Absenteeism in CS200
By Janet Stewart
Introduction:
Absenteeism among students in the elementary grade is important to discuss because it affects students academically. Absenteeism is when students miss a great amount of schools days during a schools year. This is prevalent among students in the elementary schools and it increases even more during middle and high school.
It is proven that students who missed a lot of school days performed
lower on standardized tests and those who attend school regularly
performed better. This is true both for middle schools and elementary schools.
So how can this problem be overcome in CS200? That will be your task.
Task:
Your task will be to educate and inform students and parents of the serious problems caused by absenteeism. You conduct a survey of the scope of the problem in CS200 and develop an oral report and PowerPoint presentation that will help all the people in our school community understand the problem and become more committed to improving school attendance.
Process:
You will work in groups of two to create an oral presentation about absenteeism among students in New York City public school. Your main focus will be on students in the elementary schools. You will develop a power point presentation that will include the Public Policy Analyst (PPA) where you will come up with plans for reducing absenteeism among New York City students, especially at CS200.
In this task you will
1) Conduct a survey among classmates and students from other classes
2) Research topics on absenteeism and low performance on standardized test.
3) Research school records from your school
4) Develop a poster board or PowerPoint presentation to demonstrate the issue and explore solutions to the problem of excessive absenteeism.
The PPA steps Follow links to find various pages
4. Evaluate existing Public Policy:
6. Identify the best solution:
Each presentation needs to include all 6 of the following requirements: Include at least 7 slides, a title slide, the 6 steps of the Public Policy Analyst, at least one chart, one animation, and a reference slide. If the presentation is to be a poster board in must include all aspects of the PPA.
1. Students will be assigned to their groups and each given a laptop in order to start conducting their research about Absenteeism.
2. Each student should be individually researching the topic in order to contribute to the overall research of the group. Students will be researching and completing the following worksheets on their own.
Step 1 – Define the Problem
Students in Elementary school are performing badly on standardized test,
because of absenteeism.
Define the Problem: Worksheet#1
Step 2 – Gather the Evidence
Students can use the following websites to help them with their research.
· Websites that will help with Step 1 and Step 2
· http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/nyregion/21attend.html?_r=0http://new.every1graduates.org/the-importance-of-being-in-school/#comments
Gather the Evidence: Worksheet #2
Step 3 – Identify the Causes of the Problem
Worksheet3:
"Identifying the cause of the problem"(MSWORD)
Identify the Causes: Worksheet #3
Websites that will help with Step 3 and 4
http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/downloads/pdf/tru_tf_overview.pdf
http://jgc.stanford.edu/resources/policy_fact_sheets/Absence_Interventions_PFS.pdf
Step 4 – Describe and Evaluate existing
Policies
Worksheet4:
"Evaluating Existing Public Policies"
Step 5 – Develop several Policy Solutions
Worksheet5:
"Developing public policy solutions"
Develop Solutions: Worksheet #5
Step 6 – Select the Best Policy
Worksheet6:
"Selecting the best public policy solution"
Resources
Students can use the following websites to help them with their research.
Websites that will help with Step 1 and Step 2
· http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/nyregion/21attend.html?_r=0
· http://new.every1graduates.org/the-importance-of-being-in-school/#comments
Websites that will help with Step 3 and 4
· http://www.nyc.gov/html/truancy/downloads/pdf/tru_tf_overview.pdf
· http://jgc.stanford.edu/resources/policy_fact_sheets/Absence_Interventions_PFS.pdf
4. Students will come together to share their findings and pool all of their information together. They will compare and contrast the evidence that each of them found on their own in order to decide what is going to make it to their presentation. Students must also make a group decision about how they are going to present their information; on a Poster Board or in a Power Point.
5. Students should come up with a rough draft of their presentation and make sure that all requirements from the rubric are met. Students should make sure they are presenting their information in an engaging and attractive way.
6. Students will being creating their final group presentation.
7. Once the presentation is complete, each student will write an individual reflection about how their group worked together and what they contributed to the overall group work. They should also reflect on their own attendance and comment how their view of attendance has been changed by participating in this Web Quest Activity. This reflection piece should be at minimum one paragraph and at maximum two paragraphs.
Evaluation Rubrics
Evaluation of a Power Point or Poster Board:
|
CATEGORY |
4 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
|
Cooperation |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively all of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively most of the time. |
Group delegates tasks and shares responsibility effectively some of the time. |
Group often is not effective in delegating tasks and/or sharing responsibility. |
|
Originality |
Presentation shows considerable originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way. |
Presentation shows some originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in an interesting way. |
Presentation shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness on 1-2 cards. |
Presentation is a rehash of other people's ideas and/or graphics and shows very little attempt at original thought. |
|
Content - Accuracy |
All content throughout the presentation is accurate. There are no factual errors. |
Most of the content is accurate but there is one piece of information that might be inaccurate. |
The content is generally accurate, but one piece of information is clearly flawed or inaccurate. |
Content is typically confusing or contains more than one factual error. |
|
Spelling and Grammar |
Presentation has no misspellings or grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 misspellings, but no grammatical errors. |
Presentation has 1-2 grammatical errors but no misspellings. |
Presentation has more than 2 grammatical and/or spelling errors. |
|
Effectiveness |
Project includes all material needed to gain a comfortable understanding of the topic. It is a highly effective study guide. |
Project includes most material needed to gain a comfortable understanding of the material but is lacking one or two key elements. It is an adequate study guide. |
Project is missing more than two key elements. It would make an incomplete study guide. |
Project is lacking several key elements and has inaccuracies that make it a poor study guide. |
Conclusion:
Congratulations! You and your team have successfully undertaken to show how serious absenteeism is to both students and the school community. Your proposed solutions may well help students and your school.
Standards:
Standards here involve analysis and evaluation of social and personal problems of school aged children.]
Common Core Learning Standards for English Language Arts and Literacy
Integration of Knowledge and Ideas
- Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key events occur).
- Describe the logical connections between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text (e.g., comparison, cause/effect, first/second/third in a sequence).
- Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.