Measures
In North Carolina, all schools use the database North
Carolina Window on Student Education (NCWISE) to track,
report absences, and monitor average daily membership
(ADM). Each school district’s attendance and demographics
are available online in the principal’s monthly report (PMR)
by school and grade on a monthly basis. The school district’s
lead data manager provided information for reasons for the
90-day school year attendance period for Elementary
Schools 1 and 2. Head Start data are not publicly available
and are stored in each program’s database.
The outcome measure of the project intervention was
attendance rate. The attendance rate was defined as the
number of student days attended divided by the total number
of student days multiplied by 100. The attendance data for
months 1–5 for each school and grade level for 2009–2010
(Year 1) was obtained online from the North Carolina Public
Schools (2011) database. Year 2 (2010–2011) attendance
rate data were matched month by month to avoid any seasonal
variation.