Chronic Absenteeism Is Not Just Truancy

In the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, high school senior Ferris Bueller is suspected of skipping school nine times during his senior year. The movie, which follows one day of Bueller’s truant adventures towards the end of his high school experience, achieved cult-movie status with its portrayal of a privileged, middle-class student getting away with skipping class. Below the light-hearted fun of the film, however, is an issue that widens the achievement gap and makes it harder for 16% of America’s student population to reach their full potential.  

Chronic absenteeism is most widely defined as missing at least 15 days (approximately 10%) of school in a year.1 Although truancy can be a part of chronic absence, truancy and chronic absenteeism are not interchangeable. Many Americans think of truancy (and certainly occasional truancy) as something merely frivolous, as indicated by the many slang terms we have for it: playing hooky, ditching, dipping, cutting, bunking, skipping, etc. In general, our culture accepts the idea of a kid “cutting” school now and again because, well, kids will be kids. 

The line between truancy and chronic absenteeism is a fine one and children who are chronically absent from school experience heightened academic and social and emotional risk. Our most vulnerable students—those living in poverty, students of color, and students with disabilities—are two to three times more likely to be chronically absent.1 For schools and districts, chronic absenteeism impacts funding. For students, chronic absenteeism impacts overall achievement, graduation rates, and college and career readiness. And it reached crisis levels years ago.  

To make it even worse, because school-parent/guardian communications can be difficult to maintain, parents/guardians often do not realize their students are classified as chronically absent. 

Defining Chronic Absenteeism  

Students are usually considered chronically absent when they have missed 15 days (three weeks) or more of school. Missed days are typically categorized in one of the following ways: 

• An excused absence indicates that a parent or guardian has informed the school that the student will be absent (illness, medical appointment, family emergency, etc.). 
• An unexcused absence (truancy) categorizes students skipping class for various reasons (oversleeping, missing the bus, time missed when moving and/or changing schools, etc.). There is little consistency across districts and states when it comes to defining truancy. For example, the state of Connecticut defines truancy as four unexcused absences in one month or ten unexcused absences in a school year, whereas California defines truancy as missing more than 30 minutes of instruction without an excuse three times during a school year. 
• A disciplinary absence results from school suspensions.  

Complicating the accrual of accurate data around chronic absenteeism is the lack of consistency across districts and states when it comes to counting, tracking, and reporting student absences. For example, some districts do not include suspension days in their count while others do. Despite this lack of consistency, the data we have on chronic absenteeism is revealing. 

• In the years leading up to the pandemic, approximately eight million (15%) students were deemed chronically absent. For the 2017–18 school year, the Hamilton Project’s interactive map, which tracks chronic absence across the U.S., shows rates of chronic absence above 10% in all but three states. 12 states had chronic absence rates higher than 20%.  
• Chronic absence rates more than doubled across the U.S. during the pandemic,2 leading to unprecedented levels of unfinished learning across the country. At the start of the 2021–22 school year, students were on average four months behind in math and three months behind in reading. These numbers are much higher (approximately 9–12 months) for students of color and vulnerable students (those living in poverty and with disabilities, for example). 

Impact of Chronic Absenteeism  

School attendance is tied to student achievement and is a strong predictor of outcomes and success when it comes to college and career readiness. While Ferris Bueller had every advantage when it came to his education, students who frequently miss school are less likely to hit important learning milestones, are more likely to drop out, and may experience poverty and health problems in adulthood.  

More than 35 years after Ferris Bueller explored Chicago on a school day, there’s still a lack of understanding around the seriousness of chronic absenteeism. To reduce and solve the attendance crisis, we must first acknowledge and understand the problem, so that we can all—educators, parents/guardians, and communities—work together to find a solution to get our students back on track.