Dive Brief:

• In Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Cleveland and Detroit, more than 33% of students were chronically absent in 2013-14 — and in Buffalo and Utica, NY, more than half of students were, according to federal data.
• The Washington Post reports these cities face challenges associated with intergenerational poverty and researchers were not particularly surprised to see them at the top of the list, but generally affluent suburban districts in Montgomery County, MD, and Fairfax County, VA, also had large numbers of chronically absent students.
• African American, Native American, Pacific Islander and Latino students, along with those who have learning disabilities, are more likely to be chronically absent than their peers, and Attendance Works Executive Director Hedy Chang says high absenteeism rates end up affecting all students.

Dive Insight:

While it is easier to assume that students do not show up to school because they or their families do not care about education, schools that dig deeper can find troubling but often solvable problems. Whirlpool’s Care Counts program provides schools with washers and dryers that allow students to wash their clothes instead of staying home because they don’t have anything clean to wear. The pilot found significant increases in attendance as well as motivation among participating students.

Homelessness can also be a key factor in attendance issues. Families often do not want to admit to teachers or school officials that they are homeless for fear of being separated, but sometimes they are forced to stay with relatives or in shelters that are far from school and make attendance impossible. The McKinney-Vento Act requires schools to coordinate transportation in circumstances like this, but families have to know the resources are there.

Recommended Reading

The Washington Post: American schools have a chronic absentee problem