Tardiness in Early Education: Incidence, Predictors, and Consequences

Mariajosé Romero, PhD Associate Professor LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York

Overview o  Little research on student tardiness in

schools o  Early Childhood Longitudinal Study,

Kindergarten Cohort, provides data on late school arrivals among children who entered Kindergarten in 1998

In Kindergarten, half of the children were late to school at least once

o  Children were tardy 3.5% of the school year (or six days) o  Tardiness ranged between less than 1% (or one day) and

60% (or 108 days)

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Per

cent

Never Tardy >0% - <3.3% >=3.3% - <6.6% >=6.6% - <10% >=10%

Children were more often tardy in Kindergarten if they were o  Hispanic or Black o  Enrolled in full-day programs o  Repeating kindergarten

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%

WhiteBlac

k

Hipanic

Morning

Afterno

on

All Day

First T

ime i

n K

Repea

ting K

Race Program Type Repeating Grade

Perc

ent

Never Tardy Tardy

Children were more often tardy in Kindergarten if they o  Received Head Start or non-relative care in the year prior to K

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Parental Care Head Start Relative Care Center Care NonRelative Care

Tardiness in Kindergarten

Per

cent

Never Tardy Tardy

Children who were more often tardy in Kindergarten o  Were described by teachers at the beginning of K as having

socio-emotional difficulties

1.251.451.651.852.052.252.452.652.853.053.25

Approaches toLearning

Self-Control InterpersonalRelations

ExternalizingBehaviors

InternalizingBehaviors

Sco

re

Never Tardy >=10%

Other things being equal, the odds of being chronically late in K were

o  3.5 times higher if children were Black, when compared to white children

o  Almost double if children were Hispanic, when compared to white children

o  40% less if they attended a morning program

compared to a full day program o  50% less if they attended an afternoon

program compared to a full day program

Poor and low income children were more often tardy in K

o  Than their middle and upper income peers

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Below 100% FPL 100% - 200% FPL 200% - 300% FPL 300% or More FPL

Tardiness in Kindergarten

Per

cent

Never Tardy Tardy

Tardiness was related to other maternal and family characteristics,

o  Particularly risk exposure

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

Teen Mother Single Parent AssistanceReceipt

Large Family Food Insecurity Poor MaternalHealth

Tardiness in Kindergarten

Per

cent

No Risk Risk

Other things being equal, the odds of being chronically late were

o  Tripled if mothers were Black versus white

o  Doubled if mothers were Hispanic versus white

o  More than doubled (x2.3) if mothers were single parents

o  Almost tripled if mothers had become parents as teenagers

Being chronically tardy (>=10%) in Kindergarten increased the odds of being chronically absent

o  x10 chances of being a chronic absentee (>=10%) in K o  x10 chances of being a chronic absentee (>=10%) in 1st Gr. o  x3 chances of being a chronic absentee (>=10%) in 3rd Gr. o  x3 chances of being chronically absent (>=10%) in 5th Gr.

0%5%

10%15%20%25%30%35%40%

Kindergarten First Grade Third Grade Fifth Grade

Chronic Absence

Perc

ent

Never Tardy in K >0% - <3.3% >=3.3% - <6.6% >=6.6% - <10% >=10% Tardy in K

Children who were chronically tardy in K had poor academic performance

40.00

42.00

44.00

46.00

48.00

50.00

52.00

54.00

Kindergarten First Grade Third Grade Fifth Grade

Mathematics

Score

Never Tardy >=10%

40.00

42.00

44.00

46.00

48.00

50.00

52.00

54.00

Kindergarten First Grade Third Grade Fifth Grade

Reading

Score

Never Tardy >=10%

40.00

42.00

44.00

46.00

48.00

50.00

52.00

54.00

Kindergarten First Grade Third Grade Fifth Grade

World Know ledge Science

Score

Never Tardy >=10%

What do we know from research in preschools?

o  As part of the Perfectly Punctual Campaign, Learning & Leadership in Families, Inc., has embarked on efforts to collect data

o  Site survey of n  Attendance and absenteeism n  Professionals’ perspectives n  Parents’ perspectives

o  National Survey of HS professionals

How easy is it to gather attendance and tardiness data in HS programs? o  Attendance and tardiness data are collected everyday

by staff in all HS programs but not stored in ways that are easy to use

o  Substantial mobility across programs => to collect accurate data, it is important to understand when children:

n  Join the program n  Leave the program n  Are disenrolled because of excessive absence

o  Sites may have classes that offer different types of programs:

n  part-day in the morning n  part-day in the afternoon n  full-day n  with early drop-off or late-pick up services n  To collect accurate data, it is important to know clearly when children

are supposed to arrive and leave, and when they actually do

Absenteeism and tardiness seem to be rather common in HS programs o  Different groups of children emerge depending on whether and how

often they are absent and tardy

HighTardiness

LowTardiness

LowAbsenteeism

HighAbsenteeism

Seldomabsent,butoftenlate

Seldomabsentandseldomlate

Oftenabsent,andoftenlatewhentheyshowup

Oftenabsent,butseldomlatewhentheyshowup

Professionals in one site believe that tardiness is

13%

20%

67%

Serious problem Not a serious problem Neither

Nationally, the majority of HS professionals report that 3-6 children in their groups are late every week

Source: LLF / NHSA survey, March 2009

HS professionals agree that punctuality

o Creates a positive parent-teacher relationship

o Helps children do better in school o  Is one way parents can support

learning o Helps young children develop

friendships o  Is one way parents and teachers can

work together

But HS professionals seem to be more permissive towards lateness o  One-quarter to one-third of professionals surveyed feel

neutrals towards or disagree with the claim that lateness

0

10

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80

90

S lows academic progres s Makes itharderfo rtheteacherto do job

Keeps childrenfromconcentratingonlearning

Makes ithardfo rchildrentointegrates o c iallywitho ther

children

D is agreeo rS tronglyD is agree NeitherA greeo rdis agree S tronglyA greeo rA gree

To have or not to have a punctuality policy? o  Staff in centers that have an articulated

punctuality policy more often believe that believe n  The Center Director can shape children’s

attitudes about punctuality n  Neighborhood values can potentially shape

children’s attitudes about punctuality

o  What seems to make a difference is not whether centers have a punctuality policy, but whether or not they use it consistently n  Staff report less punctuality problems in centers

where the policy is consistently invoked

Professionals see parents as the primary influence on young child’s punctuality

Source: LLF / NHSA survey, March 2009

Professionals disagree on whether parents understand the punctuality policy

o  But 90% parents claim that they understand it

40%

20%

41%

Understand the policy Do not understand the policy Neither

Parents are divided on whether punctuality at their child’s program is

36%

24%

39%

Serious problem Not a serious problem Neither

Parent attitudes: Punctuality versus Lateness

Source: LLF / Morgan State University Head Start survey, May 2010

In conclusion, tardiness… o  May begin, along with absenteeism, well before

children enter formal schooling o  Has serious consequences for early learning and

development o  Affects the most vulnerable children o  Elicits different perspectives and practices among

professionals and parents

o  These perspectives and practices need to be reconciled to provide a sustained and consistent, high quality early education program

For questions

o mromero@lagcc.cuny.edu