Chronic Absenteeism Research Articles

Absenteeism and Achievement in Early Elementary Grades: A Multilevel Organizational Analysis

This paper presents empirical analyses illustrating the organizational relationship between chronic absenteeism and student achievement as estimated via a contextual model of school-level and student-level relationships. We conduct a series of descriptive analyses and multilevel hierarchical models (HLM) in which absenteeism is used to predict variation in student achievement for nearly 50,000 individual students in grades K-3 in 109 elementary schools in Delaware during the 2014–2015 through 2017–2019 school years. Results demonstrate that chronic absenteeism tends to be clustered in a subset of schools, and that the adverse contextual effects of absenteeism at the school level are many times larger than the negative effects at the individual level. Implications for education policy and interventions are discussed.

Complicating the Role of Relationships in Reducing Student Absenteeism

Abstract A strong connection between schools and families is vital for student success and well-being. Previous studies on school–family relationships found that open communication between parties may aid in supporting students’ needs and ability to attend school. In this paper, authors analyze how leveraging relationships to gain an increased understanding of a family’s attendance barriers is more beneficial than relationships built on accountability. From interviews with 38 caregivers, 29 students, and 40 staff members in an urban school district with high rates of chronic absenteeism, authors found that efforts to build relationships with families focused on accountability and caregiver education about their children’s attendance and the importance of attending school. Families sometimes perceived these efforts as superficial and ineffective. Authors discuss how school districts and key school personnel, such as social workers, can intentionally use the power of relationships to identify student and family needs and connect them with resources.

School refusal: Considerations for the primary care NP.

School refusal refers to child- or adolescent-motivated refusal to attend school or remain in school for the duration of the school day. Importantly, the child or adolescent does not conceal their absence from school from their caregivers. Root causes for school refusal include anxiety, mood disorders, untreated learning disorders, and social difficulties. Long-term outcomes of school refusal include further social withdrawal, ongoing mental health issues, and unemployment. This article reviews the differences between school refusal and other types of chronic absenteeism, and it describes behaviors that may manifest in a child or adolescent who avoids attending school. The primary care provider's role in evaluation and treatment of this population is discussed.

Virtual Learning in Kindergarten Through Grade 12 During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Chronic Absenteeism

Chronic absenteeism among kindergarten through grade 12 students has increased considerably after the COVID-19 pandemic. To examine the association between virtual learning during the 2020-2021 school year and chronic absenteeism during the 2021-2022 school year at the school district level. This cross-sectional study used a panel of 11 017 school districts throughout the US comprising kindergarten through grade 12 for the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years. The key covariates were the percentage of hybrid and virtual school days in the previous school year, with an assumption that these values in the 2018-2019 school year were zero. Chronic absenteeism rates at the district level, which were regressed on the percentage of school days in a learning mode in the previous school year, demographic characteristic and socioeconomic status controls, plus district and year fixed effects. Observations were weighted by district enrollment, and SEs were clustered at the district level. The dataset includes 11 017 school districts for 2 years and 22 034 observations. Chronic absenteeism rates increased by 13.5 percentage points, from a mean (SD) of 15.9% (8.1%) in the 2018-2019 school year to 29.4% (13.2%) in the 2021-2022 school year. Students whose schools had 100% virtual instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic had chronic absenteeism rates that were 6.9 percentage points (95% CI, 4.8-8.9 percentage points) higher than those that were 100% in person. Hybrid instruction was not associated with increased absenteeism. The association between virtual learning and chronic absenteeism varied by socioeconomic status, with the conditional correlation much larger for at-risk students; chronic absenteeism rates were 10.6 percentage points (95% CI, 7.2-14.1 percentage points) higher among students with 100% of days in virtual learning from districts in the top quintile of poverty rates compared with 100% in-persion districts. In this cross-sectional study, chronic absenteeism rates were substantially higher in school districts that used virtual learning during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with in person. Understanding how to reduce chronic absenteeism and use virtual learning without potentially negative consequences are key policy questions moving forward.

Evaluation of the Arthur Project: Evidence-Based Mentoring in a Social Work Framework with a Social Justice Approach

Low-income students from underrepresented communities experience significant educational inequalities, including chronic absenteeism, mental health crises, trauma exposure, and social injustices. These conditions escalate risks of dropping out and justice system involvement. Middle-school youth must navigate intense social and emotional change. To address such challenges, The Arthur Project (TAP) provides intensive, in-school, therapeutic mentoring and family support. The program teaches students essential life skills, such as problem-solving, communication, and academic engagement. Students are empowered to strengthen their resilience, perseverance, self-actualization, and confidence. TAP provides up to 500 h of therapeutic mentoring yearly over three years, delivered individually and in small groups by social work interns. The research question was as follows: Does structured, intensive in-school therapeutic mentoring with social work interns increase the socioemotional, cognitive, noncognitive, and academic skills and engagement of underserved middle-school students? This evaluation for the school year 2022–2023 is based on the program of 200 students and 30 mentors, with quantitative mentee, mentor, teacher, and caregiver surveys and qualitative interview data. The program and evaluation methodology are described, with results and conclusions. Students showed significant improvement in all domains; mentors reported student increases in confidence, perseverance, problem-solving, and communication; and teachers and caregivers reported students’ increased academic engagement. The Arthur Project program can become a national middle-school mentoring model to address widespread student inequalities.

Kindergarten Readiness Assessment Scores in Children who Received Early Life Mechanical Ventilation in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

AbstractThe impact of prolonged sedative medication usage on cognitive outcomes of young pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) patients has been incompletely assessed. We aim to assess the feasibility of linking an electronic medical record (EMR) system and a regional database to evaluate performance on standardized testing among PICU survivors. This is a single-center data-linkage study between EMR records and the Child and Household Integrated Longitudinal Data (CHILD) system, which links individual-level data across 35 administrative systems including Kindergarten Readiness Assessment (KRA) scores. The study was performed at a tertiary PICU in Cleveland, Ohio, United States with children born in 2011 or 2012 who received invasive mechanical ventilation and sedation before the age of 3 years in our PICU. We evaluated rate of “on-track” KRA scores, chronic absenteeism, and repeat kindergarten in the study population compared with a propensity score matched cohort from CHILD. Of 182 eligible PICU patients, 98 (54%) had a record identified in CHILD, and 32 had KRA scores available and sufficient data for propensity score matching. Compared with 160 matched controls, PICU patients had a lower rate of “on-track” scores (7/32 [22%] vs 102/160 [64%], p < 0.001) and more chronic absenteeism (14/32 [44%] vs. 34/160 [22%], p = 0.007). There was no difference in rates of repeat kindergarten (8/32 [25%] vs. 36/160 [23%], p = ;−0.759). We determined that linking hospital EMR records to regional databases is a feasible method to explore PICU outcomes. Additional studies are needed to confirm our preliminary finding of poor performance compared with matched controls.

Family engagement practices and children’s attendance and early learning skills in a public pre-kindergarten program

Family engagement is a key component of preschool program quality with the potential to benefit children’s early learning skills. Yet, there is limited research on what practices teachers and programs use to engage families and whether these practices are associated with improved child outcomes. This study links administrative data on children’s records and survey data collected from public pre-k teachers and administrators in a mid-sized, urban school district to estimate the associations between family engagement practices and children’s attendance in pre-k and their early literacy and socioemotional skills at the end of pre-k. Overall, we found limited evidence that family engagement practices are, on average, associated with children’s outcomes. Only teachers’ practices for communicating with families were associated with lower chronic absenteeism. However, these associations varied by child, family, and program characteristics. Our findings identify promising family engagement practices for preschool programs and highlight the need for future research to consider the heterogenous effects of family engagement across different types of practices and across child, family, and program characteristics.

A Role for Health Systems in Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

This Viewpoint highlights opportunities for US pediatric health systems to address chronic absenteeism using school attendance data and collaborations between school and health systems.

Systematic Review of Interventions with Some School Involvement for School Refusal in High School–Age Adolescents

Abstract Chronic absenteeism is a public health concern. School refusal due to emotional distress is one reason students exhibit chronic absenteeism. The objective of this systematic review was to determine potential aspects of interventions, in school settings or involving a school-based component, that are successful in addressing school refusal among high school–age adolescents. After duplicated records were excluded, 1,864 studies were identified from searches. The abstracts and full text articles were independently reviewed and received two votes from each of the five reviewers using the eligibility criteria. Two reviewers independently evaluated the remaining articles and met to discuss findings with a third reviewer. The 10 articles included eight studies that noted techniques in cognitive–behavioral therapy (CBT) as promising and two studies that considered CBT as effective as other approaches. The study design for three studies were randomized controlled trials. The remaining seven studies were quasiexperimental. Only three of the 10 studies received a high rating using the Quality Appraisal Tool. There was a limited number of quality studies that used rigorous scientific methods and variation in how each study engaged schools. Further exploration and development of interventions with an integral school-based component are needed.

Emotionally Based School Avoidance in the Aftermath of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Neurodiversity, Agency and Belonging in School

Lockdowns at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic led to extended school closures globally, and in many countries school attendance has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels. In England, education leaders have expressed concern both about increased anxiety among pupils and chronic absenteeism post-pandemic, against a backdrop of over a decade of increasing mental health need among children and young people. This article presents a narrative review with the aims of (a) conceptualising emotionally based school avoidance (EBSA), and (b) identifying strategies for supporting children and young people experiencing psychological barriers to attending school. The underlying reasons for school being experienced as a hostile environment by a minority of pupils are explored, with research findings specifically relating to the school experiences of neurodivergent pupils in mainstream settings included as an illustrative example. The psychological constructs of belongingness and agency are discussed as potential mechanisms of change. Finally, psychologically informed strategies to address EBSA are reviewed, drawing on the framework of multiple systems of support. To reduce absenteeism in pupils experiencing EBSA, and thus avoid exacerbating educational inequalities in disadvantaged groups, it is essential to understand psychological barriers to school attendance and to work collaboratively and compassionately with pupils and families towards solutions.

COVID-19, Online Learning, and Absenteeism in Detroit

How much school students attend is a powerful indicator of their well-being and a strong predictor of their future success in school. Prior research has documented the myriad in-school and out-of-school factors that contribute to high levels of student absenteeism, many emerging from the root causes of poverty and disengagement. The shift to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic likely disrupted prior barriers to attendance and may have created new ones. This sequential explanatory mixed-methods study examined student absenteeism during the 2020–2021 school year in Detroit. We used administrative data to show whether and how attendance patterns changed, and we linked family survey and interview data to explain those patterns. We found that 70% of students were chronically absent, with 40% of parents reporting that computer problems contributed to absenteeism. While measures of socioeconomic disadvantage and computer/internet issues were associated with lower attendance and higher probability of chronic absenteeism, reported levels of hardship during the pandemic were not. Despite significant investment in technology, the district’s strategies for engaging students were not sufficient in overcoming economic hardships and the new challenges of online learning.

Higher chronic absenteeism threatens academic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The broad and substantial educational harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has motivated large federal, state, and local investments in academic recovery. However, the success of these efforts depends in part on students' regular school attendance. Using state-level data, I show that the rate of chronic absenteeism among US public-school students grew substantially as students returned to in-person instruction. Specifically, between the 2018-2019 and 2021-2022 school years, the share of students chronically absent grew by 13.5 percentage points-a 91-percent increase that implies an additional 6.5 million students are now chronically absent. State-level increases in chronic absenteeism are positively associated with the prevalence of school closures during the 2020-2021 school year. However, these increases do not appear to be associated with enrollment loss, COVID-19 case rates, school masking policies, or declines in youth mental health. This evidence indicates that the barriers to learning implied by the sharp increase in chronic absenteeism merit further scrutiny and policy responses.

Adult-onset asthma morbidity and related economic costs in middle age due to intentional chronic absenteeism in high school: An epidemiologic study using the national longitudinal survey of youth 1979 data.

Many authors examined the individual and societal impact of school absenteeism. Nevertheless, no empirical study has looked at the potential direct correlation between deliberate school absences and chronic illnesses in mid-adulthood. Our goal is to investigate any potential direct links between purposeful school absences and adult-onset asthma in middle age, as well as measure any associated costs of asthma. Data were sourced from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, a nationally representative survey. The outcome measure was self-reported asthma in mid-adulthood. School records of absenteeism from grades nine through twelve were the key explanatory variables. Logistic regressions were performed with controls for demographic, economic and health variables. Predicted probabilities from the regressions were used to quantify costs of adult-onset asthma in middle age due to intentional high school absenteeism. More years of chronic absenteeism in high school were associated with higher risk of adult-onset asthma in middle age. Four years of chronic absenteeism in high school during the late 1970s through the early 1980s could potentially have incurred between $817 million to $1 billion of asthma related costs in 2002, when these students were in their mid-adulthood. These potential asthma related costs due to high school absenteeism are sizeable considering that this high school cohort only accounted for six percent of the U.S. population. Reducing high school absenteeism could lower the incidence of adult-onset asthma in middle age, and its associated future economic burden.

School Nurses and Chronic Absenteeism in Schools: A Qualitative Study on Experiences, Perspectives, and Roles.

Regular attendance is integral for students' academic success; it also affects adolescents' physical and mental health. Very few studies consider (a) differences between partial- and full-day absences regarding chronic absenteeism (CA; missing school ≥15 days in an academic year); or (b) roles of school nurses in addressing student absenteeism. This study describes school nurses' perceptions of factors related to CA and differences between partial- and full-day absences by analyzing qualitative data from six focus groups with 21 Midwestern school nurses. Four themes emerged: Absenteeism at the intersection of family and health; Absenteeism at the intersection of family and school; Absenteeism at the intersection of family and ecological systems; and School nurse roles in supporting chronically absent students. Findings highlight the importance of school nurses by describing their role in identifying students who are at risk for CA, allowing for effective assessment and intervention with students before patterns of CA become habitual.

Combining Restorative Practices with Diplomas Now: Impacts on Practices, Problems, Suspensions, and Chronic Absenteeism

This study tests the impact of adding Restorative Practices within secondary schools implementing the Diplomas Now turnaround model in 8 large U.S. urban districts on: (a) the severity of disciplinary problems in these schools, (b) the probability that students would be suspended three days or more during the school year, and (c) the chronic absenteeism rate. We conducted a school-level randomized control trial in 33 schools—17 treatment and 16 control—within 12 randomization blocks. The combined intervention was implemented in the treatment schools during the 2014–2015 and 2015–2016 school years. The results from the final year on the pre-specified primary outcomes indicate that the intervention significantly reduced the severity of discipline problems in treatment schools (ES = −0.13) and the probability that students would be suspended 3 or more days (OR = 0.66); reductions in chronic absenteeism were only marginally significant.

Using Existing School Messaging Platforms to Inform Parents about Their Child’s Attendance

School attendance is strongly associated with academic success and high school completion, but approximately one-in-seven students miss nearly one month of school each year. To address absenteeism, we partnered with four public school districts in the metro-Atlanta area and experimentally deployed email and text messages to inform parents about their child’s attendance. Parents received personalized monthly messages through the school districts’ existing messaging platforms that had zero marginal cost per message. The messages informed parents about their child’s number of absences and how that number compared to absences of their peers. For most parents, this information was delivered through email as opposed to text, and parents of students most in need of improved attendance were the hardest to reach. Intent-to-treat estimates show the intervention reduced end-of-year absences by four-tenths to two-thirds of a day (2 to 3%) and reduced the probability of chronic absenteeism by 2 to 6%, while actually receiving the messages reduced end-of-year absences by two-thirds to almost one day (3 to 4%) and reduced the probability of chronic absenteeism by 4 to 7%.

Embedding a Parenting Skills Program in Public PreK: Outcomes of a Quasi-Experimental Mixed Methods Study

ABSTRACT This sequential mixed methods study evaluated the impact of the Chicago Parent Program (CPP) in 12 Baltimore Title I PreK programs on parent engagement and student outcomes from kindergarten through 2nd grade. Phase 1 (quasi-experiment; N = 11,996) compared PreK students whose parents enrolled in CPP with those whose parents did not enroll in CPP on measures of kindergarten readiness, chronic absenteeism, suspensions/expulsions, and grade retention. Phase 2 (qualitative; n = 20) explored the perceptions of school-based staff, principals, and district and community leaders on CPP’s impact on parents, students, and parent engagement, and why they sought to continue CPP in the schools. Research Findings: No effects on student outcomes were found using administrative data. However, all of those interviewed described observed improvements in parent and student behavior and parent engagement and all schools have continued implementing CPP. Practice or Policy: Qualitative results highlight the importance of stakeholder perspectives and the limitations of administrative data for evaluating brief interventions serving families with complex needs.

The Effect of Suspensions on Student Attendance in a High-Absenteeism Urban District

I examine the effect of out-of-school suspensions (OSS) on attendance in a large midwestern urban district with high rates of chronic absenteeism. I do so from an ecological perspective and using daily attendance and discipline data. Out-of-school suspension has a modest and persistent negative effect on subsequent attendance, particularly for students who were not chronically absent and in schools with harsher discipline climates. I find not only that reducing OSS rates can improve attendance but also that addressing in-school factors such as OSS alone will not be sufficient for substantially reducing high-absenteeism rates in the context of broader social and economic inequalities.

Out-of-school suspensions in U.S. public schools: relations with chronic teacher absenteeism

Out-of-school suspensions (OSSs) put students at risk for an array of negative social and academic outcomes. The rates of the use of OSS vary considerably from one school to another; however, school-level characteristics have not been studied extensively. The purpose of this study was to examine the degree to which chronic teacher absenteeism predicted the overall rates of OSS, as well as racial/ethnic disparities in its use. Although research has established that teachers are one of the most significant school-based factors affecting student success and learning, they need to be present in the classroom for students to derive these benefits. Using a national sample of public schools in the United States, the study's findings confirmed that schools with higher rates of chronic teacher absenteeism also had higher rates of the use of suspension. Moreover, within a school, higher proportions of chronic teacher absence were related to greater disparities in the rates of suspensions for Black students relative to white students. It was concluded that chronic absenteeism represents a significant risk factor that is related to the use of OSS with students in a school.

School-based caries prevention and the impact on acute and chronic student absenteeism

BackgroundPoor oral health is significantly associated with absenteeism, contributing to millions of lost school hours per year. The effect of school-based dental programs that address oral health care inequities on student attendance has not yet been explored. MethodsCariedAway was a longitudinal, cluster-randomized, noninferiority trial of minimally invasive medicines for caries used in a school-based program. We extracted data on school absenteeism and chronically absent students from publicly available data sets for years before, during, and after program onset (2016-2021). Total absences and the proportion of chronically absent students were modeled using multilevel mixed-effects linear and 2-limit tobit regression, respectively. ResultsIn years in which treatment was provided through a school-based caries prevention program, schools recorded approximately 944 fewer absences than in nontreatment years (95% CI, –1,739 to –149). Averaged across all study years, schools receiving either treatment had 1,500 fewer absences than comparator schools, but this was not statistically significant. In contrast, chronic absenteeism was found to significantly decrease in later years of the program (b, –.037; 95% CI, –.062 to –.011). Excluding data for years affected by COVID-19 removed significant associations. ConclusionsAlthough originally designed to obviate access barriers to critical oral health care, early integration of school-based dental programs may positively affect school attendance. However, the observed effects may be due to poor reliability of attendance records resulting from the closing of school facilities in response to COVID-19, and further study is needed. Practical ImplicationsSchool-based caries prevention may also improve educational outcomes, in addition to providing critical oral health care. This clinical trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. The registration number is NCT03442309.