The effect of teacher absenteeism on student performance

Effects of Teacher Absenteeism to Student Performance
Student’s name
University
A Review of Literature
This chapter reviews the literature related to teacher absenteeism and its correlation to student performance. The review begins with an overview of the teacher’s value in the classroom including subtopics such as indicators of teacher quality and how we determine teacher effectiveness. The review then focuses on the factors associated with teacher attendance, causes of teacher absenteeism and the effect of teacher absence on students, the classroom, and the school.
The value of a teacher
The national report titled A Nation at Risk, written in 1983, boldly declared that the United States’ educational system was failing to meet the need for a competitive workforce. The report called for schools to adopt “more rigorous and measurable standards” for learning, and charged institutions and educational practitioners to “teach all students” to those standards ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.2307/3323945”, “ISBN” : “0001-0782”, “ISSN” : “02768739”, “PMID” : “21976320”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “National Commission on Excellence in Education”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Policy Analysis and Management”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1983” ] ] }, “page” : “308”, “title” : “A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform :: a report to the Nation and the Secretary of Education, United States Department of Education”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.

mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5c1c6ef1-4333-45dc-841a-058ba64d837b” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Since the publication of this report, over 30 years ago, school curriculum has been remastered, educational reforms have come and gone, teacher prep programs overhauled, with unprecedented access to information and technology. And still, the teaching and learning process remains fundamentally the same with the central figure to that relationship being the teacher.
Teachers represent the most substantial investment in an educational system. Studies consistently find that no other measured aspect of schools is as important in determining student achievement than having quality teachers ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “RAND Education”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2012” ] ] }, “publisher-place” : “Santa Monica, California”, “title” : “Teachers matter: understanding teachers’ impact on student achievement”, “type” : “report”, “volume” : “1” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=92a190da-4f2a-458f-b44e-5f80d9dac716” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rockoff”, “given” : “Jonah E.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2004” ] ] }, “page” : “247-252”, “title” : “The impact of individual teachers on student achievement: Evidence from panel data”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “94” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=46ac3353-a412-4657-98d9-5fd6526b1f7a” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.3102/0034654307310317”, “ISBN” : “0034-6543”, “ISSN” : “0034-6543”, “abstract” : “This meta-analysis summarizes teaching effectiveness studies of the past decade and investigates the role of theory and research design in disentangling results. Compared to past analyses based on the process-product model, a framework based on cognitive models of teaching and learning proved useful in analyzing studies and accounting for variations in effect sizes. Although the effects of teaching on student learning were diverse and complex, they were fairly systematic. The authors found the largest effects for domain-specific components of teaching-teaching most proximal to executive processes of learning. By taking into account research design, the authors further disentangled meta-analytic findings. For example, domain-specific teaching components were mainly studied with quasi-experimental or experimental designs. Finally, correlational survey studies dominated teaching effectiveness studies in the past decade but proved to be more distal from the teaching-learning process. u00a9 2007 AERA.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Seidel”, “given” : “T.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Shavelson”, “given” : “R. J.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Review of Educational Research”, “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2007” ] ] }, “page” : “454-499”, “title” : “Teaching effectiveness research in the past decade: The role of theory and research design in disentangling meta-analysis results”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “77” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b111f105-8279-4009-a0c0-3e539e753f72” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-4”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1016/j.econedurev.2010.12.006”, “ISBN” : “0272-7757”, “ISSN” : “02727757”, “PMID” : “59327954”, “abstract” : “Most analyses of teacher quality end without any assessment of the economic value of altered teacher quality. This paper combines information about teacher effectiveness with the economic impact of higher achievement. It begins with an overview of what is known about the relationship between teacher quality and student achievement. This provides the basis for consideration of the derived demand for teachers that comes from their impact on economic outcomes. Alternative valuation methods are based on the impact of increased achievement on individual earnings and on the impact of low teacher effectiveness on economic growth through aggregate achievement. A teacher one standard deviation above the mean effectiveness annually generates marginal gains of over $400,000 in present value of student future earnings with a class size of 20 and proportionately higher with larger class sizes. Alternatively, replacing the bottom 5-8 percent of teachers with average teachers could move the U.S. near the top of international math and science rankings with a present value of $100 trillion. u00a9 2010 Elsevier Ltd.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Economics of Education Review”, “id” : “ITEM-4”, “issue” : “3”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2011” ] ] }, “page” : “466-479”, “publisher” : “Elsevier Ltd”, “title” : “The economic value of higher teacher quality”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “30” }, “locator” : “467”, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=a2b9b522-2178-49b5-92ee-cbb3b26c6277” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2011, p. 467; RAND Education, 2012; Rockoff, 2004; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2011, p. 467; RAND Education, 2012; Rockoff, 2004; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2011, p. 467; RAND Education, 2012; Rockoff, 2004; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Hanushek, 2011, p. 467; RAND Education, 2012; Rockoff, 2004; Seidel & Shavelson, 2007). While the research consistently confirms the importance of regular classroom teachers, it lacks strong consensus in the teacher characteristics needed to consistently and positively affect student achievement. There are several challenges in determining added value without clarity on the essential teacher characteristics required to improve gains in performance. Harris and Sass noted the challenges in measuring the value of classroom teachers and their impact on student learning. They observed that it is difficult to determine professional productivity in teaching. Also, effectiveness outcomes are influenced by variables such as a student’s ability, the influences of peers, family, and other characteristics of schools. Moreover, there are observed and unobserved teacher attributes that naturally affect the educational pursuits of teachers, such as the amount and types of education and the training teachers pursue. The authors argue that this likely influences the subsequent performance of teachers in the classroom ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.11.009”, “ISBN” : “0047-2727”, “ISSN” : “00472727”, “PMID” : “60158031”, “abstract” : “We study the effects of various types of education and training on the productivity of teachers in promoting student achievement. Previous studies on the subject have been hampered by inadequate measures of teacher training and difficulties in addressing the non-random selection of teachers to students and of teachers to training. We address these issues by estimating models that include detailed measures of pre-service and in-service training, a rich set of time-varying covariates, and student, teacher, and school fixed effects. We find that elementary and middle school teacher productivity increases with experience (informal on-the-job training). The largest gains from experience occur in the first few years, but we find continuing gains beyond the first five years of a teacher’s career. In contrast, we do not find a consistent relationship between formal professional development training and teacher productivity. However, this may be partly driven by estimation issues as we find more significant positive effects of formal training in the subject-grade combination where estimates should be most precise (middle school math). There is no evidence that teachers’ pre-service (undergraduate) training or college entrance exam scores are related to productivity. u00a9 2010 Elsevier B.V.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Harris”, “given” : “Douglas”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Sass”, “given” : “Tim”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Public Economics”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “7-8”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2011” ] ] }, “note” : “Although much work remains to fully understand the ways in which training affects the ability of teachers to promote student learning, our analysis, in combination with other recent research, does offer some tentative suggestions for shaping future policy. First, our finding (and that of others) that experience greatly enhances the productivity of elementary and middle school teachers early in their careers indicates that policies designed to promote retention of young teachers can yield significant benefits over and above avoiding the cost of hiring new teachers. Second, our finding (consistent with prior research), that advanced degrees are uncorrelated with the produc- tivity of elementary school teachers suggests that current salary schedules, which are based in part on educational attainment, may not be an efficient way to compensate teachers in primary school. Third, our evidence that only content-oriented professional develop- ment coursework taken by middle and high-school math teachers appears effective suggests that relatively more resources ought to be put into content-focused training for teachers in the upper grades and that changes are warranted in PD at the elementary level and in pedagogical in-service training generally. Finally, given we find scant evidence that the amount of undergraduate coursework in educationneffects future productivity and our work and that of others does not find education majors are significantly more productive as teachers than non-education majors, it seems worthwhile to rethink the structure of traditional preparation programs and continue experi- mentation with so-called u201calternative certificationu201d programs that facilitate the entry of non-education majors into teaching.”, “page” : “798-812”, “publisher” : “Elsevier B.V.”, “title” : “Teacher training, teacher quality and student achievement”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “95” }, “locator” : “798”, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=e2263cec-75ab-4c20-a943-d90dfe0fef0a” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Harris & Sass, 2011, p. 798)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Harris & Sass, 2011, p. 798)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Harris & Sass, 2011, p. 798)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Harris & Sass, 2011, p. 798).
It is know that teachers are core to the educational construct. Regardless of the varying degrees of teacher efficacy, the literature consistently shows that teachers are the essential contributor to student achievement and that their presence in our nation’s classrooms is critical to positively affect student outcomes ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “Over the last two decades, research on student achievement has pin-pointed the central role of teachers. While other factorsu2014u00ad families, peers, neighborhoodsu2014are obviously elements in a student’s learn-ing, it is the school and particularly the teachers and administra-tors who are given the public responsibility for the education of our youth. There is a general consensus that improving the effectiveness of teachers is the key to lifting student achievement, although questions remain about how best to do this. A key element in focusing attention on the importance of teacher effectiveness was research that took an outcomes-based perspective. 1 By looking at differences in the growth of student achievement across different teachers instead of concentrating on just the background and characteristics of teachers, it was possible to identify the true impact of teachers on students. This work, now generally called value-added analysis, demonstrated that some teachers consistently get greater learning gains year after year than other teachers. In fact, the average learning gains associated with a teacher provide a convenient metric for teacher effectiveness. FinnSousa_WhatLiesAhead_ch02.indd 23 12/4/13 7:58 AM”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “What Lies Ahead for America’s Children and Their Schools?”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2014” ] ] }, “page” : “23-35”, “title” : “Boosting teacher effectiveness”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ec12c55c-70e4-4d92-a650-e532ecab1060” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1007/978-3-319-41252-8”, “ISBN” : “978-3-319-41251-1”, “abstract” : “In this volume, five separate studies examine differing aspects of relations between teacher quality, instructional quality and learning outcomes across countries, taking into account context characteristics such as school climate. The 2007 and 2011 TIMSS (Trends in Mathematics and Science Study) cycles provided the research data. These five studies cover grade four or grade eight students and their teachers, including cognitive or affective-motivational learning outcomes. This introductory chapter describes the overall conceptual framework and the research questions posed by each chapter, and outlines the general design features of TIMSS. Key constructs, and common methodological issues among the five studies are discussed, and this introduction concludes with an overview of all chapters.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Nilsen, Trude; Gustafsson”, “given” : “Jan-Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “167”, “title” : “Teacher quality, instructional quality and student outcomes”, “type” : “book”, “volume” : “2” }, “locator” : “2”, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d246baac-391c-4ed9-bf1b-8eef1b0da912” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2014; Nilsen, Trude; Gustafsson, 2016, p. 2)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2014; Nilsen, Trude; Gustafsson, 2016, p. 2)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 2014; Nilsen, Trude; Gustafsson, 2016, p. 2)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Hanushek, 2014; Nilsen, Trude; Gustafsson, 2016, p. 2).
How teacher effectiveness is measured.
Districts adopt evaluation systems to measure and rate teacher effectiveness. Unfortunately, evaluation systems often vary from district to district, and even when using the same system within a district, the tools are mostly subjective and used inconsistently. Thus researchers rely primarily on student assessment data in establishing practical measures to capture impacts of teachers ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1257/aer.104.9.2633”, “ISBN” : “9788578110796”, “ISSN” : “00028282”, “PMID” : “25246403”, “abstract” : “Are teachers’ impacts on students’ test scores (value-added) a good measure of their quality? This question has sparked debate partly because of a lack of evidence on whether high value-added (VA) teachers improve students’ long-term outcomes. Using school district and tax records for more than one million children, we find that students assigned to high-VA teachers are more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, and are less likely to have children as teenagers. Replacing a teacher whose VA is in the bottom 5 percent with an average teacher would increase the present value of students’ lifetime income by approximately $250,000 per classroom.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Chetty”, “given” : “Raj”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Friedman”, “given” : “John”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rockoff”, “given” : “Jonah”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “American Economic Review”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “9”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2014” ] ] }, “page” : “2633-2679”, “title” : “Measuring the impacts of teachers II: Teacher value-added and student outcomes in adulthood”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “104” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=9298ff98-d456-4167-9f06-604a6d53b414” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014). However, there are still significant challenges for researchers in measuring the quality of a teacher using student performance data. Measured outcomes can be affected by the student’s ability, geographic location, level of parent/guardian education and life experiences. There are also similar unobserved teacher characteristics, such as motivation, intelligence, and background that researchers may not easily control when studying the interplay between students and their teachers. These compounding attributes complicate attempts to correlate teacher measures of quality with student measures of performance ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “0034-6543”, “ISSN” : “0034-6543”, “abstract” : “Teacher quality is widely thought of as an essential determinant of academic per- formance, yet there is little agreement as to what specific characteristics make a good teacher (Hanushek and Rivkin, 2006). Using a pioneer matched student-teacher data, this research examines whether observable teacher characteristics, such as gender, expe- rience, education level and the fact that teachers are displaced from their residence area to work, affect the achievement gains of secondary education students. The results are based on data for the period between 2010 and 2012. The student achievement analysis uses a value-added approach that adjusts for teacher fixed-effects. Results show that fe- male teachers have better performance on student achievement gains than males teachers and that teachers working away from home have a negative and significant effects on students achievement. Advanced degrees seems have no relationship to teacher quality as a measured by student achievement gains, i.e. teachers with masters or PhDs do no better or worse comparing with teachers with a graduation degree. Finally, teachers with more experience are more effective in increasing student achievement gains than those with less experience.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Sousa”, “given” : “Sandra”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Portela”, “given” : “Miguel”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Sa”, “given” : “Carla”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “title” : “Teacher characteristics and student progress”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b5c762dd-7a4d-4c9a-be6e-7e89ca36a599” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.3386/w11154”, “ISBN” : “9788578110796”, “ISSN” : “1098-6596”, “PMID” : “25246403”, “abstract” : “applicability for this approach.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Kain”, “given” : “John”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “O’Brien”, “given” : “Daniel”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rivkin”, “given” : “Steven”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2005” ] ] }, “title” : “The market for teacher quality”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d5e72fda-d331-4c91-99b5-2afd086bc335” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.3102/0002831209350494”, “ISBN” : “00028312”, “ISSN” : “0002-8312”, “abstract” : “Researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and parents have assumed a posi- tive relationship between school attendance and academic success. And yet, among the vast body of empirical research examining how input factors relate to academic outcomes, few investigations have honed in on the preci- sion of the relationship between individual attendance and student achieve- ment. The purpose of this article is to provide insight into this relationship. Specifically, this study has evaluated the hypothesis that the number of days a student was present in school positively affected learning outcomes. To assess this, a unique empirical approach was taken in order to evaluate a comprehensive dataset of elementary and middle school students in the Philadelphia School District. Employing a fixed effects framework and instrumental variables strategy, this study provides evidence from a quasi- experimental design geared at estimating the causal impact of attendance on multiple measures of achievement, including GPA and standardized reading and math test performance. The results consistently indicate positive and statistically significant relationships between student attendance and academic achievement for both elementary and middle school students. KEYWORDS:”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gottfried”, “given” : “Michael A.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “American Educational Research Journal”, “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2010” ] ] }, “note” : “Considering this for the methods”, “page” : “434-465”, “title” : “Evaluating the relationship between student attendance and achievement in urban elementary and middle schools: An instrumental variables approach”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “47” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=b0bd0c53-ddd7-43f8-bda6-cf739035dceb” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-4”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Todd”, “given” : “Petra”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Wolpin”, “given” : “Kenneth”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “The Economic Journal”, “id” : “ITEM-4”, “issue” : “485”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2003” ] ] }, “title” : “On the specification and estimation of the production function for cognitive achievement”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “113” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=91b4ce1c-1730-41c6-90fc-e75a590fc75d” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Gottfried, 2010; Hanushek, Kain, Ou2019Brien, & Rivkin, 2005; Sousa, Portela, & Sa, 2016; Todd & Wolpin, 2003)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Gottfried, 2010; Hanushek, Kain, Ou2019Brien, & Rivkin, 2005; Sousa, Portela, & Sa, 2016; Todd & Wolpin, 2003)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Gottfried, 2010; Hanushek, Kain, Ou2019Brien, & Rivkin, 2005; Sousa, Portela, & Sa, 2016; Todd & Wolpin, 2003)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Gottfried, 2010; Hanushek, Kain, O’Brien, & Rivkin, 2005; Sousa, Portela, & Sa, 2016; Todd & Wolpin, 2003).
Research supports a positive relationship between teacher quality and student performance. In some cases, a high-quality teacher can leverage an additional year’s worth of growth from students compared to teachers who are considered lower quality ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1086/261808”, “ISBN” : “00223808”, “ISSN” : “0022-3808”, “PMID” : “267733”, “abstract” : “An empirical investigation of trade-offs between number of children and their scholastic performance confirms that family size directly affects children’s achievement. Though parents show no favoritism to first-born children, being early in the birth order implies a distinct advantage, entirely because of the higher probability of being in a small family. Recent large changes in family size explain a portion of aggregate test score declines, but increased divorce rates and market work by mothers have no apparent impact. Finally, teachers are shown to differ enormously, even though performance differences are poorly captured by commonly measured teacher characteristics. The evidence supports a teacher skill interpretation of differences in classroom achievement.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Political Economy”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1992” ] ] }, “page” : “84–117”, “title” : “The trade-off between child quantity and quality”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “100” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=2e3267ad-356d-41ae-8222-339887d006f7” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “Over the last two decades, research on student achievement has pin-pointed the central role of teachers. While other factorsu2014u00ad families, peers, neighborhoodsu2014are obviously elements in a student’s learn-ing, it is the school and particularly the teachers and administra-tors who are given the public responsibility for the education of our youth. There is a general consensus that improving the effectiveness of teachers is the key to lifting student achievement, although questions remain about how best to do this. A key element in focusing attention on the importance of teacher effectiveness was research that took an outcomes-based perspective. 1 By looking at differences in the growth of student achievement across different teachers instead of concentrating on just the background and characteristics of teachers, it was possible to identify the true impact of teachers on students. This work, now generally called value-added analysis, demonstrated that some teachers consistently get greater learning gains year after year than other teachers. In fact, the average learning gains associated with a teacher provide a convenient metric for teacher effectiveness. FinnSousa_WhatLiesAhead_ch02.indd 23 12/4/13 7:58 AM”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “What Lies Ahead for America’s Children and Their Schools?”, “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2014” ] ] }, “page” : “23-35”, “title” : “Boosting teacher effectiveness”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “locator” : “23”, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=ec12c55c-70e4-4d92-a650-e532ecab1060” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 1992, 2014, p. 23)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 1992, 2014, p. 23)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek, 1992, 2014, p. 23)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Hanushek, 1992, 2014, p. 23). It is also know that students assigned to effective teachers are more likely to attend post-secondary schooling, earn higher salaries, and are less likely to have children as teenagers ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1257/aer.104.9.2633”, “ISBN” : “9788578110796”, “ISSN” : “00028282”, “PMID” : “25246403”, “abstract” : “Are teachers’ impacts on students’ test scores (value-added) a good measure of their quality? This question has sparked debate partly because of a lack of evidence on whether high value-added (VA) teachers improve students’ long-term outcomes. Using school district and tax records for more than one million children, we find that students assigned to high-VA teachers are more likely to attend college, earn higher salaries, and are less likely to have children as teenagers. Replacing a teacher whose VA is in the bottom 5 percent with an average teacher would increase the present value of students’ lifetime income by approximately $250,000 per classroom.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Chetty”, “given” : “Raj”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Friedman”, “given” : “John”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rockoff”, “given” : “Jonah”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “American Economic Review”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “9”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2014” ] ] }, “page” : “2633-2679”, “title” : “Measuring the impacts of teachers II: Teacher value-added and student outcomes in adulthood”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “104” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=9298ff98-d456-4167-9f06-604a6d53b414” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Chetty et al., 2014)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Chetty et al., 2014)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Chetty et al., 2014)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Chetty, Friedman, & Rockoff, 2014). These long-term, desired effects, place a premium on the importance of effective teaching and ensuring that students benefit from instruction delivered by a high-quality teacher.
Teacher Absenteeism
While teacher quality continues to be essential to success in student learning, if teachers are frequently absent, quality may be irrelevant. At the same time, teachers need supportive professional environments that enable them to take time off when needed. They experience personal illness, have to take care of family and require personal days to manage the particulars of their lives and the lives of those around them. However, there is a growing trend of chronic teacher absenteeism in schools. Over the course of a student’s progression from kindergarten to twelfth-grade educational experience, students spend the equivalent of one full year of school instructed by substitute teachers ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Glatfelter”, “given” : “Andrew Gary”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2006” ] ] }, “title” : “Substitute teachers as effective classroom instructors”, “type” : “thesis” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=6e5f6beb-60d6-42d4-8817-04a412cdfcec” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Glatfelter, 2006)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Glatfelter, 2006)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Glatfelter, 2006)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Glatfelter, 2006)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Glatfelter, 2006).
Imperatively, 36% of the nation’s teachers miss ten or more days of school ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “The 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, instructional and other staff, and resources u2014 as well as school climate factors, such as student discipline and bullying and harassment u2014 that impact education equity and opportunity for students. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will release additional data highlights later in 2016 on key topics such as student discipline, early learning access, teacher and staffing equity, access to courses and programs that foster college and career readiness, and chronic student absenteeism. The full CRDC data file may be downloaded now; please visit crdc.ed.gov for more information. In Fall 2016, the public will be able to look up 2013-14 CRDC data for individual schools, school districts, and states by visiting the CRDC website at ocrdata.ed.gov. Who’s in the 2013-14 CRDC? Number of school districts: 16,758 (99.2% of all school districts) Number of schools: 95,507 (99.5% of all public schools) Total number of students: 50,035,744 In this document, data highlights marked as NEW indicate that the CRDC collected new information on the topic for the first time in the 2013-14 CRDC.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “1-13”, “title” : “A first look: Key data highlights on equity and opportunity gaps in our nation’s public schools”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=0c78493a-a0be-390e-bf78-2e588fd709f5” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016). Additionally, schools serving high proportions of African American and Latino students reflected increased teacher absence rates ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “9781303604263”, “PMID” : “1476439725”, “abstract” : “Prior research indicates a relationship between chronic student absenteeism and chronic teacher absenteeism with regard to student achievement. However, those two potential predictors are rarely explored in the same study. In addition, building or district absence rates are often utilized instead of examining individual absences which can lead to an underestimation of the results. Using attachment theory to guide the conceptual framework and formulation of research questions, possible predictors of K-3 elementary student reading achievement were explored. The factors in this study included gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, student absence (both annual and cumulative), and teacher absence (both annual and cumulative). One-Way ANOVA results indicated that differing levels of teacher absence had no effect on spring reading scores at any grade level. Sequential regression analyses indicated that socioeconomic status was a significant predictor of reading scores at all grade levels and that cumulative student absences were a significant predictor of Iowa Assessment reading scores in third grade. The results of this study provide information on the connection among variables and suggestions on how to positively impact student attendance and performance, especially for students living in poverty.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Niemeyer”, “given” : “Barbara J”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gillespie”, “given” : “Catherine”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2013” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “143”, “title” : “Examining the effects of student and teacher absence on elementary student reading proficiency”, “type” : “thesis”, “volume” : “3604650” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=fcf7d400-9854-38ce-8fec-fa494aab5d57” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Miller”, “given” : “Raegen”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “November”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2012” ] ] }, “page” : “24”, “title” : “Teacher absence as a leading indicator of student achievement: New national data offer opportunity to examine cost of teacher absence relative to learning loss”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=a530d72d-b9c4-361b-9e62-b88e00cb63eb” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(R. Miller, 2012; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(R. Miller, 2012; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(R. Miller, 2012; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(R. Miller, 2012; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013). Federal reporting and data collection for school districts define teacher absenteeism in the following way: “A teacher was absent if he or she was not in attendance on a day in the regular school year when the teacher would otherwise be expected to be teaching students in an assigned class. These absences include both days taken for sick leave and days taken for personal leave. Personal leave includes voluntary absences for reasons other than sick leave.” ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “The 2013-14 Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) is a survey of all public schools and school districts in the United States. The CRDC measures student access to courses, programs, instructional and other staff, and resources u2014 as well as school climate factors, such as student discipline and bullying and harassment u2014 that impact education equity and opportunity for students. The U.S. Department of Education (ED) will release additional data highlights later in 2016 on key topics such as student discipline, early learning access, teacher and staffing equity, access to courses and programs that foster college and career readiness, and chronic student absenteeism. The full CRDC data file may be downloaded now; please visit crdc.ed.gov for more information. In Fall 2016, the public will be able to look up 2013-14 CRDC data for individual schools, school districts, and states by visiting the CRDC website at ocrdata.ed.gov. Who’s in the 2013-14 CRDC? Number of school districts: 16,758 (99.2% of all school districts) Number of schools: 95,507 (99.5% of all public schools) Total number of students: 50,035,744 In this document, data highlights marked as NEW indicate that the CRDC collected new information on the topic for the first time in the 2013-14 CRDC.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “1-13”, “title” : “A first look: Key data highlights on equity and opportunity gaps in our nation’s public schools”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=0c78493a-a0be-390e-bf78-2e588fd709f5” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2016).
When teachers are absent, their classes are covered by either: 1) another teacher or teachers, who absorb either the entire class or a portion of the class, 2) a school administrator or 3) a substitute teacher. Regardless of the type of coverage, there is disruption to regular routines and the learning environment, producing unpredictable classroom dynamics ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “9781303604263”, “PMID” : “1476439725”, “abstract” : “Prior research indicates a relationship between chronic student absenteeism and chronic teacher absenteeism with regard to student achievement. However, those two potential predictors are rarely explored in the same study. In addition, building or district absence rates are often utilized instead of examining individual absences which can lead to an underestimation of the results. Using attachment theory to guide the conceptual framework and formulation of research questions, possible predictors of K-3 elementary student reading achievement were explored. The factors in this study included gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, student absence (both annual and cumulative), and teacher absence (both annual and cumulative). One-Way ANOVA results indicated that differing levels of teacher absence had no effect on spring reading scores at any grade level. Sequential regression analyses indicated that socioeconomic status was a significant predictor of reading scores at all grade levels and that cumulative student absences were a significant predictor of Iowa Assessment reading scores in third grade. The results of this study provide information on the connection among variables and suggestions on how to positively impact student attendance and performance, especially for students living in poverty.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Niemeyer”, “given” : “Barbara J”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gillespie”, “given” : “Catherine”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2013” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “143”, “title” : “Examining the effects of student and teacher absence on elementary student reading proficiency”, “type” : “thesis”, “volume” : “3604650” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=fcf7d400-9854-38ce-8fec-fa494aab5d57” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Brooks”, “given” : “Sidney A”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2015” ] ] }, “title” : “The effect of teacher absenteeism on 8th grade students’ behavior and attendance in an urban 6-12 charter school”, “type” : “thesis” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=7531a46d-7a83-3b64-a809-61e9e634afe3” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “0419-4209”, “abstract” : “This study examined the relationship between teacher absenteeism and student achievement in math and language arts in the rural environment. Classical Economic Theory was used as a foundation in combination with Choice Theory and The Model of Learning to examine the role of the teacher and how the chronically absent teacher impacts the quality of learning for the student. The nature of substitute teaching was reviewed as well as how a break in continuity of instruction, caused by the chronically absent teacher, affects the overall quality of the educational environment. The amount of time teachers are absent from instructional duties and the reasons teachers miss school were examined. A correlational research design was utilized to determine if a relationship between teacher absenteeism and student achievement based on archived Tennessee Comprehensive Assessment Program (TCAP) data exists. The study specifically examined how student attainment, in the areas of math and language arts, may be related to teacher absenteeism and how teachers’ job satisfaction relates to teacher absenteeism. Results suggest a weak correlation between absenteeism and student achievement and a general feeling of approval in the measure of job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Winters”, “given” : “Daniel Keith”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences”, “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issue” : “1-A(E)”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2015” ] ] }, “title” : “The relationship between job satisfaction, teacher absenteeism, and intermediate school achievement in math and language arts: A correlational study.”, “type” : “thesis”, “volume” : “76” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3d914917-29e0-3be7-94ce-6d252f8e9d6c” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013; Winters, 2015)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013; Winters, 2015)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013; Winters, 2015)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Brooks, 2015; Niemeyer & Gillespie, 2013; Winters, 2015). The unavoidable introduction of new classroom dynamics directly impedes on the realization of the all-important aspect of student success in multiple ways. To a large extent, the classroom dynamics resulting from this disruption affect how well the students work together. Whenever a different teacher substitutes for another teacher, chances are the new teacher will have a very limited understanding of the students. Moreover, the lack of instinct-based mode of teaching, which makes up a significant portion of the teaching routine, may inadvertently erode the chances of maintaining a climate conducive enough to foster favorable quality learning.
Assuming that a substitute teacher is available, there is growing concern that, in general, substitute teachers may not possess the quality indicators required to adequately proxy for the regular teacher ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1007/s11218-004-5232-z”, “ISSN” : “1573-1928”, “abstract” : “The present study was designed in order to examine the contribution of personal attributes, teachers’ organizational commitment, and two organizational attributes, school climate and culture of absence at, school, vis-u00e0-vis two different types of teacher absences from work, namely voluntary and involuntary absence. For that purpose, 200 teachers (74% answered) from Jerusalem (Israel), were required to complete the following scales: the Organization commitment scale, the primary school climate scale and the culture of absence scale. Results indicated that the correlations between attitudes and voluntary measures differ from the same correlations involving the involuntary measures. None of the biographical (gender, age and seniority, education) and/or attitudinal variables can explain the variance for any of the involuntary indices. Lower teachers’ commitment to school, principal’s restrictive behavior and absentee school culture offer a better explanation of variances in teacher absenteeism than any of the biographical variables.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gaziel”, “given” : “Haim H”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Social Psychology of Education”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2004”, “12” ] ] }, “note” : “From Israel”, “page” : “421-434”, “title” : “Predictors of absenteeism among primary school teachers”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “7” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ccac27b-ec16-43aa-b3d3-39016ec7d9bb” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Smith”, “given” : “By Geoffrey G”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Teacher”, “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2000” ] ] }, “page” : “8-17”, “title” : “Increasing Teacher Attendance”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “2” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=85a3a76c-2f3a-42e2-962a-7d35887f9bb7” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “0013-1172”, “ISSN” : “00131172”, “abstract” : “A study of the effect of teacher absenteeism on student performance found that students with teachers who had fewer absences had significantly larger improvements in grade equivalency.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Woods”, “given” : “Robert C”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “V.”, “family” : “Montagno”, “given” : “Ray”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Education”, “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1997” ] ] }, “page” : “307”, “title” : “Determining the negative effect of teacher attendance on student achievement”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “118” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=36708432-64a4-3a12-960e-705ff4d565d4” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-4”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Owen”, “given” : “Allison Taylor”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2010” ] ] }, “page” : “1-117”, “title” : “Leadership practices that influence teacher attendance in a low and high teacher absentee school”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=527414d8-35c3-45e7-987e-4dcdce7b3c56” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Smith, 2000; Woods & Montagno, 1997)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Smith, 2000; Woods & Montagno, 1997)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Smith, 2000; Woods & Montagno, 1997)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Smith, 2000; Woods & Montagno, 1997). The lack of nationally acceptable statutes buttressing the need for certain qualifications among substitute teachers worsens the situation even further. Case in point, the states of Tennessee, Arkansas, and Mississipi rely heavily on substitute teachers yet they have some of the most lenient requirements for substitute teachers in the United States. Consequently, substituting regular teachers with proxies carries the risk of adulterating the efficacy of imparting knowledge to students, more so when a critical subject such as maths is concerned.
The literature reflects the two types of absences as voluntary or involuntary. Voluntary absences are a decision weighed against personal interest. Involuntary absences ideally stem from a personal illness or injury that is not within the direct control of the individual. Involuntary absences tend to be less frequent and more extended in duration ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1007/s11218-004-5232-z”, “ISSN” : “1573-1928”, “abstract” : “The present study was designed in order to examine the contribution of personal attributes, teachers’ organizational commitment, and two organizational attributes, school climate and culture of absence at, school, vis-u00e0-vis two different types of teacher absences from work, namely voluntary and involuntary absence. For that purpose, 200 teachers (74% answered) from Jerusalem (Israel), were required to complete the following scales: the Organization commitment scale, the primary school climate scale and the culture of absence scale. Results indicated that the correlations between attitudes and voluntary measures differ from the same correlations involving the involuntary measures. None of the biographical (gender, age and seniority, education) and/or attitudinal variables can explain the variance for any of the involuntary indices. Lower teachers’ commitment to school, principal’s restrictive behavior and absentee school culture offer a better explanation of variances in teacher absenteeism than any of the biographical variables.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gaziel”, “given” : “Haim H”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Social Psychology of Education”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2004”, “12” ] ] }, “note” : “From Israel”, “page” : “421-434”, “title” : “Predictors of absenteeism among primary school teachers”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “7” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ccac27b-ec16-43aa-b3d3-39016ec7d9bb” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Gaziel, 2004)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Gaziel, 2004). There is a third category that is considered quasi-involuntary. In other words, it is the use of an involuntary category of leave such as sick-leave for a non-health issue (e.g., taking an animal to the vet, bereavement time for someone not recognized by an employer’s bereavement policy). Other literature noted that reasons for voluntary absences also included “soft” absences (those taken to avoid losing leave days or absences taken for recreational purposes) reported as sick leave ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1177/0013161X90026001004”, “ISBN” : “9002600100”, “ISSN” : “0013-161X”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Dworkin”, “given” : “a. G.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Haney”, “given” : “C. a.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Dworkin”, “given” : “R. J.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Telschow”, “given” : “R. L.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Educational Administration Quarterly”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1990” ] ] }, “page” : “60-72”, “title” : “Stress and illness behavior among urban public school teachers”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “26” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5853a382-16ee-42df-a9a7-cb5e47d998f6” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Dworkin, Haney, Dworkin, & Telschow, 1990)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Dworkin, Haney, Dworkin, & Telschow, 1990)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Dworkin, Haney, Dworkin, & Telschow, 1990)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Dworkin, Haney, Dworkin, & Telschow, 1990).
Teachers receive an average of twelve sick/personal days per year. U.S. civilian workers receive an average of eight days, and they are required to work up to 60 more days in their work year ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Northern”, “given” : “Amber M.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Michael”, “given” : “J. Petrilli”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2017” ] ] }, “title” : “Teacher absenteeism in charter and traditional public schools”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=cca26380-3d75-4d9d-ba33-8cf0cd9e25b0” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “U.S. Department of Labor”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “Bulletin 2785”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “number-of-pages” : “565”, “title” : “National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States, March 2016”, “type” : “report” }, “locator” : “328”, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5f501710-831e-4228-898b-0edfef5bfcc6” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Northern & Michael, 2017; U.S. Department of Labor, 2016, p. 328)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Northern & Michael, 2017; U.S. Department of Labor, 2016, p. 328)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Northern & Michael, 2017; U.S. Department of Labor, 2016, p. 328)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Northern & Michael, 2017; U.S. Department of Labor, 2016, p. 328). While it is understandably reasonable to construe an average of twelve sick/personal days a year as largely inconsequential, the fact of the matter is that even a slight change in the classroom environment can induce certain changes amongst the students. More often than not, these changes distract the students which in turn affect how well they learn.
Administrative practices within organizations govern the what, how, and when for time away from work. They develop policies and procedures to provide leave options in both of these categories and then monitor and manage their use. The policies outline constraints and incentives to govern the use of both types of leave, such as the identification of leave categories, the total number of days one receives, how days accumulate, how many days one requests and reports day and when it is permissible to use the days. While the specifics of leave policies vary, the basic tenants are the same ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1016/j.labeco.2006.05.002”, “ISBN” : “09275371”, “ISSN” : “09275371”, “abstract” : “We utilise a unique matched teacher-school data set of absenteeism records to quantify the impact of group interaction on the absence behavior of primary and secondary teachers. To address problems of identification our study focuses on teachers who move between schools. The estimates for movers suggest that absenteeism is influenced by prevailing group absence behaviour at the school. Our finding suggests that a worker takes one more day of absenteeism if their average coworker takes 12 more days or 8 more days absenteeism per quarter for primary school and secondary school teachers, respectively. We interpret this as evidence that worker shirking is influenced by workplace absence norms. u00a9 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Bradley”, “given” : “Steve”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Green”, “given” : “Colin”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Leeves”, “given” : “Gareth”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Labour Economics”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “3”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2007”, “6”, “1” ] ] }, “page” : “319-334”, “publisher” : “North-Holland”, “title” : “Worker absence and shirking: Evidence from matched teacher-school data”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “14” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=e6eeb18f-e3c5-30e0-b3b4-52c1e99132d3” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1086/666537”, “ISBN” : “9788578110796”, “ISSN” : “0734-306X”, “PMID” : “25246403”, “abstract” : “Predicting the binding mode of flexible polypeptides to proteins is an important task that falls outside the domain of applicability of most small molecule and proteinu2212protein docking tools. Here, we test the small molecule flexible ligand docking program Glide on a set of 19 non-u03b1-helical peptides and systematically improve pose prediction accuracy by enhancing Glide sampling for flexible polypeptides. In addition, scoring of the poses was improved by post-processing with physics-based implicit solvent MM- GBSA calculations. Using the best RMSD among the top 10 scoring poses as a metric, the success rate (RMSD u2264 2.0 u00c5 for the interface backbone atoms) increased from 21% with default Glide SP settings to 58% with the enhanced peptide sampling and scoring protocol in the case of redocking to the native protein structure. This approaches the accuracy of the recently developed Rosetta FlexPepDock method (63% success for these 19 peptides) while being over 100 times faster. Cross-docking was performed for a subset of cases where an unbound receptor structure was available, and in that case, 40% of peptides were docked successfully. We analyze the results and find that the optimized polypeptide protocol is most accurate for extended peptides of limited size and number of formal charges, defining a domain of applicability for this approach.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Herrmann”, “given” : “Mariesa A”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rockoff”, “given” : “Jonah E”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Labor Economics”, “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2010” ] ] }, “note” : “Author contact info:nMariesa HerrmannnInternational Affairs BuildingnDepartment of EconomicsnColumbia Universityn420 W 118th StreetnNew York, NY 10027nE-Mail: [email protected] E. RockoffnColumbia UniversitynGraduate School of Businessn3022 Broadway #603nNew York, NY 10027-6903nTel: 212/854-9799nFax: 212/316-9219nE-Mail: [email protected]”, “page” : “749-782”, “title” : “Worker absence and productivity: evidence from teaching”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “30” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=4f5a443c-5f0d-3eee-8bcb-887d106f5f38” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Owen”, “given” : “Allison Taylor”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2010” ] ] }, “page” : “1-117”, “title” : “Leadership practices that influence teacher attendance in a low and high teacher absentee school”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=527414d8-35c3-45e7-987e-4dcdce7b3c56” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Bradley, Green, & Leeves, 2007; Herrmann & Rockoff, 2010; Owen, 2010)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Bradley, Green, & Leeves, 2007; Herrmann & Rockoff, 2010; Owen, 2010)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Bradley, Green, & Leeves, 2007; Herrmann & Rockoff, 2010; Owen, 2010)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Bradley, Green, & Leeves, 2007; Herrmann & Rockoff, 2010; Owen, 2010).
When employees are occasionally sick, leave policies typically cover absences. At other times, employees rationalize the “cost” of being absent against the several motivators such as job satisfaction, work environment, stress, and their performance ratings ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1007/s11218-004-5232-z”, “ISSN” : “1573-1928”, “abstract” : “The present study was designed in order to examine the contribution of personal attributes, teachers’ organizational commitment, and two organizational attributes, school climate and culture of absence at, school, vis-u00e0-vis two different types of teacher absences from work, namely voluntary and involuntary absence. For that purpose, 200 teachers (74% answered) from Jerusalem (Israel), were required to complete the following scales: the Organization commitment scale, the primary school climate scale and the culture of absence scale. Results indicated that the correlations between attitudes and voluntary measures differ from the same correlations involving the involuntary measures. None of the biographical (gender, age and seniority, education) and/or attitudinal variables can explain the variance for any of the involuntary indices. Lower teachers’ commitment to school, principal’s restrictive behavior and absentee school culture offer a better explanation of variances in teacher absenteeism than any of the biographical variables.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Gaziel”, “given” : “Haim H”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Social Psychology of Education”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2004”, “12” ] ] }, “note” : “From Israel”, “page” : “421-434”, “title” : “Predictors of absenteeism among primary school teachers”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “7” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3ccac27b-ec16-43aa-b3d3-39016ec7d9bb” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “This paper will address the effect that teacher absenteeism has on academic achievement in grades 3-6 in a selected elementary school in Montgomery, Alabama. Using SAT 10 scores from this school, a spreadsheet will be created dividing teachers into top and bottom in reference to teacher absenteeism and student achievement on the SAT 10 for each particular year under review. This spreadsheet will be used as a guide to show the relationship between student performances, SAT 10, and teacher absenteeism. Data will be reported in descriptive statistics (which will include some frequencies, percent, means and standard deviation). (1)Does teacher absenteeism effect student achievement in grades 3-6 on the SAT 10 comprehension assessment in reading and math? (2) Do students in a classroom eventually lose the desire to learn when the regular teacher is frequently absent and the delivery of the instruction is by an array of substitute teachers? (3) Is there a significant gap between elementary students in grades 3-6 in SAT 10 reading and math score? Introduction”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Brown”, “given” : “Sidney L”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Arnell”, “given” : “Anethia T”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “International Journal of Humanities and Social Science”, “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “17”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2012” ] ] }, “page” : “172-183”, “title” : “Measuring the effect teacher absenteeism has on student achievement at a u201cUrban but not too urban:u201d Title I elementary school”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “2” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=624bf077-63a5-3331-8844-817c16c07a4b” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-3”, “itemData” : { “ISSN” : “00131172”, “abstract” : “Many studies have documented small negative relationships between teacher absences and student achievement. The purpose of our research was to explore relationships between teacher absences and student achievement in a large urban school district in the southeastern United States. The work emerged from a question directed to the Accountability Office by a member of the School Board. This study is unique in that both school-level and teacher-level teacher absences were used to predict student academic achievement. The results are mixed: In schools where average teacher absences were low, individual teacher’s absence was statistically and negatively associated with student achievement; however, this effect was washed out in schools where the average teacher absences were high. Our findings blend nicely with those targeting factors of potential impact in predicting achievement across schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Tingle”, “given” : “Lynne R”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Schoeneberger”, “given” : “Jason”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Algozzine”, “given” : “Bob”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Kerr”, “given” : “Elizabeth”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Education”, “id” : “ITEM-3”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2012” ] ] }, “page” : “367-382”, “title” : “An analysis of teacher absence and student achievement.”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “133” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=647dd815-b9d7-4a37-823b-fa9c9d57270c” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-4”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Owen”, “given” : “Allison Taylor”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2010” ] ] }, “page” : “1-117”, “title” : “Leadership practices that influence teacher attendance in a low and high teacher absentee school”, “type” : “article-journal” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=527414d8-35c3-45e7-987e-4dcdce7b3c56” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-5”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “This study explored campus principals’ leadership behaviors and leadership styles to determine possible influences of leadership on teacher absences. The study was viewed through the framework of Bass and Avolio’s (1985) transformational and transactional leadership styles. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire Self-Report (MLQ-SR) was used to identify principals’ perceptions of their leadership styles. Absence data were also collected and analyzed for the school years (2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2014-2015). Data were triangulated using one-on-one interviews with selected principals and teacher focus group discussions. The findings from this study verified that leadership style (described in terms of leadership behaviors) influenced teacher absenteeism indirectly through the culture and climate of the campus. Future research is recommended to discover whether incentive programs decrease teacher absenteeism and how leaders can influence their organizations through their behaviors.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Ayala”, “given” : “Lori”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Doctor of Philosophy (Educational Leadership)”, “id” : “ITEM-5”, “issue” : “18”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2016” ] ] }, “title” : “Leadership and the influences of teacher absenteeism”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “93” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=2a016fa6-2b77-3a1b-8589-81ab8ba7fb5d” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-6”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1177/019263659307755106”, “ISBN” : “0192636593077”, “ISSN” : “19301405”, “abstract” : “Teacher absenteeism has increased dramatically in recent years, especially in large, urban districts. This writer, who studied trends in one East Coast city, draws on his findings to formulate recommendations for improvement. W hen teachers are absent from school, their students achieve less. Literature and experience indicate that substi-tute teachers generally provide an inferior service. In addi-tion, teacher absenteeism is expensive. School boards must pay two salaries (one for the regular teacher and one for the substitute) each time a teacher is absent. And, it has been shown that teacher absenteeism has dramatically increased during the past few decades and that teachers as a group exhibit a higher rate of absenteeism than employees in most other professions. A review of the research on employee absenteeism in busi-ness, industry, and education reveals inconsistent findings in determining the relationship between absenteeism and the”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Pitkoff”, “given” : “Evan”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “NASSP Bulletin”, “id” : “ITEM-6”, “issue” : “551”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1993” ] ] }, “page” : “39-45”, “title” : “Teacher absenteeism: What administrators can do”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “77” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=3dedae75-b0fa-351c-ae29-95f0acc053c8” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Ayala, 2016; Brown & Arnell, 2012; Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Pitkoff, 1993; Tingle, Schoeneberger, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Algozzine, & Kerr, 2012)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Ayala, 2016; Brown & Arnell, 2012; Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Pitkoff, 1993; Tingle, Schoeneberger, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Algozzine, & Kerr, 2012)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Ayala, 2016; Brown & Arnell, 2012; Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Pitkoff, 1993; Tingle, Schoeneberger, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Algozzine, & Kerr, 2012)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Ayala, 2016; Brown & Arnell, 2012; Gaziel, 2004; Owen, 2010; Pitkoff, 1993; Tingle, Schoeneberger, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Algozzine, & Kerr, 2012). Studies have identified other influencers that affect teacher attendance specifically. One study focused on the background variables of age, education, and the teacher’s position level (having a leadership position in addition to teaching). The study found that younger teachers, those who worked longer hours, teachers who were less educated and teachers that did not hold any leadership position, exhibited greater absenteeism ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1108/09578230510586597”, “ISBN” : “0957-8234”, “ISSN” : “0957-8234”, “abstract” : “Purpose u2013 To examine the effects of specific personal and job characteristics on year-to-year (2000-2001) changes in teachers’ frequency of absences. Design/methodology/approach u2013 With few exceptions, the population of elementary- and middle-school teachers in the Israeli public education system (N=51,916) was studied. Hierarchical regression analysis was used. Findings u2013 Prior absenteeism, age, education, and supervisory position were found to be significant predictors of absenteeism frequency, accounting for about 50 percent of the variance in absence frequency. Originality/value u2013 This study focuses on relatively stable individual-difference predictors, including sociodemographic variables and work-related characteristics, which have been downplayed in the literature. These predictors can be measured more reliably and validly, compared to complex psychological constructs, and are relatively easy to interpret and implement by decision makers.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rosenblatt”, “given” : “Zehava”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Shirom”, “given” : “Arie”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Educational Administration”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2005” ] ] }, “note” : “Israeli study”, “page” : “209-225”, “title” : “Predicting teacher absenteeism by personal background factors”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “43” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=1e4f7cb8-186a-4bcb-8aaa-ef3a071e9b39” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Rosenblatt & Shirom, 2005)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Rosenblatt & Shirom, 2005)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Rosenblatt & Shirom, 2005)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Rosenblatt & Shirom, 2005).
The Determinants of Teacher Absenteeism
Over the years, various theories have been posited seeking to explain the rise in chronic teacher absences. Initial investigations into the most plausible causes of absenteeism among employees largely focused on a number of multivariate individual factors, namely age, years of experience, and/or gender (Steers & Rhodes, 1978; Muchinsky, 1977). To a large extent, the high rate of teacher absenteeism can be attributed to these factors. However, the newer literature suggests that the actual causes of teacher absenteeism can be categorized into four different domains: individual factors, school factors, family factors, and the socioeconomic factors (Boden 2016).
Individual Factors
A teacher’s individual characteristics can potentially influence their susceptibility to as well as their rate of absenteeism. These factors encompass the multivariate predictors of employee absenteeism which include gender, age, and the years of teaching experience. Also, other factors such as the commuting distance, the teacher’s level of education, and the presence or absence of children (Eagle 2017). Teachers who commute long distances to get to school are more likely to post higher rates of absenteeism. If such teachers have children, then the probability of missing classes is heightened further. These two factors raise the likelihood of absenteeism primarily because they contribute towards higher stress levels in teachers. The prevalence of such acute stressors is often the root cause of deteriorating health and well-being of teachers which in turn contributes to a sustained rate of absenteeism (Goldstein & Brooks 2013).
As earlier identified, the teacher’s level of education plays a pivotal role in influencing teacher absenteeism. One study investigating the effects of educational level on teacher absenteeism showed that high school diploma holders were inclined to take more sick days, more so when a longterm illness was involved (Garcia 1987). Conversely, employees with professional certifications, master’s degrees, or had attended and graduated from prestigious institutions posted lesser absences (Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007). Although no concrete causative factors have been advanced to explain this discrepancy, the largely rigorous exigencies exerted on teachers with master’s degrees or professional certifications is thought to potentially induce more pronounced success and responsibility traits among the teachers (Springer 2009).
Gender, as a causative agent of teacher absenteeism, has been addressed in various studies (Rosenblatt & Shirom 2006; Steers & Rhodes, 1978). The available literature points to a high prevalence of absenteeism among female teachers as compared to the rate of absenteeism among male teachers (Clotfelter et al., 2007; Garcia 1987). In most cases, the primary driver of this discrepancy of absenteeism between the two sexes is attributed to biological differences. Female teachers are more likely to miss classes during their maternal leave.
School Factors
The school factors associated with teacher absenteeism can be considered under the guise of organizational factors. In this context, the school is viewed as an individual organization which is, therefore not exempted from the same employee attendance issues affecting other conventional organizations. As an organization, the school has to set, maintain, or adhere to certain policies. In their most basic form, school policies determine both staff and student enrollment numbers, discipline, and laying the framework for staff leadership selection. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) notes that teacher absenteeism resulting from school policies are symptomatic of the wide range of problems existing within the entire school system (2010).
Whenever a school is subjected to a significant increase in enrollment numbers, the propensity for teachers to record more absences becomes more pronounced. Empirical evidence indicates that higher enrolment rates often lead to an increase in teacher absenteeism rates (Rosenblatt & Shirom 2006). The postulation that higher enrollment affects teacher absenteeism has received significant support based on compelling empirical research. A comprehensive conducted using geographical information system indicated that teacher absenteeism was more chronic in schools surrounded by densely populated neighborhoods with a poor distribution or access to resources (Bruno 2002).
The availability or absence of monetary incentives also influences teacher attendance. Research indicates that school districts experimenting with monetary incentives post lower rates of teacher absences as compared to the areas without such kind of incentives (Jacobsen 1989). In this practice, teachers with a laudable record of attendance are usually gifted a predetermined monetary reward for their exemplary attendance behavior.
Social and Economic Factors
Although there exists a number of unavoidable factors contributing to higher rates of teacher absences, the supervisory style and practice adopted in a school can exacerbate absenteeism rate even further (Pitkoff, 2003). Inadequate recognition or obstructive behavior on the principal’s part creates a non-conducive environment for the development of good interpersonal relations among the teachers and the administrative fraternity. Correlations have been drawn between the prevalence of high or lower rates of teacher absenteeism rates in schools. The most notable postulation drawn from the correlations indicates that in schools with markedly lower rates of teacher absenteeism, the principal employed a directive leadership style (Imants & VanZoelen, 1995).
The unavailability of economic parity is capable of invigorating the rate of teacher absenteeism. A study conducted in North Carolina implicitly supports this postulation because it indicated that students from low-income areas were exceedingly likely to experience teacher absences as compared to those from high-income regions within the same state (Clotfelter et al., 2007). Also, the lack of adequate pedagogical distribution, driven by negatively skewed economic capability, can demoralize teachers thereby affecting their overall presence time in the classroom (Gaynor 1998).
Family Factors
Tyler posits that familial characteristics such as discord, size, and divorce or separation can directly contribute towards higher absenteeism rates (1988). Protracted feuds with a spouse or child can significantly hamper a teacher’s mindset. When this happens, the teacher becomes ill-equipped in terms of executing the role of imparting knowledge or skills. Consequently, the teacher is more likely to opt to call in sick instead of going to work with a severely negative mindset. Similarly, teachers with larger immediate families develop a non-conducive mental state, more so if they have to shuffle between the roles of parenting and teaching.
The negative effects of teacher absences
When teachers are present in their classrooms, it implies that the students are more likely to learn from them. Empirical research, as early as 1997, supports that teachers with fewer absences positively affects student academic achievement ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “ISBN” : “0013-1172”, “ISSN” : “00131172”, “abstract” : “A study of the effect of teacher absenteeism on student performance found that students with teachers who had fewer absences had significantly larger improvements in grade equivalency.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Woods”, “given” : “Robert C”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “V.”, “family” : “Montagno”, “given” : “Ray”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Education”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1997” ] ] }, “page” : “307”, “title” : “Determining the negative effect of teacher attendance on student achievement”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “118” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=36708432-64a4-3a12-960e-705ff4d565d4” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Woods & Montagno, 1997)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Woods & Montagno, 1997, p. 1)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Woods & Montagno, 1997)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Woods & Montagno, 1997)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Woods & Montagno, 1997, p. 1). The Office for Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) survey (U.S. Department of Education) has reflected teacher absences as a significant concern, as reported by school districts. Since it began including the number of teacher absences as a required element for data collection, beginning in the year 2009, as the reporting period. In data gathered from the 2011-2012 and published on March 2014, CRDC reflected that 28 percent of teachers are absent more than ten days of school “for reasons unrelated to school activities.” Additionally, 17% of students with disabilities (served by IDEA) attend schools where over 50 percent of teachers are absent for more than ten days compared to 15.6 percent of students without disabilities ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “Teacher and Counselor Equity Highlights”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights”, “given” : “”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “4”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2014” ] ] }, “page” : “1-17”, “title” : “Data snapshot: Teacher equity”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “4” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=5e0c91f5-ab34-4586-ade3-47039976e6f0” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, 2014).
When teachers are absent, schools typically utilize the substitute teaching pool to fill in for the time the regular teacher is not in their classroom. The literature often characterizes the substitute as an incompetent, unqualified proxy with minimal training or skill in the classroom ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1177/0022487103252007”, “abstract” : “This article explores both dominant and counternarratives about the work of teachers (and teach-ing) articulated through representations of substitute teachers. Using the notion of deviant histori-ography, the author uses the representation of substitute teachers to render visible the assumptions that govern the boundaries of professionalism. The author’s exploration begins with a brief discus-sion of the professional teacher as constructed in educational reform. The author then presents three images of substitute teachersu2014the incompetent, unqualified teacher; the deviant outsider; and the guerilla superherou2014that proliferate in popular cultural and educational practitioner discourses on teaching. Finally, the author discusses the significance of these images through an analysis of how other teachers function in the context of teacher shortage, educational reform, and school practice.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Weems”, “given” : “Lisa”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Journal of Teacher Education”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “3”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2003” ] ] }, “title” : “Representations of substitute teachers and the paradoxes of professionalism”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “54” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=0e2309da-49b7-3271-a25f-5d254155cdce” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Weems, 2003)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Weems, 2003, p. 256)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Weems, 2003)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Weems, 2003)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Weems, 2003, p. 256). On occasion, when the permanent teacher is absent, the students are divided between other teacher classrooms or the substitute is a fully qualified or retired teacher who merely enjoys the flexibility of substitute teaching. The literature identifies these disruptions as “discontinuities of instruction” ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rundall”, “given” : “Richard”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “5”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “1986” ] ] }, “title” : “Continuity in subbing problems and solutions”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “59” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=4bdf540f-9f94-4d83-bed9-a78ab14d68dd” ] }, { “id” : “ITEM-2”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.3102/016237370708318019”, “ISBN” : “0162373708”, “ISSN” : “0162-3737”, “abstract” : “This article exploits highly detailed data on teacher absences from a large urban school district in the northern United States to shed light on the determinants and effects of teacher absences. The topic is important because both school and district policies can influence teachers’ propensity to be absent. The authors estimate the impact of teacher absences on academic achievement of students matched to elementary school teachers. Models include fixed effects for teachers to control statisti- cally for potential correlation between time-invariant levels of teachers’ skill and effort and their rates of absence. The authors estimate 10 additional days of teacher absence reduce mathematics achievement of fourth-grade students by 3.2% of a standard deviation. They employ an additional instrumental variables strategy to bolster the case for a causal interpretation of results. Instrumental variables results indicate the impact of unexpected teacher absences on student achievement is larger than the impact of anticipated absences.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Miller”, “given” : “Raegen T.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Murnane”, “given” : “Richard J.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Willett”, “given” : “John B.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis”, “id” : “ITEM-2”, “issue” : “2”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2008” ] ] }, “page” : “181-200”, “publisher” : “[American Educational Research Association, Sage Publications, Inc.]”, “title” : “Do teacher absences impact student achievement? Longitudinal evidence from one urban school district”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “30” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=17c70d08-ce38-43b0-99e8-001ed798791d” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(R. T. Miller, Murnane, & Willett, 2008; Rundall, 1986)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Raegen T. Miller, 2008, p. 196; Rundall, 1986, p. 15)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(R. T. Miller, Murnane, & Willett, 2008; Rundall, 1986)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(R. T. Miller, Murnane, & Willett, 2008; Rundall, 1986)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Raegen T. Miller, 2008, p. 196; Rundall, 1986, p. 15). This discontinuity can be harmful and threatens the “regularity of the classroom that students are accustomed to when their teacher is present” ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Brooks”, “given” : “Sidney A”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2015” ] ] }, “title” : “The effect of teacher absenteeism on 8th grade students’ behavior and attendance in an urban 6-12 charter school”, “type” : “thesis” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=7531a46d-7a83-3b64-a809-61e9e634afe3” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Brooks, 2015, p. 5)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Brooks, 2015)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Brooks, 2015, p. 5).
Several factors make the role of the substitute teacher a challenge. Typically the substitute teacher receives little direction. At best they receive a lesson plan that they still need to interpret or an emergency sub-plan created as a contingency in the event of the absent teacher. As noted there are essential skills and qualifications that quality teachers need to foster student improvement in their academics ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Issues”, “given” : “Similar”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Magnitudes”, “given” : “Varying”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “December”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2017” ] ] }, “title” : “Teacher shortages across the nation and Colorado”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=a8dbba44-a323-4180-85c6-66b45b1360cd” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Issues & Magnitudes, 2017)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Reed, 2017, p. 25)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Issues & Magnitudes, 2017)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Issues & Magnitudes, 2017)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Reed, 2017, p. 25). Regarding the lack of qualifications among substitutes, some studies did not find a positive effect between regular teacher qualifications (experience and certification) and student achievement ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.3386/w11154”, “ISBN” : “9788578110796”, “ISSN” : “1098-6596”, “PMID” : “25246403”, “abstract” : “applicability for this approach.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Hanushek”, “given” : “Eric”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Kain”, “given” : “John”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “O’Brien”, “given” : “Daniel”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Rivkin”, “given” : “Steven”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2005” ] ] }, “title” : “The market for teacher quality”, “type” : “report” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=d5e72fda-d331-4c91-99b5-2afd086bc335” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Hanushek et al., 2005)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek et al., 2005)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Hanushek et al., 2005)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Hanushek et al., 2005). Other studies did indicate that different qualifications may affect some content areas (particularly in mathematics). There are also studies that concluded that “the measurable credentials of teachers account for one-quarter to one-half of the overall effect of teacher quality on student achievement” ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “DOI” : “10.1016/j.econedurev.2007.10.002”, “ISBN” : “0272-7757”, “ISSN” : “02727757”, “abstract” : “We use a rich administrative dataset from North Carolina to explore questions related to the relationship between teacher characteristics and credentials on the one hand and student achievement on the other. Though the basic questions underlying this research are not new-and, indeed, have been explored in many papers over the years within the rubric of the “education production function”-the availability of data on all teachers and students in North Carolina over a 10-year period allows us to explore them in more detail than has been possible in previous studies. We conclude that a teacher’s experience, test scores and regular licensure all have positive effects on student achievement, with larger effects for math than for reading. Taken together the various teacher credentials exhibit quite large effects on math achievement, whether compared to the effects of changes in class size or to the socio-economic characteristics of students.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Clotfelter”, “given” : “Charles T.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Ladd”, “given” : “Helen F.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” }, { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Vigdor”, “given” : “Jacob L.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “Economics of Education Review”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “6”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2007” ] ] }, “page” : “673-682”, “title” : “Teacher credentials and student achievement: Longitudinal analysis with student fixed effects”, “type” : “article-journal”, “volume” : “26” }, “uris” : [ “http://www.mendeley.com/documents/?uuid=34ba913b-bad5-463c-acbc-926fb1e27eae” ] } ], “mendeley” : { “formattedCitation” : “(Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007)”, “manualFormatting” : “(Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007, p. 681)”, “plainTextFormattedCitation” : “(Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007)”, “previouslyFormattedCitation” : “(Clotfelter, Ladd, & Vigdor, 2007)” }, “properties” : { }, “schema” : “https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json” }(Clotfelter et al., p. 681). This lack of credentials would support the idea that having a substitute teacher with minimal credentials in the classroom does not support student gains (Hanushek et al., 2005). A state typically grants teacher certification after completing an approved teacher preparation program and having shown a level of proficiency in the content area (Clotfelter et al., p. 681).
Hiring substitute teachers to address chronic teacher absenteeism is a costly endeavor. A study conducted in the suburban southwestern district within the Houston area showed that the total expenditure incurred after hiring substitutes was $4,600,000 during the 2009-2010 school year (Holloway, 2011). The enormity of this expenditure signifies that mitigating teacher absences through contractual substitutes can effectively curtail the development of other important school programs. The cutbacks result from unnecessary budget allotments for substitute teachers. This fact is further worsened by the lack of sufficient funding of public schools, where incidentally, cases of teacher absenteeism are higher than those occurring in private schools.
Chronic teacher absenteeism leads to significant loss of quality instructional time. Although it is largely possible for a student to recover lost instructional time individually, research has clearly shown that each class missed contributes to the overall instructional time lost in the course of an entire academic year (Waterman, 2005). In essence, teacher absences create a culture whereby students can be shortchanged with minimal regard for their overall academic wellbeing. It has been postulated that he educational costs associated with chronic teacher absenteeism are just as high when the said absences are excusable as when they are not (Campos & Pradhan, 2007, p.84).
Sustained teacher absences lower the overall student performance (Miller, 2012). When teachers fail to attend classes for one reason or another, significant drops in performance may be realized. Based on the stipulations enshrined in the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001, a school with dismal performance is at risk of suffering the effects of reduced or withdrawn from receiving public funding (Gates, Wolverton, & Gmelch 2007). The possible ramifications resulting from such an event can effectively cripple the process of learning. It is therefore plausible to assert that excessive teacher absences increase the school’s susceptibility to largely avoidable external risks.
The degree and efficacy of executing a given lesson plan are also affected by teacher absences. According to a research conducted by Paterson, substitute teachers generally have a diminished propensity to dispense the learning process according to a specified lesson plan (2006). The research was aimed at collecting opinions from three major players in the learning process: teachers, substitute teachers, and students. The data gathered from the research showed that regular teachers held the opinion that substitute teachers were not adequately capable of quality content presentation (Paterson 2006). These findings accentuate the low expectations with which substitute teachers have to contend with which it eventually affects how well the students learn.
Since the bulk of teacher absence intervals are short-lived, substitute teachers have little to no time to understand and work with the students. Consequently, the material taught by substitute teachers does not take into account the individualized dynamics of the entire class as well as those of each student. It is, therefore, possible that the material taught during these regular teachers’s absence periods may fail to register as well as it would if the regular teacher taught it. If sustained, this loss in instructional intensity can potentially culminate in notably lower test scores. A study focusing on the usefulness of teacher incentives yielded results supporting the need for a stable instructional intensity (Brewer & McEwan, 2010). The investigation showed that teachers, who attended school more, primarily because of the incentives, had higher performing classes because their degree of instructional intensity was unadulterated (Brewer & McEwan, 2010).
Apart from the loss of instructional intensity, the impermanence of substitute teachers creates a considerable disconnect in the learning process. Since the students are generally used to the teaching methodology of their regular teacher, the entrance of a new proxy puts an abrupt stop to what they consider to be the norm. As a result, the students are left with no choice other than to try to cope with the substitute teacher’s methodology and then readjust to the conventional format of learning once the regular teacher returns. According to Chitpin and Evers, this disruption in the normalcy of learning affects the actualization of effective quality learning significantly (2015).
The lack of well-founded trust between the students and substitute teachers can potentially lead to increased cases of indiscipline (Kearney, 2016). The prevalence of professional trust between regular teachers and their students plays a pivotal role in determining the overall level of student discipline. A longitudinal investigation conducted to identify the role of trust in the school setting showed that institutions with higher trust levels between teacher and students had higher academic performance scores and lesser indiscipline cases (Bryk & Schneider, 2002).
Chronic teacher absenteeism has also been identified as a possible cause of the failure to translate higher student enrollment into increased learning outcomes (Pritchett, 2013). As the teacher to student ratio continues to skew negatively, the overall quality of learning diminishes considerably. Teacher absenteeism further aggravates the problem by creating instances whereby the degree of teacher inadequacy is excessively negative thereby rendering learning practices less effective. Also, students in high enrollment schools can easily be demoralized by chronic teacher absenteeism quite easily.
Having quality teachers in our classrooms also presumes that there is a healthy supply of incoming teachers to fully staff schools. Experts predict that there will be a shortage of up to 112,000 teachers nationally from 2018 and beyond ADDIN CSL_CITATION { “citationItems” : [ { “id” : “ITEM-1”, “itemData” : { “abstract” : “Widespread media reports of local teacher shortages have become a hot topic in education since the summer of 2015. After years of teacher layoffs, districts began hiring again as the economy recovered from the Great Recession. Many were surprised to find they had serious difficulty finding qualified teachers for their positions, especially in fields like mathematics, science, special education, and bilingual education/English language development. A number of states greatly expanded emergency permits to allow hiring of untrained teachers to meet these demandsu2014which is the classic definition of a shortage. 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Assuming teacher quality and attendance are essential for students, a teacher shortage could exacerbate and an already growing need for quality teachers supporting students in our schools and classrooms.
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