EPAA Vol. 10 No. 32 Bruno: The Geographical Distribution of T... 1 of 21 Education Policy Analysis Archives Volume 10 Number 32 July 26, 2002 ISSN 1068-2341 A peer-reviewed scholarly journal Editor: Gene V Glass College of Education Arizona State University Copyright 2002, the EDUCATION POLICY ANALYSIS ARCHIVES. Permission is hereby granted to copy any article if EPAA is credited and copies are not sold. EPAA is a project of the Education Policy Studies Laboratory. Articles appearing in EPAA are abstracted in the Current Index to Journals in Education by the ERIC Clearinghouse on Assessment and Evaluation and are permanently archived in Resources in Education. The Geographical Distribution of Teacher Absenteeism in Large Urban School District Settings: Implications for School Reform Efforts Aimed at Promoting Equity and Excellence in Education James E. Bruno University of California, Los Angeles Citation: Bruno, J. E.. (2002, July 26). The geographical distribution of teacher absenteeism in large urban school district settings: Implications for school reform efforts aimed at promoting equity and excellence in education. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 10(32). Retrieved [date] from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n32/. Abstract School reform efforts aimed at promoting equity and excellence at urban school settings are heavily dependent upon the quality of teaching personnel that are used to deliver the instructional program. Social Justice and other public policy issues related to equity and excellence at urban schools have begun to examine the impact that teacher absenteeism, and by extension the reliance on substitute teachers to deliver instructional might have on educational attainment. This study 2 of 21 combines school district data gathering mechanisms on teacher absence rates at school sites with Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.) to map the association between a school's geographical environmental space and the propensity for teacher absence. The disparity between teaching resources as delivered by the school district vs. teacher resources as actually received by students in the classroom via teacher absenteeism is examined in the context of schools located in positive (high income) and negative (low income) geographical space. The study concludes that there is a strong association between the geographical quality of the school site setting, teacher absenteeism, and the reliance on substitute teachers to deliver instructional programs. Disparity in teacher absenteeism rates across large urban geographical areas threatens the promotion of equity and excellence in the schools by attenuating or lessening the effect of school resources to support instruction and amplifying the risk factors of students in the classroom. Introduction Assemble all the worst things in America- gambling, liquor, cigarettes, and toxic fumes, sewage, waste disposal, prostitution- put it all together. Then you dump it on black people and their schools. (Kozol, Savage Inequalities, p. 17) The above insight is from a book that attempts to document the bleak environmental or geographical space context of some of our urban school settings and its possible impact on the community- especially children and adolescents that live in the community. Schools located in what might be termed, Negative Geographical Space or N.G.S. (Bruno,2000) are particularly troublesome with regard to promoting equity and excellence in their instructional programs. One educational research finding that seems to remain constant is that school reform efforts aimed at promoting equity and excellence in the schools are strongly dependent upon the quality of teaching personnel needed to deliver the instructional program to students in the classroom. It is common knowledge that urban classroom teachers also tend to work under more stressful working conditions therefore use their sick days more frequently. In general, urban classroom teachers, teach more students a day, teach less academically prepared students, teach in more dangerous, high crime geographical areas of a large urban area, and generally lack teaching and instructional materials to deliver a quality instructional program. In essence, the geographical or environmental context of these school working conditions, even more that student poverty, are strongly associated with teacher attendance at the school site, their morale as professional educators, and a their sense of teaching efficacy in the classroom (Corcoran, Walker, & White, 1988). With its [the urban school's] outdated textbooks and crumbling, dirty facilities, it operated in conditions that would not have been tolerated in other mixed or predominantly white communities. (Diver-Stamnes, 1995, p. 17) The issue of teacher absenteeism is rapidly becoming an important topic area of 3 of 21 educational policy analysis largely because of its direct impact on the quality of instruction and its association with poor participation in school reform efforts. (Ehenberg, Rees, and Ehenberg, 1991). In an effort to explain the why to teacher absenteeism, some research studies have also examined the role of gender and its association with teacher absence (Scott & McClellan, 1990). All of these research efforts are directed towards developing a better understanding of the problem of teacher absenteeism and more importantly the propensity of teachers to use all of their available sick days as an "entitlement" of the profession. Because of high levels of teacher absence and the extensive use and reliance on substitute teachers to deliver instructional programs there is a strong attenuation or a lessening of the impact of school resources that are devoted to instruction. There is also a corresponding amplification of student risk factors such as poverty. These two major consequences of teacher absenteeism, attenuation of school resources and the amplification of student risk factors, make the teacher absenteeism issue one of extreme importance for urban schools. Of particular importance is the impact that teacher absence might have on school reform efforts aimed at promoting equity and excellence at these schools. From a social justice perspective, another important issue to examine is if there is any systematic bias in the distribution of teacher absenteeism with higher teacher absenteeism in the low-income areas of large urban school districts. In essence, because educational researchers have suggested that the effectiveness of substitute teachers is far below that of regular teachers (Olsen, 1971). Teacher absenteeism, by extension, has implications for school reform and the quality of the instructional program at a school setting and policy issues dealing with improving equity and excellence in the schools. In many instances in urban school settings, a substitute teacher cannot be found and a regular classroom teacher to cover the classroom time period from their free or preparation period. (Locker, 1999, Mckay,1999) . Finally from a purely financial perspective, teacher absenteeism is extremely expensive and substitute teacher salaries have to be paid in addition to regular teacher salaries thus adding to the per pupil cost of education. In essence, there is an attenuation or lessening of school resources needed to support instructional programs at these schools- a situation that would not be tolerated at predominantly white, suburban schools. Of course there are many legitimate reasons for a teacher to be absent. Typical reasons include illness, professional development, personal reasons, family bereavement, etc. (Alberta Teachers Association, 1998). Sometimes as teachers approach retirement age and have accumulated sick days with the school district, they begin to take their takes off to pursue their own personal interests or outside "moonlighting" activities. Since in most urban school settings each teacher is permitted to "bank" 10 days of sick leave per year, the total amount of sick days for a teacher can rapidly accumulate over a career in the classroom. What is most troublesome for educational policy makers is when classroom teachers at certain school sites begin to view their absenteeism from the classroom as an entitlement that goes with the teaching position. The sense of entitlement has enormous implications for the cost of instruction. Consider the following example: Assume a 180 day school year: 4 of 21 100 teachers at $75,000 (salary plus benefits) = $7,500,000 or $416 per day per teacher Assume that each teacher takes 10 days of sick leave per year = 1000 teacher days missed or 10% of $7,500,000 = $750,000 of resources not being received and replaced with a substitute teacher at $200 per day = $200,000 The net loss to students is $7,500,000-$750,000-$200,000 = $6,550,000 (thus the disparity of resources actually received by students in the classroom can be quite large and significantly impact on the quality of the instructional program and threaten efforts aimed at promoting equity and excellence in the schools). In addition to the attenuation of school resources towards instruction, when this sense of entitlement is most prevalent or biased towards schools located in negative or low-income geographical space the very students most in need of instructional quantity and quality are harmed. The challenges posed to teachers and educational leaders between the quality of geographical space or school site location, poverty, and school issues have also been explored in educational research studies. (Bruno, 2000; Lippenant, Burns, McArthur, 1996). Purpose of Study The purpose of this study extends these research efforts to examine the quality of geographical space and teacher absence linkage since it indirectly examines how school site location impacts on access to educational opportunity. Specifically this study examines the association between the quality of geographical space or the environmental context of the school setting and the rates of teacher absenteeism at the school site for all of the high schools located in a large urban. The Substitute Teacher in Urban Settings Equality of educational opportunity at a school exists when a child's educational opportunity does not depend upon either his parent's economic circumstances or his location within the state (Wise, 1972, p. 146) As previously noted, issues related to quality of educational opportunity and the related issue of equity and excellence at urban schools strongly depend on the quality of classroom instructional programs. The reliance on substitute teachers to deliver instruction, because of teacher absence has great significance for these urban students because parents or the economic circumstances of these students make the school setting the only source of educational development. Instructional programs delivered mainly by substitute teachers, non-credential teachers, inexperienced teachers, etc. therefore are extremely important. Some of these issues have been previously and non-empirically addressed in various books on the problems of urban school setting. (Kozol, 1992). 5 of 21 Since the quality of substitute teachers and not fully interchangeable with the quality of the regular classroom teacher at most school settings, the issue of teacher absence has both practical (in terms of cost) and theoretical (in terms of equity) significance for the educational policy maker. The regular high school classroom teacher is required to obtain a bachelor's degree in a same field that is related to his or her teaching assignment. This could range from the sciences, such as chemistry, to education such as special ed., to mathematics such as algebra II, to the fine arts such as painting. The regular classroom teacher is also required to complete two years of a teacher training program in a post graduate department of an accredited institution. While there are some exceptions, substitute teachers are typically under qualified to teach in the field of the regular classroom teacher, but are expected to fill the shoes of any regular teacher, whatever the subject matter field of the absent teacher (chemistry, mathematics, physics). In some school districts, the minimum education requirement level for substitute teaching is set at extremely low professional levels. For example, in the state of Utah, all a substitute needs to teach is a high school degree and no criminal record. Fairfax County, Va., demands only two years of college for its substitutes. (Streisand & Toch, 1998). In recent studies, it was found that a large number of teacher-training graduates failed the recently introduced teacher-licensing exam. Last spring, nearly sixty percent of Massachusetts' education graduates failed a basic reading, writing, and subject matter test. A recent nationwide study by the Educational Testing Service found similar high rates of failure. (Streisand & Tock, 1998). It is also noteworthy that most substitute teachers are usually not equipped with lesson plans for the classroom periods that they cover and typically show a film or do other "filling time" classroom activities. In the substitute teacher chat room found on the Internet, playing word bingo with the kids was a highly recommended form of filling class time. In essence, these substitute teachers are really not "substitutes" in an educational sense, but according to students highly paid "babysitters" to students that need quality teachers the most and require greater amounts of formal instructional time. This study will focus on teacher absenteeism at the high school level of instruction because this level is most directly associated with equal educational opportunity via AP courses, preparing students for post high school graduation education exit exams from high school, and general preparation for post secondary education. It is also the setting where students at one of the most important stages of their psychosocial development require time connections with their classroom teachers for purposes of modeling, receiving vision for a future, advice, and counseling. Finally, the role of geographical space on teacher absenteeism is often neglected as a variable in educational policy studies. Geographical space has its own unique qualities with regard to understanding behaviors such as teacher absenteeism. For example there is Location of the school setting: Where is the school located in geographical space? Where is the exact location and what is the land use surrounding the school setting i.e. the quality of the geographical space since it might impact on the quality of the instructional program, teacher turnover, and teacher absenteeism. 6 of 21 Livability of the geographical space surrounding the school: What is it like to live and be schooled in the geographical space of the school setting? Since most teachers don't live in the same geographical space as the school setting there is a tendency to ignore what it is like for students to live and study in the area. The social well being of the community, crime rate, extent of graffiti, etc. all impact on the livability of the geographical space and working conditions in the classroom. It also impacts on student preparation for class and attitudes towards school. Likeability of school site area: How do other people in the community relate to their space and how is the pride in the community? Community well being, quality neighborhoods, and the support for schools are linked and have a major impact on the instructional program and what is expected from teachers and directly impacts on the motivation to teach. Locus of Control: How does this geographical space dominate others in the area or is dominate with regard to quality? How are ideas, people, and goods moved into and out of the geographical space. What is the investment in the community, resident turnover, etc and how do others view the geographical space. Conditions where the geographical space is considered as negative implies that the space has little attractiveness for either living or working. This characteristic relates to teacher turnover and the sense of entitlement with regard to absence from the classroom. This characteristic of geographical space might affect teacher absenteeism and teacher turnover. This study combines recently developed data gathering mechanism on teacher absence rates at high school sites in a large urban school setting with Geographical Information Systems (G.I.S.). The purpose of this study is to map the association between the school's geographical space or physical environment (income level) and the propensity for teacher absence. The disparity between instructional resources as delivered vs. instructional resources as actually received by students in the classroom is examined in the context of a large urban school setting. Specifically, the purpose of this study is twofold. First, to examine the geographical association between the quality of negative geographical space of a high school setting in a large urban school district (median family income in the area) and the rates of teacher absenteeism. Second, to examine how teacher absenteeism measures and the need for substitute teachers (filled and unfilled) are associated with school performance at the school site. Methods This study used teacher absence information collected at all high schools in a large urban school district. The average absence per teacher was especially noted along with information regarding the number of unfilled substitute teacher positions. G.I.S. methods were then used to plot these school settings by those above and below a threshold 8.0 days of teacher absence per year per teacher at the school site. The quality of the geographical space surrounding the school setting or the median level of income for the zip code of the school setting was then applied to the map of school sites that were 7 of 21 color-coded by high and low rates of teacher absenteeism. Finally, other important variables at the school site that might be related to substitute teachers, such as academic quality as measured by the Academic Performance Indicator or API, were also collected for each school site. In this study the following variables were collected at each high school site in the school district. Table 1 Description of Variables Description Variable How often a teacher is absent from the classroom Teacher absenteeism rate Teachers without fully state certified credentials–many teaching in areas with no expertise Number w/o credential Teachers with less than 2 years of experience in the classroom- usually younger teachers Number < 2 yrs experience Number of requests to take the place of a classroom teacher Substitute teacher requests Number of times a substitute teacher cannot be found for the classroom Substitute requests unfilled Number of students leaving school and not entering any other educational program Drop out rate Number of students that leave before the end of the school year Transiency percent Number of times a students is asked to leave school for disciplinary reasons Number suspensions Number of times a students is asked to go to a different school- usually a continuation school Opportunity transfers Police reported crimes against property Crimes against property Police reported crimes against individuals Crimes against people Number of teachers needed to service student educational needs that are left unfilled Number of unfilled teaching position Level of academic performance at the school Academic Performance Index Findings Note in Table 2 that the average absenteeism for the school district was 8.27 days per teacher per year. Note that this figure ranges from a low of 6.3 to a high of 11.4. Note also that the number of unfilled substitute teacher positions ranged from 9 to 306. The impact that geographical space might have on these statistics will be explored in a later 8 of 21 section of the study. Table 2 Descriptive Data for Senior High Schools in a Large Urban Area (n=49) Variable Mean St. Dev. Min. Max. Teacher absenteeism rate 8.27 1.06 6.33 11.44 Number w/o credential 26.84 10.8 8 61 Number < 2 yrs experience 46.31 14.6 19 89 Substitute teacher requests 1447 590.5 193 2571 Substitute requests unfilled 85.39 56.6 9 306 Drop out rate 5.53 3.2 .47 15.7 Transiency percent 37.2 12.4 16.7 77.1 Number suspensions 534.8 345.2 23 1608 Opportunity transfers 76.22 48.7 2 272 Crimes against property 11.27 9.2 2 54 Crimes against people 78.24 34.6 37 199 Number of unfilled teaching position 4.27 5.1 0 21 Academic Performance Index 531.82 83.3 370 737 Note from Table 3, the high inter-correlation between teacher absence rates and academic performance (r = .54) and the amount of unfilled substitute teacher positions (r = .45) Table 3 Inter-correlation of All Variables with Teacher Absenteeism Rates (**=p<.01) Variable Correlation Teacher absenteeism rate 1.00 Number w/o credential .37** Number < 2 yrs experience .24 Substitute teacher requests -.01 Substitute requests unfilled .45** Drop out rate .40** Transiency percent .50** 9 of 21 Number suspensions -.04 Opportunity transfers .19 Crimes against property .44** Crimes against people .64** Number of unfilled teaching position .52** Academic Performance Index -.54** With the complete address for each high school site, the exact geographical location of a school site was identified to within five feet of its actual location. When the median family income for the zip code that contains the school site was added, a pictorial representation of the quality of geographical space and output indicators (especially teacher absenteeism) was visually depicted. Figure 1 depicts the large urban geographical area while Figure 2 is a plot of the location of school sites with teacher absenteeism above 8.00. Figure 3 is a plot of the location of school sites with teacher absenteeism rates both above and below 8.0, while Figure 4 is the same plot with the quality of the geographical space (median level of income) overlaid on the map. Figures 5 and 6 specifically examine school sites with above and below 8.0 teacher absence rates and Academic Performance Indices (API) above and below the 500 point average for the school district. Figure 1: The Los Angeles Urban Area (zip codes) 10 of 21 Figure 2: Distribution of High Teacher Absence Schools (> 8.0) Figure 3: Distribution of High and Low Teacher Absenteeism Schools (Symbol X = highest and triangle = lowest) 11 of 21 Figure 4: Distribution of High and Low Teacher Absenteeism Schools with Geographical Space (Dark areas highest per capita income-(Symbol X = highest and triangle = lowest) Figure 5: Distribution of High Absenteeism-Poor Performance- Low Absenteeism-High Performance Schools (Symbol X = highest absence-poorest performance and triangle = lowest absence and highest performance) 12 of 21 Figure 6: Distribution of High Absence- Poor Performing and Low Absence- High Performing School and Geographical Space (Dark Areas have Highest Per Capita Income-(Symbol X = highest absence-poorest performance and triangle = lowest absence and highest performance) Table 4 High Teacher Absenteeism Schools (n = 27) Variable Mean St. Dev. Min. Max. Teacher absenteeism rate 9.01 .77 8.05 11.44 Number w/o credential 29.22 1.6 11 29.2 Number < 2 yrs experience 47.6 14.2 19 47.6 Substitute teacher requests 1444.4 637.1 193 2571 Substitute requests unfilled 99.2 62.8 15 306 Drop out rate 6.1 3.09 1.25 15.7 Transiency percent 39.8 13.6 18.42 77.1 Number suspensions 628.5 393.9 59 1606 Opportunity transfers 78.5 59.8 2 272 Crimes against property 13.0 11.2 3 54 Crimes against people 91.04 38.6 42 199 Number of unfilled teaching position 5.75 5.5 0 21 13 of 21 Academic Performance Index 505.74 74.16 370 653 Number of schools (n=27) Percent in Negative Geographical space (low community income)= 96% Note from Table 4 that high teacher absence (>8.0) was separated from those schools below 8.0. Note the variations in the API's for these two groupings of schools (370-653) with an average of 505.- Also note that there is far more criminal activity and higher teacher turnover at these high absence schools Table 5 Low Teacher Absenteeism Schools (n = 22 ) Variable Mean St. Dev. Min. Max. Teacher absenteeism rate 7.3 .52 6.3 7.97 Number w/o credential 23.9 10.5 8 49 Number < 2 yrs experience 44.8 15.2 22 83 Substitute teacher requests 1451.1 542.6 402 2508 Substitute requests unfilled 68.4 51.9 9 237 Drop out rate 4.8 3.3 .47 13.34 Transiency percent 34.1 10.33 16.74 53.7 Number suspensions 419.8 234.9 23 895 Opportunity transfers 53.5 25.1 2 100 Crimes against property 9.2 5.6 2 21 Crimes against people 62.6 20.8 37 113 Number of unfilled teaching position 2.5 3.9 0 18 Academic Performance Index 563.8 84.2 426 737 Number of schools (n=22) Percent in Negative Geographical space (low community income)= 10% Note in Table 5 that low absence schools have an API of 426 to 737 with an average of 564. Also note that there we less unfilled substitute teacher positions. Table 6 Inter-correlation of Variables with Teacher Absenteeism ** p <.01 * p <.05 Variable High absenteeism Low Absenteeism 14 of 21 Schools Schools Teacher absenteeism rate 1.00 1.00 Number w/o credential .26 .19 Number < 2 yrs experience .24 .31 Substitute teacher requests .44** .31* Substitute requests unfilled 1.00** .33* Drop out rate .21 .45** Transiency percent .49** .31* Number suspensions .07 .21 Opportunity transfers .07 -.02 Crimes against property .61** -.16 Crimes against people .51** .19 Number of unfilled teaching position .52** .37* Academic Performance Index -.45** -.37* Number of schools 27 22 Note from Table 6, the correlation with academic performance was -.45 and -.37 and the number teaching without teaching credentials .26 to -.19. Table 7 High Teacher Absence-Low Academic Attainment Schools (n=16) Variable Mean St. Dev. Min. Max. Teacher absenteeism rate 9.2 .90 8.1 11.44 Number w/o credential 33.5 10.2 22 61 Number < 2 yrs experience 52.4 15.1 19 89 Substitute teacher requests 1465.1 619.5 477 2571 Substitute requests unfilled 116 67.4 22 306 Drop out rate 6.7 2.9 2.8 15.7 Transiency percent 45.6 14.1 29.3 77.1 Number suspensions 761.5 451.5 59 1608 Opportunity transfers 82.81 47.9 2 198 Crimes against property 15.8 13.8 3 54 Crimes against people 110.2 38.2 62 199 Number of unfilled teaching position 8.44 5.7 1 21 15 of 21 Academic Performance Index 454.1 36.7 370 497 Number of schools (n=16) Percent in Negative Geographical space (low community income)= 100% Table 8 Descriptive Analysis: Low Absenteeism-High Academic Performance Schools (n=16) Variable Mean St. Dev. Min. Max. Teacher absenteeism rate 7.3 .53 6.3 7.97 Number w/o credential 21.4 10.2 8 49 Number < 2 yrs experience 89 15.4 22 83 Substitute teacher requests 1482 548.3 584 2508 Substitute requests unfilled 64.5 55.2 16 237 Drop out rate 4.2 2.1 .47 8.7 Transiency percent 31.1 8.9 16.74 46.2 Number suspensions 382.7 192.7 23 685 Opportunity transfers 47.4 23.2 2 100 Crimes against property 8.3 5.2 2 20 Crimes against people 57.1 14.1 38 89 Number of unfilled teaching position 1.5 2.0 0 7 Academic Performance Index 598.4 71.0 510 737 Number of schools (n=16) Percent in Negative Geographical space (low community income)= 5% Table 9 Correlations for High-Absence and Low-Absence Schools With Regard to Academic Performance (above and below 500 on the API) Variable High teacher absenteeism schools with low performance Low teacher absenteeism schools with high performance Teacher absenteeism rate 1.00 1.00 Number w/o credential .22* .19* Number < 2 yrs experience .09 .41** Substitute teacher requests -.03 .45** 16 of 21 Substitute requests unfilled -.79** .40** Drop out rate .33* .36* Transiency percent .69** .31* Number suspensions -.10 -.15 Opportunity transfers .03 -.10 Crimes against property .69** -.10 Crimes against people .76** .35* Number of unfilled teaching position .57** .52** Academic Performance Index -.88** -.33* Number of schools 16 16 See Figures 5 and 6 for a geographical mapping of these schools. From Table 9 note the high correlation and differences in these correlation measures with regard to the number of teachers with less than 2 years of experience and the number of substitute teacher requests. Most important is the number of substitute teacher requests that remain unfilled and teacher absence. Policy Issues: The distribution of teacher absences The principal finding of this study is that the effect of teacher absenteeism is felt not equally across all school sites, but is felt most unfavorably in the urban schools or schools that are located in poor, low median family income geographical space. This finding corroborates the findings of other studies regarding how poverty impacts the urban school. As one national study has found, with teaching vacancies, rural and small town schools (10%) are less likely to use substitute teachers than central city schools (24%) and urban fringe schools (16%). These rural and small town schools (96%) are more likely to hire qualified teachers than central city schools (90%); but they are almost equally likely to do so when compared to urban fringe schools (95%) (NEA, 1998). The amount of teacher absences at schools in these negative geographical space areas is also an indicator of teacher morale and stress. When there is high teacher absence, it tends to lower the morale of remaining teachers resulting in higher teacher turnover. This could be the cause of the failure of these schools to attract more committed teachers or the danger and stress posed by working in high-risk neighborhoods that result in teachers leaving the classroom. Since urban districts are often plagued with gang violence and unsafe schools and neighborhoods, the latter condition is highly significant to examine for the policy maker since there is an actual threat to a teacher's physical safety. As a result and as expected, there should not only be more teacher absence in poorer areas of the city, but lower retention rates of qualified and experienced teachers. Summary, Recommendation, and Conclusions As noted earlier, students in a classroom eventually lose the desire to learn when the 17 of 21 regular teacher is frequently absent and the delivery of the instructional program is by an array of substitute teachers. In essence, teacher absenteeism has important implications for school reform, teacher training, educational leadership, and issues related to social justice aimed at promoting equity and excellence in the schools. The use of substitute teachers puts added strain on the efforts of school reform by not only increasing the costs of instruction, but by changing the delivery of instruction from fully credentialed and permanent teachers to part time and substitute teachers. In addition with heavy reliance on substitute teachers to deliver instructional programs, the teaching efforts of the regular teacher towards school reform might be undermined. One of the main characteristics between successful and unsuccessful school reform efforts is the closing the disparity between resources as distributed vs. resources as received in the classroom. The degree of teacher absence at a school site is directly related to this resource distribution-reception disparity. Finally educational leadership has to recognize the fact that teaching at low-income area schools increases the propensity of teachers to be absent. With this in mind highly trained substitute teacher pools might need to be developed at the site so that instruction is continued when the teacher is absent. The shortage of substitute teachers (Lilly, 1998) and the effective use of substitute teachers (Holdaway and Benhaw (1974) in the classroom have also been studied and should be considered part of school administrative training. (Pitkoff, 1993). Some states implementing large scale studies of substitute teaches include Wisconsin (Substitute Teaching in Wisconsin, 2000) amd Nova Scotia (Unicomb et al., 2000) In conclusion research on low-income schools should examine in closer detail the disparity between resources as delivered to the classroom vs. resources as actually received by students in the classroom. Teacher absenteeism is a major contributor to instructional resource disparity or resources that are not actually being delivered to students in the classroom. In addition the notion of attenuation or the lessening of the impact of school resources and the amplification of risk factors of students needs to be examined in much closer detail by educational researchers. This study partially demonstrates that the dual problem of attenuation of school district resources and amplification of student risk are both impacted by teacher absenteeism. In addition, the quality of geographical space as measured by the median income of the area is also highly associated with teacher absenteeism. This association between the quality of geographical space, teacher absenteeism, and educational attainment raises issues of social justice and has the potential to undermine school reform efforts at promoting equity and excellence in urban schools. References Alberta Teachers Association, Substitute Teachers Professional Replacements. April 17 available at http:/www.teachers.ab.ca/publicatiuons/brochures/parents/pamphlets/pg\uide16.html Bruno, J. E. (1997). It's About Time: Leading School Reform in an Era of Time Scarcity. Corwin Press, Inc., CA. Bruno, J. E. (1970). The Use of Monte Carlo Techniques for Determining Optimal Size of Substitute Teacher Pools in Large Urban School Districts. Socio-Econ. Plan. Sci. 4 18 of 21 pp. 415-428. Corcoran, R., Walker, L.J., & White, J.L. (1988). Working in Urban Schools. Washington D.C: The Institute of Educational Leadership. (ED299-356) Diver-Stamnes, A. C. (1995). Lives in the Balance: Youth, Poverty, and Education in Watts. State University of New York Press, Albany. Ehrenberg, R., Rees, D., & Ehrenberg E. (1991). School district leave policies, teacher absenteeism, and student achievement, Journal of Human Resources, 26, 72-105. Holdaway, E. A. and Benthan, J. A. (1974). The provision of substitute teachers. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 20(1), 24-33 Joyce, M. R. An Analysis of Difference in Classroom Routines of Regular Teachers and Their Substitute Counterparts. Dissertation Abstracts International, 1975 Sep, 36(3-A), pp.1212-1213 Kozol, J. (1992). Savage Inequalities, Harper Prennial. Lilly, D. Shortage of substitute teachers has schools scrambling. Nov 10, 1998. Available at seattletimes.com Lippman, L., Burns, S & McArthur, E. (1996). Urban Schools: The challenge of location and poverty. U.S. Department of Education, Naional Center for Education Statistics. Washington, D.C. Locher, Paul. (1999). Good Economy Procipitates Substitute Shortage. Retrieved Apr. 17, 2001. Available at http://www.the-daily-record.com/past_issues/01_jan/990117dr5.html McKay, G. No Substitute: Substitute Teachers become Hot Commodity. Jan 26, 1999. Available at http://www.post-gazette.com/regionstate/19990125subs9.asp Pitkoff, E. (1993). Teacher absenteeism: What admnistrators can do. NASSP Bulletin, 77, 39-45 Scott, K & McClellan, E. (1990). Gender differences in absenteeism. Public Personnel Management, 19, 229-253. Streisand, B. & Toch, T. (1998). Many Millions of Kids and Too Few Teachers Available at http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/980914/14teac.htm Substitute Teaching In Wisconsin. (Fall 2000) The Statewide Study of the Problems that Districts are having in attracting and retaining quality substitute teachers. Retrieved Jun 1, 2001. Available at http://weac.org/Resource/2000-01/sept00/subs.htm Unicomb, R., Alley, J., Avery, P., & Barak, L. (1992). Teacher absenteeism: A study of short term teacher absenteeism in nine Nova Scotia schools. Education Canada, 32 (2), 33-37. Wise, A. (1972). Rich Schools Poor Schools: The Promise of Equal Educational 19 of 21 Opportunity. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Woods, L. L. and Woods, T. L. (1974). Substitute: A psychological study. Elementary School Journal, 75(3), 162-167. About the Author Professor James E. Bruno Graduate School of Education and Information Studies 1032A Moore Hall University of California, Los Angeles 90095 Phone 310-825-8354 Fax 310-206-6293 Professor James E. Bruno has taught at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) for over 30 years and is currently engaged in research dealing with a wide range of interrelated topic areas impacting on children and adolescents. These areas include the perception of time and human behavior, social justice and community well being associated with geographical space, time-space distortions for children and adolescents in a new world order, and the use of information technologies for assessment and instructional support in educational settings. He presently teaches in the UCLA honors undergraduate program, the GSE&IS education minor program, UC-Fresno joint doctoral program in educational leadership, and doctoral program in urban studies at UCLA. Email jbruno@ucla.edu Website www.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/bruno Copyright 2002 by the Education Policy Analysis Archives The World Wide Web address for the Education Policy Analysis Archives is epaa.asu.edu General questions about appropriateness of topics or particular articles may be addressed to the Editor, Gene V Glass, glass@asu.edu or reach him at College of Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-2411. The Commentary Editor is Casey D. Cobb: casey.cobb@unh.edu . EPAA Editorial Board Michael W. Apple University of Wisconsin Greg Camilli Rutgers University John Covaleskie Northern Michigan University Alan Davis University of Colorado, Denver Sherman Dorn University of South Florida Mark E. Fetler California Commission on Teacher Credentialing Richard Garlikov hmwkhelp@scott.net Thomas F. Green Syracuse University 20 of 21 Alison I. Griffith York University Arlen Gullickson Western Michigan University Ernest R. 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