Being Present Matters: The Fight to End Chronic Absenteeism

This month, as 50 million public school students across the U.S. return to the classroom, it’s clear that the pandemic’s impact on students and families isn’t over. Four years after the shutdowns of 2020, millions of students are academically behind.

But students can’t succeed if they’re not in school. The spike in chronic school absenteeism that began in the pandemic’s wake shows no sign of receding. According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, 14.7 million U.S. students—more than one in four—were chronically absent in 2021-22. That means they missed 10 percent or more of the school year, almost a full month of classes.

The impact of this level of absence is well established. Students who are chronically absent suffer declines in test scores, fare worse in classes, and are far less likely to graduate. Once they’ve left school, they are at higher risk for health problems, difficulty finding jobs, and economic challenges. Students of color and those from low-income communities, who already face systemic barriers to success, are most impacted. It’s critical that we turn these trends around so that more students have a shot at success after high school. The future of our communities, workforce, and economic development is at stake.

What can we do? The first step is to change the way we think about absenteeism. Our truancy system is too often focused on blame, rather than causes and solutions. It most often makes assumptions that families and students are acting in bad faith, which are then used to justify punishment as a way to combat school absences. A growing number of researchers have found that punishment is not effective at supporting students in reaching their potential to learn and succeed in school and in life.

Punitive approaches can create a spiral, where a simple absence creates negative assumptions about a student and their family that can eventually lead to fines and jail time. This approach can backfire by pushing families and students further away from engaging with school systems and getting the help they need. Addressing this crisis requires an approach based on positive engagement, in which we treat absenteeism as an early warning sign, rather than an offense to be punished.

Next, we must take a clear-eyed look at the factors driving this crisis. Many students face barriers, such as a lack of transportation, unstable housing, having to provide childcare for younger siblings or needing to go to work to support their families. Mental health issues have also risen sharply among young people, to the point that the U.S. Surgeon General has declared a youth mental health crisis. And as students fall further behind, school becomes an even bigger source of anxiety making them more likely to want to avoid it.

Together, Attendance Works and Communities In Schools are working to ensure that every student can realize their potential to succeed. Every day, we work to both remove barriers to attendance and create positive conditions for our students to learn. For our kids to succeed in the classroom, they need integrated support that wraps around every part of their lives and addresses the specific challenges they face.

Schools and states can’t do this alone. Tackling today’s very high levels of absenteeism requires an all-hands-on-deck approach that includes state-level planning and tapping into community resources, and bringing educators, families, and neighbors together to help our kids succeed. In this spirit, Attendance Works joined with  EducationTrust and Nat Malkus with American Enterprise Institute to ask everyone, across partisan lines, to embrace a bold yet achievable goal: cut chronic absenteeism by 50 percent in the next five years.

Attendance Works will first develop resources to assist states develop their own plan based on a deep understanding of local realities and available assets. Communities In Schools is answering this chronic absence challenge by implementing its integrated student supports model in 27 states and the District of Columbia.

CIS provides a tiered approach that begins with prevention and early intervention and nurtures positive conditions for learning that motivate showing up to school. Communities In Schools brings together dedicated team members with teachers, school staff and families in communities where students face major economic and social obstacles. Through home visits to families, door-to-door outreach, and individualized plans to meet student needs, 99 percent of students enrolled in Communities In Schools programs remained in school through the end of the school year.

As the nation observes Attendance Awareness Month in September, we are more determined than ever to make sure our students show up to school ready to learn and stay engaged throughout the school year. We must come together and show up for our kids with positive engagement, community intervention, and a deeper commitment to our future. It’s time to push back the tidal wave of chronic absenteeism.

Hedy N. Chang is the founder and Executive Director of Attendance Works. Rey Saldaña is the President and CEO of Communities In Schools.