Chronic Absenteeism in Allentown School District Elementary Schools

What we do

This research aims to understand which students are chronically absent and how this has impacted them developmentally. The goal is to find ways to connect all staff within the district to students and families in order to provide support. This study aims to make getting to school easier for children and parents and ensure adequate development across all Allentown Schools.

How we do it

The main school this research has connected with is Hays Elementary School. All chronically absent students were placed into an excel spread sheet with their demographics, grade level, home address and, past chronically absent history. Relevant information was coded and placed into SPSS which is a program to test for correlation. In the future, parent survey will be conducted through qualtrics and home address maps will be mapped.. 

Our Goal

The goal is to create data so that the community can understand the issues surrounding student absenteeism at a young age. We want to improve communication within the district, convey the importance of transportation, and assist parents in all ways possible.

Interested in learning more

Email me at swinegard@muhlenberg.edu.

What research is like?

Each week Dr. Sinno and I meet to speak about the next steps we would like to take. Recently, I have taken all of the excel data and transferred it into SPSS in which will be used to create correlations. Despite the fact that correlation does not prove causation, we can use this to target students who are frequently absent. Also, throughout the week we will make changes to a parent survey that will be conducted at Hays Elementary School.

Why we stand out

This research stands out because it is for the good of the Allentown community. The purpose of this study is to provide support using our resources here at Muhlenberg.