File Structure: Chronic Absenteeism Data
File structure for Chronic Absenteeism data reported by race/ethnicity, gender, and program subgroup. Chronic absenteeism counts, eligible cumulative enrollment, and chronic absenteeism rate data are provided.Files include state, county, district, and school level data. Please refer to the file structure for details on what data are contained in the file. Data are not included for districts and independently reporting charter schools (IRCs) that did not certify their California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS) End-of-Year 3 submission.
This file contains aggregate data with disaggregated data subsets at multiple different levels and reporting categories to provide enhanced analytical flexibility. For more detailed examples about how to properly use these data, please refer to the Using the Absenteeism Data File examples below.
Note: To protect student privacy, data are suppressed (*) on the Chronic Absenteeism downloadable files if the cell size within a selected student population (Chronic Absenteeism Eligible Cumulative Enrollment) is 10 or less. Additionally, for Race/Ethnicity, "Not Reported" is suppressed, regardless of actual cell size, if the student population for one or more other race/ethnicity groups is suppressed.
General Description of the Data File
| Field Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Academic Year | The academic year (July 1 – June 30) corresponding to the time period during which the data were collected. |
| Aggregate Level | An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. |
| County Code | A unique two-digit code corresponding to the county. |
| District Code | A unique five-digit code corresponding to the district. |
| School Code | A unique seven-digit code corresponding to the school. |
| County Name | County Name |
| District Name | District or Administrative Authority Name |
| School Name | School Name |
| Charter (ALL/Y/N) | An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. Additionally, prior to 2020–21, a value of "All" was provided for school-level data (Aggregate Level = S); however, beginning in 2021-22, only data rows for the applicable Y or N value of the school are included in the file. |
DASS (ALL/Y/N) New Beginning 2021-22 |
An indicator of the aggregation level.
Note: One of these values must be chosen to obtain an unduplicated count at the selected level. |
| Reporting Category | An indicator of the student group reporting category (race/ethnicity, gender, program subgroup, or grade span) disaggregation or subset.
Note: Select Reporting Category = TA for aggregate totals without consideration of a Reporting Category student group. |
| Chronic Absenteeism Eligible Cumulative Enrollment | This count uses the Cumulative Enrollment of the selected entity as the baseline and removes students that were not eligible to be considered chronically absent at that entity. Students that are expected to attend less than 31 instructional days at the selected entity or who were enrolled but did not attend the selected entity are not eligible to be considered chronically absent at that entity. This is calculated by looking at the number of expected days to attend and actual days attended that Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) submit for each student in California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Students with exempt status are also removed from Chronic Absenteeism eligibility. Students are considered to be exempt if they are enrolled in a Non-Public School (NPS), receive instruction through a home or hospital instructional setting or are attending community college full-time. |
| Chronic Absenteeism Count | Total count of ALL chronically absent students at the selected entity for the selected population using the available filters. Students are determined to be chronically absent if they were eligible to be considered chronically absent at the selected level during the academic year and they were absent for 10% or more of the days they were expected to attend. Chronic absenteeism is calculated for each student at each reporting level (e.g., school, district, county, and state) based on the expected days of attendance and actual days attended reported by local educational agencies (LEAs) in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data Systems (CALPADS). Expected attendance days are determined for each student at each reporting level based on the total number of days a student was scheduled to attend. Days attended are determined for each student at each reporting level based on the total number of days the student attended the school. A day attended is defined as any day a student attended for all or part of a school day. |
| Chronic Absenteeism Rate | The unduplicated count of students determined to be chronically absent (Chronic Absenteeism Count) divided by the Chronic Absenteeism Enrollment at the selected entity for the selected population using the available filters. |
General Description of the Data File
Absenteeism data are submitted by local educational agencies (LEAs) and charter schools to the California Department of Education (CDE) as part of the annual End of Year 3 (EOY 3) data submission in the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). Absenteeism data and Cumulative Enrollment are reviewed and certified in CALPADS as being accurate by authorized district or school personnel. In order to certify data in CALPADS, authorized district or charter school personnel are required to review the accuracy of all data associated with the applicable CALPADS submission. CALPADS data certification must be performed by district superintendents, charter school administrators, or their designees. Please contact the district or school if you have any questions about their certified CALPADS data.
Source: Absenteeism and Cumulative Enrollment data are submitted and certified by LEAs and/or charter schools as part of the annual CALPADS End of Year 3 submission.
Note: An asterisk (*) appearing in a data field is used to protect student privacy.
Using the Absenteeism Data File
This file contains different subsets of data based on the values of different variables. If these sub-setting variables are not used properly, it is easy to end up with incorrect or duplicative data. Please refer to the following examples below as a guide for properly using these data:
- Get school-level data totals with one record per school with school totals (without student group totals)
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y and N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y and N
- Reporting Category = TA
- Get school-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for all non-charter schools
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y and N
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get school-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for all DASS schools
- Aggregate Level = S (School)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y and N
- DASS (Y/N) = Y
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get district-level data totals by student group (Reporting Category) for non-charter schools
- Aggregate Level = D (District)
- Charter School (Y/N) = N
- DASS (Y/N) = All
- Reporting Category Not equal to TA
- Get statewide-level data totals for charter schools that are DASS schools
- Aggregate Level = T (State)
- Charter School (Y/N) = Y
- DASS (Y/N) = Y
- Reporting Category = TA