Chronic Absences
Across the country, more than 8 million students are missing
so many days of school that they are academically at risk. Chronic absence —
missing 10 percent or more of school days due to absence for any
reason—excused, unexcused absences and suspensions, can translate into
third-graders unable to master reading, sixth-graders failing subjects and
ninth-graders dropping out of high school.
Children living in poverty are two to three times more
likely to be chronically absent—and face the most harm because their community
lacks the resources to make up for the lost learning in school. Students from
communities of color as well as those with disabilities are disproportionately
affected.
This isn’t simply a matter of truancy or skipping school. In
fact, many of these absences, especially among our youngest students, are
excused. Often absences are tied to health problems, such as asthma, diabetes,
and oral and mental health issues. Other barriers including lack of a nearby school
bus, a safe route to school or food insecurity make it difficult to go to
school every day. In many cases, chronic
absence goes unnoticed because schools are counting how many students show up
every day rather than examining how many and which students miss so much school
that they are falling behind.
While chronic absence presents academic challenges for
students not in class, when it reaches high levels in a classroom or school,
all students may suffer because the resulting classroom churn hampers teachers’
ability to engage all students and meet their learning needs.
The good news is that our work throughout the country shows
us that chronic absence is a solvable problem. What works is taking a
data-driven, comprehensive approach that begins with engaging students and
families as well as preventing absences from adding up before they fall behind
academically. The key is using chronic absence data as a diagnostic tool to
identify where prevention and early intervention are needed.
With this data in hand, schools, families and community
partners can together determine the causes of chronic absence, and implement
approaches that address barriers to getting to class. The federal Every Student
Succeeds Act requires districts and states to collect chronic absence data and
report it publicly. The majority of
states have adopted chronic absence as a measure for school accountability.
The challenge of improving attendance is to avoid making the
incorrect assumption that chronically absent students or their parents simply
do not care. By working together, all of us — schools, public officials, public
agencies, civic organizations, businesses, philanthropic groups, families and
students — can ensure all children can
get to school every day so they have an opportunity to learn, flourish and
realize their dreams.
Shared from (and to learn more) - http://www.attendanceworks.org/chronic-absence/the-problem/
Resources for parents or guardians: http://www.attendanceworks.org/resources/toolkits/bringing-attendance-home/
