Someone's Missing From the Classroom and It's Not the Students

The school district of Philadelphia has a teacher attendance problem. NewsWorks recently published a story detailing the contractual interaction between the school district of Philadelphia and Source4Teachers—the New Jersey firm charged this year with meeting Philadelphia’s substitute teacher needs. Needless to say, the results to date have been concerning. Substitute fill rates have fallen below previous levels and have yet to rise above 50 percent across the entire district. This has not only become a source of ongoing criticism for the district, but is also hugely detrimental to the schools that lack adequate coverage for their classrooms and the students that expect, at a minimum, a teacher in the room. The lack of substitutes is a problem, and Source4Teachers has clearly failed to deliver on its promised-fill rates. However, the problem with substitutes is really just a symptom of a much larger, systemic problem: The prevalence of concentrated teacher absenteeism in the district. Given the critical impact of teachers on student achievement—particularly in schools with scarce resources—there has been scant public discussion of teacher absenteeism in Philadelphia. Fortunately, the district is an active participant in the City of Philadelphia’s Open Data Initiative. Given this data and what NewsWorks published at Philadelphia School Partnership we were able to analyze the following data points:

The total number of absences for each district school in Philadelphia from September 9th, 2015 to February 19th, 2016 from NewsWorks. Using the District’s vacancy list, we were able to estimate and account for absences due to unfilled positions, sabbaticals and long-term illnesses. It is worth noting that this list fluctuates throughout the year, and this data is accurate as of March 17, 2016.
The total number of scheduled teacher attendance days between September 9th, 2015 to February 19th, 2016, excluding days off for the papal visit and snow days.
The reported number of permanent, full-time teaching staff at each district school in Philadelphia, including special education teachers.
The salary of each permanent, full-time teacher at each district school, including special education teachers.

Given this data, a straightforward calculation of the number of teachers at each school and the number of scheduled teacher attendance days gives us the total number of possible instances of teacher attendance. With the NewsWorks-reported absence data, we were able to calculate the attendance and absence rate for each school with data available. Finally, with the salary data for each of the teachers, we were able to calculate the average teacher salary at each school and the salary “lost” due to teacher absences. Our analysis revealed the following:

118 schools had teacher attendance rates below 95 percent.
17 schools had teacher attendance rates below 90 percent.
4 schools had teacher attendance rates below 85 percent.

Some context is necessary to consider the magnitude of these numbers. A 2014 National Council on Teacher Quality report surveyed teacher attendance in the nation’s 40 largest metropolitan areas revealing a 94 percent average teacher attendance rate. Meaning: 100 District schools were below that mark through February 19th. The 94 percent figure for teachers is slightly less than the 97.1 percent average attendance rate reported for all full-time salaried or hourly workers as reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 173 District schools (79 percent of all schools) had attendance rates lower than this nationwide average. Here’s some additional perspective. Imagine that every other Tuesday, you didn’t go to work. For the six-month span between September and February, this was the reality for the average teacher at almost 10 percent of Philadelphia’s public schools. Before focusing our efforts on substitute teacher replacements, why not instead focus on the chronic teacher absenteeism apparent across our school district? After all:

Teachers don’t operate in a vacuum. They are often one member of a grade and/or content area team that depends on everyone fulfilling their responsibilities as an instructional professional.
Chronic teacher absenteeism places an unfair burden on teachers who are forced to cover additional classes, depriving them of much-needed planning and prep time and increasing the size of their classes.
Students are being deprived of consistent instruction from their permanent teacher, with hugely negative effects on their academic success.

More tangibly, there are real financial costs associated with chronic teacher absenteeism. Between September 9th, 2015 and February 19th, 2016 the 123 schools with teacher attendance rates below the 94 percent national average cost the district nearly $3 million in lost wages, not including the costs of the sporadically provided substitute teachers. Assuming that these rates hold steady through the end of the school year, teacher absenteeism could cost the district over $5.1 million in lost wages. To be clear, life happens, even for teachers. We get sick, family members get hurt, and pipes freeze and burst. It would be unfair and unrealistic to expect all teachers to maintain a 100 percent attendance rate. That said, I can’t imagine a workplace that would tolerate employees missing 1 out of every 10 days of work, let alone the 1 in 5 in some of Philadelphia’s district schools. Let’s continue the conversation about Source4Teachers. It hasn’t gone well, and we should demand that fill rates are improved. But let’s first have a more difficult and important conversation, one that ensures that all of our schools’ teachers make it to school at least as often as our children do.

An original version of this post appeared on Philadelphia School Partnership Blog.

Photo by Lead Beyond, CC-licensed.

Clifford Thomas

Clifford Thomas manages Philadelphia School Partnership’s policy platform, providing research and reports to the organization based on high-quality studies. His work is primarily focused on aggregating, reviewing and distributing information on best practices in education policy and practice, while working to elevate policy issues specific to Philadelphia’s public schools. Prior to joining PSP, Cliff was the founder and executive director of Invictus Prep, a college-prep charter school in East New York, Brooklyn. He was responsible for all initial recruitment, fundraising and operational efforts, leading the school to achieve two years of academic growth every year for the school’s first three years. Most recently, Cliff worked as a program manager for the JPMorgan Chase Foundation’s Fellowship Initiative, a college-prep program for young men of color in high schools across New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Prior to that, Cliff was a policy and research associate at the Boston Plan for Excellence, a non-profit dedicated to driving exceptional outcomes for students and teachers by developing great teachers and great schools. Cliff began his career teaching living environment and advanced placement biology in Brooklyn, New York, while also coaching varsity basketball and interning with the New York City Council’s Middle School Task Force as a research associate. Cliff earned an honors degree in biological anthropology from Harvard University, and a master’s in secondary science Education from Pace University.

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Someone's Missing From the Classroom and It's Not the Students

Clifford Thomas

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