In 2023, roughly 1 student out of 4 was chronically absent across the school year, according to NPR. The problem is aligned with historic drops in reading and math scores nationwide.
School districts have launched campaigns with text messages and home visits in efforts to get students back in class. Educators have long been aware that missing 15, 20 days a year or more creates serious learning setbacks and puts students at a greater risk of dropping out.
But parents – according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll – don’t yet see the urgency.
Only about a third of parents, the poll found, can properly define chronic absenteeism.
Experts aren’t surprised: “In general, the public doesn’t understand what it is and why it matters,” says Cecelia Leong, a vice president at Attendance Works, an advocacy group that seeks to reduce chronic absenteeism. “Parents aren’t used to hearing about it.”
She notes that absenteeism can creep up on parents: A student only has to miss two days of school a month to end up chronically absent, so parents often don’t see it happening.
Even when parents see absenteeism as a problem, they don’t always see it as their problem: According to the NPR/Ipsos poll, only 6% of parents surveyed identified their child as chronically absent – but the numbers nationwide show a disconnect.
“Prior to the pandemic … about 15% of students would meet the definition of chronic absenteeism. And that rate grew to nearly 30% in the 21/22 school year,” says Thomas Dee, an education professor at Stanford University.
“One very prominent explanation here that meets the evidence,” Dee says, “is that during the pandemic many children and parents simply began to see less value in regular school attendance.”
Scholars call it “norm erosion”: It essentially means students and parents fell out of the habit of school.
The poll asked parents about all kinds of issues facing K-12 education. Only 5% of parents and the general population saw it as a top worry. Their highest priority? Preparing students for the future.
Mallory Newall, a vice president at Ipsos, sees potential there: “To prepare students adequately for the future, they need to be in the classroom. I think that could be a really effective and important linkage for parents that maybe parents in the public just aren’t making quite yet.”
Experts say outreach and identifying the reasons keeping students out of the classroom is the best chance districts have of getting their students back.
NPR
