A multilevel model of student non-attendance.

Regular attendance at school is important for students to achieve social and academic outcomes of schooling. Individual school attendance practices vary, which may result in differential student outcomes. The development of multilevel models has allowed researchers to examine relationships between student level and school level variables, and to determine whether the variation in attendance patterns is associated with school level practices. In 1997 and 1998, the South Australian Department of Education, Training and Employment collected student level non-attendance records for Term 2 of each year from 60 percent of schools, accounting for more than 62 percent of students in Reception to Year 12. The data were used to develop multilevel models to examine variation at both the student and school level, and to identify relationships among student background characteristics, school characteristics and student non-attendance. This paper reports on the findings and recommends actions for further research.