms showed less than 10 days absent and 17.6 per cent of these terms showed an absence of 10 to 19 days. The small percentage of terms with less than 10 days absent when promotions did not take place would seem to indicate that an absence of more than 10 days in one term, or 90 days, as a usual thing, has tended to increase a child's chances for failure.

The 135 girls of this group show a total attendance of 1,220 terms while they were in school. During 412 of these terms these girls failed to be promoted, and during the remaining 808 terms they were promoted on the work of their grade. When these terms are distributed according to the number of days absent the following data are secured:

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Dropped group-Retarded.

The girls show practically the same tendency as the boys. During 74.3 per cent of the 808 terms in which these girls were promoted they were absent less than 10 days, and during 19.4 per cent of these terms they were absent from 10 to 19 days; but during the 412 terms in which they were not promoted on the work of their grade their attendance was lower-only 53.6 per cent of these terms show less than 10 days absent, and 19.2 per cent show from 10 to 19 days absent.

UNFINISHED GROUP (WHITE).

Out of 627 children 194 were still in school in September, 1913. Of this number, 98 boys had spent 331 terms in which they failed to be promoted and 1,103 terms in which they were promoted to another grade, and the 96 girls had spent 276 terms in which they failed to be promoted and 1,141 terms in which they were promoted to another

grade in the seven years they were in school. By distributing these terms in relation to days absent the following comparison is obtained. Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Unfinished group of boys.

Terms in which specified number of absences occurred-Unfinished group of girls.

During 90.4 per cent of the 1,103 terms in which these 98 boys were promoted to another grade they were absent less than 10 days, and during 8.7 per cent of these same terms they were absent from 10 to 19 days to a term; but during 72.5 per cent of the 331 terms in which these boys failed to be promoted they were absent less than 10 days, and during 12.2 per cent of these same terms they were absent from 10 to 19 days to a term. Likewise the 96 girls show 88.2 per cent of the terms in which they were promoted with less than 10 days absent and 10.6 per cent of these same terms with 10 to 19 days absent to a term. During 64.9 per cent of the terms in which these same girls failed to be promoted they were absent less than 10 days, and during 18.1 per cent of these terms they were absent from 10 to 19 days to a term.