Bridging the Gap between School Climate Policies and the Harsh Reality of Chicago Public Schools that Leads to Chronic Absenteeism Haniyyah Thomas, University of Illinois Chicago Dr. Joseph K. Hoereth, Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, University of Illinois Chicago While observing a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) high school, I noticed how determined staff members were to improve ’on track’ rates. So, I asked them if there were any commonalities amongst students that were ’off track’, and it was quite simple— they didn’t come to school. I then learned 89% of the students were chronically absent, schoolwide, with 42% of 9th graders being off track to graduate in SY2023. The most prominent indicators of post-secondary enrollment are on-track status, Grade Point Average (GPA), and course failures. On-track status refers to whether a student has enough credit to graduate from one grade to the next, which the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) identifies as the completion of 10 semester credits. Since missing a day of school is a missed opportunity to learn, absence has a significant impact on student achievement. Chronic absenteeism, missing 10% or more days of school with or without excuse, is a national crisis (U.S. Dept. Ed., 2016). Truancy refers to unexcused absence for at least 5% of the school year. School climate refers to the character and experience of the school, and according to ISBE it is shaped by 4 components: safety, relationships, teaching & learning, and the institutional environment. Chicago Public School’s (CPS) Comprehensive Policy on Attendance serves to align all CPS schools’ with ISBE school codes and promote best practices pertaining to attendance. Article II specifically addresses the individual school’s responsibility in improving attendance and Section C requires all schools to implement an attendance plan that targets the underlying causes of chronic truancy. The policy does not address the vast discrepancies in school climate across CPS school districts, thus failing to provide proper resources and support to improve school climate for schools that are more likely to experience more adverse contributors to their school climate, such as schools with high populations of low- income students. Figure 1 shows that there is an increase in the number of students that are chronically absent in schools that have higher populations of low-income students. With that, there is also an increase in the variation as the enrollment of low-income students increases, which means that there is an unobservable factor that can reduce chronic absenteeism. While more advanced data analysis is required to explain the increase in variation, I hypothesize that school climate decreases the negative impact that poverty has on student attendance. Chicago’s Current Solution Something’s missing... What’s the big idea? This is important to know... Sources: WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA: Illinois State Board of Education, 2023 | THIS IS IMPORTANT TO KNOW: Illinois State Board of Education, 2024; U.S. Department of Education; 2016 | CHICAGO’S CURRENT SOLUTION: Chicago Public Schools, 2022 | SOMETHING’S MISSING: Illinois State Board of Education, 2024 | FINDINGS: UChicago Impact, 2023; Illinois State Board of Education, 2012, 2024 | FINDINGS CONT.: Illinois State Board of Education, 2024; Chicago Public Schools, 2022; Sample School, 2024 American Community Survey, 2022 (https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/get-involved/learn/) Sample School Figure 1 Graph generated from Illinois Report Card, 2023 data The supportive environment indicator is the most dependent upon the school’s neighborhood characteristics. The variation, especially in schools with a low score, suggests that there are ways that schools can mitigate absenteeism irrespective of neighborhood quality. Illinois Report Card (ISBE) The Illinois Report Card, an annual publication by ISBE, offers an extensive dataset and interactive reports detailing the performance of individua