Chronic Absenteeism Reveals and Causes Tons of Problems

Julia Steiny: Chronic Absenteeism Reveals and Causes Problems

If kids aren’t at school, writes Julia Steiny, all of the school’s other efforts just don’t matter.

If a kid’s not listening, she’s not learning. If the kid’s not even in school, she’s certainly not listening.

Julia Steiny

Showing up every day and on time are skills absolutely necessary to success, especially at the entry level of any job or profession. Who would argue?

And yet, high absenteeism is a huge problem across the nation.

Hedy Chang, the Director of Attendance Works, says that Americans are perfectly aware that compulsory attendance at school is the law. They just don’t much care.

And no one teaches parents how to get 3 kids up, dressed, fed and out the door on time. It’s a feat. More challenging for some than others.

So Attendance Works’ mission is to help communities get their kids to school.

High absenteeism is a chronic problem that contributes to the more famous problems of low achievement and kids dropping out. Urban schools in particular are vilified for their poor academic performance, but they have limited control over whether or not the kids’ butts are in the seats. Yes, some instruction is deadly dull. But even schools with vibrant curricula, cool projects and caring adults can’t hang on to kids who have already disengaged from school, for whatever reason.

Chang’s research shows that kids start bunking school as early as 3rd and 4th grade.

So today, let’s focus on the littlest kids who have no choice about skipping school — those in kindergarten and grade one.

Nationally, one out of 10 of this very young cohort is “chronically absent,” missing more than 10 percent of school time. That’s 18 days out of a 180-day school year, about a month of school.

In Providence, Rhode Island, one third of the kindergartners are chronically absent. Rhode Island’s truancy law also says that three incidents of being tardy is supposed to add up to an absence, so even that one-third is seriously under-counted. (States have very different laws, by the way. In Maryland, truancy is missing 20 percent of school, or two months. In New York, each district has its own rules.)

The pain of it is that these kids will never make up the time. When kids are AWOL in the earliest grades, Chang says, “even if their 3rd-grade attendance is better, 5th-grade reading will still suffer. That includes kids who tested proficient when they came to K and 1. Low-income kids DEPEND on school to learn the habits that support reading.”

If a middle-schooler is disengaged, it’s absolute murder to get him back. So Chang emphasizes that the on-time-every-day habit needs be established as a non-negotiable when the child is quite young.

She cites three big reasons for chronic absenteeism among little kids.

1. Discretion. School just isn’t all that important to some parents. School’s convenient when it’s convenient.

Chang shakes her head, “Many people don’t understand how you learn a language or reading. You can explain the consequences of missing school to parents, but often they say ‘Just give me the work.’ It’s hard to convey the richness of the classroom and the powers of peer learning.”

“Discretion” is a parent problem.

2. Aversion. This one’s mostly the fault of the school. Perhaps the classroom is chaotic and therefore scary or stressful. Or the teacher is a bully and yells a lot. Kids tend to bully each other anyway at times, so that can get out of hand. And now that we’ve starved kids of time for recess, physical activity and running off steam, an otherwise great group of kids is bound to let off steam, somehow, even during class time.

Little kids can’t bunk, but they do get daily tummy aches. Those are red flags of aversion.

3. Logistical Problems. These include kids’ health, parents’ health, transportation, and so forth.

For example, when the City of Baltimore reached out to their chronically absent kindergartners and first graders, they discovered that a third of them suffered from asthma.

Also, transportation is a nightmare for many families. Some have several kids in as many schools. Many families move a lot, mainly for reasons of poverty. Space permitting, districts often transfer these mobile kids to a school closer to the new apartment, but that’s no favor to the continuity of kids’ education or relationships with friends and adults. It’s great if he can be bused to the old school, but if he misses the bus, Mom might not have a car, or the time to transport the kid herself.

So these kids start their school career by losing ground.

I’ve only touched on the problems of little kids. Attendance Works has gobs of research and information about absenteeism at all ages.

Chang strongly cautions that there’s no way you can know what the problem is until you go investigate. Dig. Find out. Don’t assume. Poor attendance unearths such an odd collection of issues that only good information can help to tailor good responses. Fortunately Attendance Works reports on solutions crafted by specific districts. Find them under “What Works.”

The bottom line is that improving the nation’s attendance rate is going to be hard, hard work. It will need a public campaign to solicit the whole community’s help. Because if the kid’s not there, all other school efforts just don’t matter.

Julia Steiny is a freelance columnist whose work also regularly appears at GoLocalProv.com. She is the founding director of the Youth Restoration Project, a restorative-practices initiative, currently building a demonstration project in Central Falls, Rhode Island. She consults for schools and government initiatives, including regular work for The Providence Plan for whom she analyzes data. For more detail, see juliasteiny.com or contact her at juliasteiny@gmail.com or c/o GoLocalProv, 44 Weybosset Street, Providence, RI 02903.

Comments

Julia Q. Singer

February 1, 2012 at 1:39 pm

I am a counselor working with the adult population providing vocational training and chronic absenteeism is a major issue for some students. This despite the fact that attendance is addressed the first day of school and students sign a form confirming that they understand that if the attendance criteria is not met, they will not receive a Certificate of Completion for the course. I would not be suprised if the adult with chronic asbenteesim is a pattern that began in elementary school. Our goal to preparing the student for employment goes well beyond the vocational component. We work at helping the student learn to be accountable for their actions; being late, leaving early, not showing up…the very skills that all employers desire; dependentability, reliability…….Julia Q. Singer

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- Julia Steiny
  
  February 28, 2012 at 1:10 pm
  
  I’ve done a lot of research on this topic, so I can tell you that middle school kids who get used to being tardy or absent, continue. It gets worse in high school. It’s a habit, like smoking. Honestly, I think the only real solution is a community-wide effort that addresses incentives, consequences, parents, schools and what happens in class first thing in the morning. It’s a culture thing, and that means it’s deep and tough to change. If I ever find an answer, my column will surely proclaim it.
  
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Chronic Absenteeism Reveals and Causes Problems « Standing With the Kids

February 1, 2012 at 1:49 pm

[...] by EducationNews.org – If kids aren’t at school, all of the school’s other efforts just don’t [...]

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Julia Steiny: Chronic Absenteeism Reveals and Causes Problems | International Education News | Renascence School International | Panama City | private preschool, elementary school, middle school

February 2, 2012 at 8:18 am

[...] profession. Who would argue? And yet, high absenteeism is a huge problem across the nation.”(more) Comments (0) Go to main news [...]

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Linda Brees

February 2, 2012 at 9:56 am

I’m really glad to read about this organization. A week or two ago, this very site published a story that said that teachers should be doing more to stop absenteeism but to be honest, I am not sure how much teachers can help in solving this issue. Attendance Works sounds like a really good approach that’s going to do a lot of good.

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Marie

February 12, 2012 at 10:49 am

I have taught in private, affluent, urban, rural and charter schools, for 28 years. In each of these large and small districts attendance officers, social workers, police and judges work together to stop absenteeism. Threats of jail time, fines or going before the judge does not work in getting children to school because these mothers know they will not be taken away from their children for jail time. What will a judge do if the neglectful parent with 1-5 children will not pay the $50.00 fine? Put the mom in jail? In all the schools I have worked these mothers pull their children out of the school who expects attendance (more harm to the child’s education) and go to another school; going from school-to-school (public to charter and charter to public). If children fail a grade because of absenteeism more switching of children out of that school and into a school that will promote them. Until the government takes this “parental duty” of getting your child/children to school (away from the schools) and attaches “government money” (food stamps, SSI, wick, other), and more to student absenteeism will this neglect of children stop. My solution train the parent in a way that is not punishment, but expectations with a consequence from the government who pays the parent thousands of dollars for their child/children. Government is like “Big parent daddy, mommy” who sets the expectations with money to back up the rules. Government has the power to not only expect, but insist on attendance. We have the best teachers, the best curriculums to teach, but if students are not in school (epidemic) can any child learn? My solution, set up an “Educational State” in the Secretary of State because everyone knows and can get to the Secretary of State. Fact, the government provides cell phones to all parents on assistance. The school should notify the State Agency each a.m. when a child is not at school, or tardy at 30 minutes, (or parent is not at Parent-Teacher Conference representated by them the parent, grandparent or other adult, or school does not have a current phone number to reach the parent (also epidemic). A phone call, text, e-mail should go out to that government (parent) phone that a $10.00 fine has been attached for absent child; requiring the parent to go to the “Educational State” within 5 days to state face-to-face before a highly trained social worker as to why the child was not at school. The social worker can make the decision to fine the parent that day for repeat offender or return the $10.00 with a warning. If a parent dismisses the government phone call in that 5 days and does not go to the Education State, the $10.00 doubles to $20.00 with another call, text, e-mail warning. If no response and no show to the Education State in 5 more days, the money doubles to $40.00, and another 5 days to $80.00. These parents are used to dismissing the schools who spend millions of taxpayer money on attendance issues with no power to change or reverse the epidemic of poor attendance, learning problems. There is no accountability or appreciation of why taxpayer money is given to (children-learning and support). The money is not given to the parent to sleep. I guarantee you when the parent receives less money on the government check at the end of the month for dismissing the phone calls, text messages, the parents will take notice! Training a parent with follow-through expectations will work and will stop the flow of young children going from school to school avoiding parent duty and responsibility. Absenteeism in elementary school is an epidemic and a national crisis in which parents swear at schools, cuss teachers who call home, scream at attendance officers and eventually yank their child out of a school when the school expected attendance. Some students attend 3-4 schools a year for attendance problems. Children are removed from schools who retain a student because they were not in school to learn. In kindergarden to 6th grade this is the number one problem of why students do not learn and/or eventually go into special education. These children are average to above average students and should never be in special education! A parent once inconvenienced having to drive to, catch a bus to that Secretary (Educational) State; take a number and wind around and go face-to-face to verbalize why their child/children were not in attendance will think twice about not getting up in the morning. I say this because at every school I have taught in 28 years the children tell us why they were not in school, “My mom, my grandma, my auntie would not get up”. The young students tell us they play video games all day. Most of these children have flat screen TV’s in their bedrooms. Little girls in elementary school show us their manicures and pedicures from the nail shop and middle school students boast of fake nakes to teachers. It takes 3/4 of a academic year to document, to warn, to warn again, and to send the paperwork from the attendance officers to the judge and the judge to send notice to appear. When this happens year-after- year and school-after-school is it any wonder that we have an exploding national crisis of children not learning and epidemic special education population? To do as I say here, take the attendance epidemic away from the schools and attach “an expectation and put the agency who gives the checks, money in charge. Begin to train parents their responsibility for educating their child by getting their children to school. My solution is not punishment, but a scripted training in which parents are expected to follow through with taxpayer money and duty to parent and get their children to school. Important that the responsibility for the parent to now have to contact the state agency themselves (instead of making multiple school, social worker, police, judges try to chase them down with no viable phone number updated at the school. Hours spent using taxpayer money to track the parent and hold the parent accountable. This is not necessary when the government has all the power with the government check issued). When the parent is offered choices, get your child/children to school or be inconvenienced and show up and speak fact-to-face as to why their child was not at school. As it is now all this contacting, writing, trying to find the parent who makes a point of not giving the schools their updated phone numbers is a terrible waste of taxpayer money, teacher, social worker, police time. For the first time the parent would have to use their time and be inconvenienced to get to the Educational State. The parent can yell at the social worker at this separate building and all the hate blame of why they had to go face-to-face for their choices will not be put on the school. Documentation would take place, and the parent would be documentated if the child is pulled for attendance reasons to go to another school. Schools have no power to stop the “school hopping” which the majority of times is not for a better education, but to avoid parent attendance problems and schools not promoting their child because of non-learning attendance problems. From the trenches I can tell you that teacher’s in elementary school spend 10-12 hour days and weekends working, teaching scientifically-based curriculums, documenting goals, objectives, discipline measures, progress reports to educate young children, but no child can learn when not at school. All the documentation that teachers must do daily will not remediate the epidemic of hours spent with teachers trying to go back and remediate (catch-up) students not in attendance; hurting those students who should be going at a faster pace, but cannot because of the academic and behavior “in-and-out” children. The national crisis for poor academic scores is because of the epidemic absenteeism in which schools are powerless to change no matter how much money a district must spend to get children to school. It is a crime for a nation to stand by and blame teachers, districts for poor academic scores when common sense tells the public that you cannot learn when you are not in attendance.

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Robert Fleming

February 17, 2012 at 7:19 pm

First the schools make our children sick And thn punish them for being sick. They encourage sick kids to go to school thereby spreading disease. Doctors notes put an frivolous burden on scarce health care resources. Most kids have 3 to 6 colds a year. Most times you are too sick to go to school but not sick enough to see a doctor.

These policy’s endanger our kids and communities and show utter contempt for parents judgement of their own children’s health. They née to be amended

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mary zoccola

February 25, 2012 at 8:21 am

Robert, I agree. There are lots of times a kid is too sick for school, but not sick enough for a doctor. Then you have to take the kid to the doctor just for a note for the school. I don’t have any sympathy for health insurance companies. but for them to have to shell out money for doctor’s visits to make the school system happy does seem like an undue burden.

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mary zoccola

February 25, 2012 at 8:23 am

Also, my daughter’s school spent two years ignoring her doctor’s notes regarding PE, so her attendance suffered and they didn’t care.

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