Student absenteeism has been a problem for at least a decade in schools around the country, and school officials report that student attendance rates worsened during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. A survey of schools across the country found that 72 percent of public schools had higher teacher absenteeism rates than before the COVID-19 pandemic.…

In sub-Saharan Africa, the loss of teaching hours due to teacher absenteeism corresponds to a waste of approximately 46 cents for every US dollar invested in education, an annual wastage of 1-3% of GDP. This brief summarizes the results of research in 11 countries in West and Central Africa under the Time to Teach study, a project in UNICEF that…

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the Whole School, Whole Community, Whole Child (WSCC) model as a framework to align support for the whole child through community engagement, collaboration between education and health sectors, and evidence-based school policies and practices. One of the 10 components of the WSCC model…

Obesity rates, mental illnesses, and emotional health and well being pose a significant problem for today's youth. Family and community involvement have been shown to improve school readiness, academic achievement, and graduation rates. The Whole School Whole Community Whole Child (WSCC) is a ten-component model designed to work synergistically to…

While teaching is the most important school-based factor in student success, teaching is also ranked one of the worst professions for physical health, psychological well-being, and job satisfaction. That leads to high rates of absenteeism and turnover, exacting a financial toll on schools and negatively affecting students' academic achievement.…

U.S. teachers take off an average of 9.4 days (roughly 1 day per month) each during a typical 180-day school year. By that estimate, the average child has substitute teachers for more than six months of his school career. The education department reported after the 2003-04 school year that 5.3 percent of U.S. teachers are absent on any given day,…

After two decades of steady growth and financial stability in the Rio Rancho Public Schools, New Mexico's fastest-growing school district found itself face to face with a $3.8 million budget deficit going into the 2008-09 school year. Because people in the district hesitated to change anything that would cut into student programming, and nobody…

The mythology surrounding the substitute teacher is not a pretty one: Paper airplanes, lost learning, bullying. But as schools collect more information about teacher absenteeism and its consequences, districts and schools are exploring ways to professionalize substitute teaching--or experiment with alternative ways of coping with teacher absences.…

Sick leave banks are a common staple of teacher contracts. Although these banks may benefit employees, they expose school districts to a variety of complications and unintended consequences, including administrative complexity, potential cash flow implications, cost disparities, increased absenteeism, instructional instability, privacy issues, and…

Over the course of their K-12 studies, it has been found that students may have replacement teachers for an estimated 5-10% of their instructional time (Billman, 1994; Nidds & McGerald, 1994). A well-conceived plan can help a teacher ensure an effective learning experience instead of just a "roll-out-the-ball" day whether his/her absence was…

Although teachers' unions and advocates argue that teacher abuse of leave is rare, economists studying the issue say more could be done to cut down on teacher absences and some districts are experimenting with rewarding exceptional attendance, paying teachers for unused earned leave, adjusting reporting procedures, and closer monitoring of leave…

Poor classroom acoustics are impairing students' hearing and their ability to learn. However, technology has come up with a solution: tools that focus voices in a way that minimizes intrusive ambient noise and gets to the intended receiver--not merely amplifying the sound, but also clarifying and directing it. One provider of classroom audio…

Based on Norwegian register data, we set up a multivariate mixed proportional hazard model (MMPH) to analyze nurses' pattern of work, sickness absence, nonemployment, and social insurance dependency from 1992 to 2000, and how that pattern was affected by workplace characteristics. The model is estimated by means of the nonparametric…

Suffered by 88% of those who use a computer for more than 3 hours a day, eyestrain is caused by direct and reflective glare, excessive lighting, improper ergonomics, low-quality or inappropriately adjusted video display terminals, uncorrected or improperly corrected vision, and insufficient or nonexistent eye care. Fatigue, errors, and lost days…

Nationwide, there are several innovative approaches to substitute teacher staffing issues, including: increased substitute teacher pay and enlistment of local college students to substitute at least 3 days per week in exchange for tuition help and a guaranteed job after graduation. Incentive programs for low absenteeism rates are a good way to…