The Education Crisis Everybody is Talking About

Attendance is one of the most critical factors in student success. While implementing high-quality instructional materials and teacher professional development are important to academic achievement, students can’t benefit if they don’t attend school.

Pre-pandemic, approximately eight million students—15% of the student population in the U.S.—were considered chronically absent (missing 15 or more school days per year). In most U.S. states, the rate of chronic absenteeism was over 15% , with rates in 12 states over 20%.¹ Despite these shocking statistics, few people outside education circles, were aware of the crisis. The pandemic only served to exacerbate the situation, more than doubling absentee rates in some parts of the country.²    

In a previous post, Chronic Absenteeism is Not Just Truancy, we took a deep dive into how we define chronic absenteeism and some of the data surrounding it. We found that many people, parents included, are unaware of the significant differences between truancy and chronic absenteeism and the severity of the problem. It’s also clear that despite the dire repercussions of students not being in class, many parents and guardians have no idea their children are classified as chronically absent. Many schools and districts struggle to find the resources to help reduce absenteeism.  

Missing just two days of school a month can negatively impact academic performance.³ On the other hand, improved attendance rates directly connect to improved academics and graduation rates.⁴ Attendance can influence whether a student can read proficiently by the end of third grade,⁵ which has a series of significant repercussions of its own. For example, students who cannot read at grade level by the end of third grade are four times more likely than proficient readers to drop out of high school.⁶ Additionally, chronically absent students are less likely to graduate on-time compared to their peers.  

While it’s easy to think that parents and students don’t care about school attendance, this is simply not true. The reasons behind chronic absenteeism can vary—bullying, socio-economic hardship, family responsibilities or emergencies, transportation, housing, food insecurity, the list goes on—and often, families don’t realize the potential long-term implications of school absences.

While the pandemic disrupted learning for millions of students in the U.S. and exacerbated the attendance crisis, it simultaneously shined a light on it. News outlets around the country published story after story about the move to online learning and the challenges accompanying this shift in instruction for teachers, students, and families. There were many problems at the beginning of the pandemic—students’ lack of access to technology and Wi-Fi, teachers’ lack of familiarity with remote learning tools, and families disrupting children on Zoom calls, to name a few—but the number of students not showing up to online classes dominated headlines.   

Suddenly the attendance crisis was front and center, especially when it became clear that public schools had lost over one million students between March 2020 and the start of the 2021–2022 school year. Most of these were kindergarten and elementary students from low-income households, and they were not absent—they had never enrolled. The repercussions were, and continue to be, alarming.

We know that family engagement is proven to help reduce absenteeism. One of the most important things educators can do is communicate with students and families. Engaging with families regularly and in their home language about what their students are learning, reaching out when a student is absent, and sharing student successes helps build a culture of trust between the school and home and encourages students to feel safe in their learning environment.  

Establishing regular communication routines takes time, but there are tools that can help. PowerSchool Attendance Intervention immediately identifies students that are at risk, and those that are severely chronically absent. PowerSchool Communication can send messages that can be translated into more than 80 languages and provide a way for families to respond in their preferred language. Translated, two-way communications are an effective way to increase attendance and engage families.  

Check out our post on Back-to-School Steps to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism by Engaging Students and Families for ways to drive family engagement at the start and throughout the school year.

When it comes to increasing attendance, data is key. Analyzing attendance data, with Attendance Intervention, and identifying trends is a powerful tool, especially when combined with family communications. Data can also help automate much of your communications plan. When students are late or absent, notifications from PowerSchool Communication send an easy-to-understand visualization of a student’s attendance, via email, text, or even auto-call. 

The pandemic didn’t create the attendance crisis and unless districts, schools, and educators have tools and resources to combat absenteeism, little will change. It’s time to focus on attendance and the more than eight million students who will continue to be chronically absent. It’s time to take action.