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Cited by 315Youth Substance Use and School AttendanceSchool Choice and PerformanceEducational Outcomes and Influences

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 59 of the 60 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Excused Versus Unexcused: How Student Absences in Elementary School Affect Academic Achievement

Gottfried, Michael A.·2009·Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
DOI 10.3102/0162373709342467
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Abstract

The literature on school absences has focused predominantly on the reasons for student truancy, or it has assessed only aggregate student absences in their effect on achievement. However, this study brings forth a new issue: the relationship between types of absences—excused versus unexcused—and school performance. With a quantitative model of educational achievement on a longitudinal multilevel data set of all second-through fourth-grade students in the Philadelphia School District from 1994 to 2000, this study disaggregated absence information to provide new insight on the attendance–achievement relationship. Specifically, a model using fixed effects with classroom-level clustering was employed to determine how the distinction among varying proportions of excused versus unexcused absences related to students’ standardized test performance in reading and math. This article demonstrates that distinguishing between students with high rates of excused or unexcused absences is significant. Having a higher proportion of excused absences to total absences exhibits a positive relationship between reading and math test scores. Conversely, students with a higher proportion of unexcused absences places them at academic risk, particularly in math achievement and as early as in elementary school. Implications for policy are discussed.

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Crossref · 10.3102/0162373709342467

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59 of 59 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Show all 60 references

1 of the 60 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 13

  1. Balanz R, 2004, Locating the dropout crisis
  2. Bealing V, 1990, Maladjustment and Therapeutic Education, 8, 19
  3. deJung JK, 1986, Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association
  4. Epstein JL, 2001, School and family partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools
  5. Ferguson RF, 1991, Harvard Journal of Legislation, 28, 465
  6. Fine M, 1994, Chartering urban school reform, 5
  7. 10.3102/00346543059002117 · DOI · Paper page
  8. Finn JD, 1993, School engagement and students at risk
  9. Hallfors D, 2002, Journal of Social Health, 72, 205
  10. Hess GA, 1989, Against the odds: The early identification of dropouts
  11. Johnson GM, 2005, Educational Technology and Society, 8, 179
  12. Roby DE, 2004, Educational Research Quarterly, 28, 3
  13. Rothman S, 2001, International Education Journal, 2, 59

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Metadata

Authors
Gottfried, M. A.
Affiliations
University of Pennsylvania (US)
Corresponding author
Gottfried, Michael A.
ORCID
Gottfried, Michael A.
Venue
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis
Publisher
American Educational Research Association (AERA)
Published
2009-12
Volume
31
Issue
4
Pages
392-415
ISSN
  • 0162-3737 (ISSN-L)
  • 1935-1062
DOI
10.3102/0162373709342467
OpenAlex
W2067044158
Cited by
315
References
60
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 30 · 2020: 28 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 11
FWCI
29.42
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Youth Substance Use and School Attendance
  • Social Sciences › Education › School Choice and Performance
  • Social Sciences › Education › Educational Outcomes and Influences
Keywords
school absenteeism, excused absences, unexcused absences, school attendance, academic performance, elementary school students, standardized test scores, reading achievement, mathematics achievement, academic risk, School District of Philadelphia

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