Attendance Awareness Month: Addressing Chronic Absenteeism
September is back-to-school time, and all educators are hard at work brainstorming ways to make this school year successful. But before any of that hard work in the classroom can pay off, there is one critically important prerequisite to consider鈥actually getting students to attend class (whether in person or online). That鈥檚 why September has been designated National Attendance Awareness Month: to get the word out and help educators and parents make school a place that students want to be.
As we enter a new academic year, the primary concern for many is simply normalizing the school calendar after years of disruption. The continue to be after-effects of the pandemic听resulting in many reasons why a student might be absent from class. In some cases, absences simply cannot be avoided, but by being aware of the importance of attendance and working to help student who do miss class catch up where possible, educators can help to minimize the impact of chronic absenteeism.
What is Chronic Absenteeism?
Chronic absenteeism refers to students missing an excessive amount of school days, typically defined as missing 10% or more of the academic year. This equates to missing around 15 days or more of school per year. It has emerged as a significant barrier to student success and educational equity, as students who frequently miss school tend to fall behind academically and are at higher risk of dropping out.
It鈥檚 not currently known how disruptions caused by the pandemic impacted chronic absenteeism rates among students, but some shows that chronic absence is likely to have dramatically increased, potentially doubling in size from one out of six to one out of three students. , half of the students who miss two to four days of school in September end up missing nearly a month (25 days) of school in total throughout the year. Those missed days quickly translate into missed academic opportunities. Here are some more data points about school absence that might surprise you:
- 鈥淐hronic absence鈥 is defined by Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) survey, which refers to chronic absence as missing 15 or more days each school year.
听 - In 2023, roughly was chronically absent across the school year.
听 - Early data shows that chronic absence is likely to have dramatically increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, potentially doubling in size from one out of six to one out of three students.
听 - Absenteeism has hit hardest among communities that have been especially affected by the pandemic, including Black, Latino, and Native American students; students living in poverty; students with disabilities; and English language learners.
听 - One in ten kindergarten and 1st grade students meet the criteria for chronic absence.
听 - Many school districts also experienced significant declines in enrollment, occurring across all grade levels, but drops were greatest among the youngest learners, with some families delaying participation in kindergarten or preschool given the challenges of the pandemic.
听 - Absenteeism amongst young students is correlated with lower rates of reading proficiency by 3rd grade鈥 found that only 17 percent of students chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade were reading at grade level after 3rd grade.
听 - Close to half (45 percent) of high schools have high or extreme levels of chronic absence.
听 - Chronic absence disproportionately affects students and schools in high-poverty areas.
听 - Chronic absence affects specific student populations more than others鈥攅specially Native American, Black, Hispanic, and English language learner students鈥攂ut it occurs in all geographic locations and among all student demographic populations.
11 Quick Tips to Address Chronic Absenteeism
1. about the impacts of chronic absence, starting with open house nights and other events at the beginning of the school year.
2. Clearly communicate attendance expectations (and consequences for unexcused or excessive absences) to students and their families.
3. Develop a system to accurately monitor student attendance and chronic absence. The National Center for Education Statistics鈥 provides one such model. also has some helpful tools.
4. Focus on building a welcoming, , encouraging student input and ownership and emphasizing respectful interactions.
5. Utilize a to encourage strong attendance among all students, work with students when they first start to miss school days, and intervene intensely with students who are chronically absent.
6. Reach out to chronically absent students and their families to understand what the actually are, whether it鈥檚 transportation, hunger, homelessness, or other challenges.
7. Be mindful of that may be contributing to student absences, and be aware of what resources are available in your school and community to refer students to when appropriate.
8. Consider building a to help connect students with positive adult role models who can act as an additional support system and encourage them to make constructive decisions鈥攊ncluding attending school regularly.
9. Encourage participation in to help students develop meaningful connections to their school community; explore interests; make peer-to-peer connections; and build positive habits like healthy eating, regular exercise, and accountability.
10. Celebrate good attendance habits, and recognize improved attendance with .
11. Create an engagement strategy that works for your school community, and incorporate it into your larger remote learning plan to ensure attendance remains strong during unplanned school closures. Refer to these resources for successful remote learning days.听
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Looking for more ideas to improve student attendance this school year? Consider the positive impact of career and technical education programs on student retention and other ways districts are fighting chronic absenteeism. 听
This post was originally published September 2019听and has been updated.