Three Possible Reasons Students Are Absent from School


In this report from Johns Hopkins University, Robert Balfanz and Vaughan Byrnes suggest three helpful categories for thinking about student absenteeism:
• Students who cannot attend school due to illness, family responsibilities, housing instability, the need to work, or involvement with the juvenile justice system;
• Students who will not attend school to avoid bullying, unsafe conditions, harassment, and embarrassment;
• Students who do not attend school because they, or their parents, do not see the value of being there, they have something else they would rather do, or nothing stops them from skipping school.

“The Importance of Being in School: A Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools” by Robert Balfanz and Vaughan Byrnes from a report prepared by Get Schooled and the Center for Social Organization of Schools at Johns Hopkins University, published May 2012; summarized in Education Digest, October 2012 (Vol. 78, #2, p. 4-9); the full report can be accessed at http://new.every1graduates.org/the-importance-of-being-in-school.

From the Marshall Memo #458