Good evening,
This is Part 2 of The Reckoning, a three-part series examining KIPP Delta's attendance data. Part 1 established the baseline -- 102 school days, 94.9% district attendance. Tonight, we look behind the numbers.
The Finding
KBC reports the highest attendance rate in the district at 96.9% YTD. It also has the lowest attendance compliance at 26% -- meaning nearly three-quarters of all expected attendance checks were never performed.
When a teacher does not submit attendance, eSchool defaults every student to "present." The number we have been celebrating is, in significant part, a measurement artifact.
The Spectrum
This is not a single-school problem. Compliance varies dramatically across campuses:
| School | Compliance | Reported Attendance |
|---|---|---|
| KBC | 26% | 96.9% |
| DCHS | 59% | 93.8% |
| DELA | 75% | 94.6% |
| BCPS | 91% | 95.7% |
The pattern is consistent: the less you measure, the better the numbers look. BCPS, with 91% compliance, has the strongest data foundation in the district.
The Most Extreme Example
On February 4, 2026 -- the first day back after seven ice storm closures -- KBC recorded 2.3% attendance compliance. Two out of roughly 90 expected checks were completed. Reported attendance: 100.0%. Every student marked present, not because anyone verified it, but because the system filled in the blanks.
What This Means
When we estimate real attendance using only records where someone actually checked, the picture changes:
- KBC: Reported 96.9%, estimated real ~88%. A gap of nearly 9 points.
- DCHS: Reported 93.8%, estimated real ~90%. A gap of ~4 points.
- DELA: Reported 94.6%, estimated real ~93%. A gap of ~2 points.
- BCPS: Reported 95.7%, estimated real ~95.3%. Minimal inflation.
These are estimates, not accusations. But they point to a structural problem: the default value is the happy answer, and low compliance guarantees happy numbers.
View the full interactive report -- includes weekly trend charts, day-level scatter forensics, the compliance heatmap, and the complete phantom days exhibit.
When we cannot measure who is actually in the building, we cannot identify who is about to leave. Part 3 of The Reckoning quantifies what that blindness costs -- in dollars, in students, and in trust.