The Attendance Crisis in US Schools: What’s Behind Student Absenteeism and How to Solve It
Is your district struggling with student absenteeism? Since 2019, the number of chronically absent students—missing 10% or more of the school year—has continued to climb.
According to the Learning Policy Institute, “chronic absenteeism remains 75% higher, on average, than prepandemic levels.” Why should education leaders take note? The effects of chronic absenteeism are far-reaching —significantly impacting all aspects of a student’s schooling, from academic performance to school funding.
In this Article
Despite the numbers, attendance may be improving. Now, more school districts are addressing attendance challenges and implementing effective strategies to mitigate them. Community engagement plays a significant role in this effort. Listening to students, staff, and parents—especially the groups that don’t normally engage with the district—has a transformational effect on absenteeism interventions.
Read on to discover how the school attendance crisis impacts districts, what’s behind school attendance challenges, and what strategies leaders can implement to bring their students back to class.
How the school attendance crisis impacts districts
From student success to school funding, it’s clear that increased absenteeism is taking a toll on districts nationwide.
The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) reports that rising absenteeism rates are reducing student achievement. It makes sense that more missed school days lead to poor academic performance, declining graduation rates, and a negative school climate.
All of these factors have a domino effect on a district, causing its reputation to suffer and potentially leading to declining enrollment and future funding challenges.
Five states—California, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, and Texas—rely on average daily attendance rates for their funding formulas, and together, they enroll nearly 13 million students. These states see their budgets suffer when absenteeism increases.
Attendance rates can also impact grant eligibility, and as mentioned above, declining enrollment—leading to poor budget outcomes for states that rely on enrollment numbers for funding. In fact, some sources report that every year, U.S. schools lose $10.7 billion in funding due to student absenteeism.
But, what are the root causes of student absenteeism? And what can leaders do to mitigate them?
What’s behind school attendance challenges
Attendance plummeted after the pandemic, so we dug deeper with education leaders to understand their experiences in their respective districts. As a comprehensive AI-powered engagement platform, we had the right tools to do the job quickly and easily.
We used ThoughtExchange to gather real-time insights and expert advice from nearly 150 education leaders, and put our AI-powered analytics to work. And unlike traditional data analysis—which can mean spending hours or days transcribing notes and sorting data—ThoughtExchange’s analytics sorted, themed, and summarized their answers in seconds.
Here’s what our participants identified as the top school attendance challenges.
Student engagement or motivation
Student engagement or motivation was the top contributor to student absenteeism for 81% of our participants. The 2024 Leaps Student Voice Survey found that students who reported feeling positive and engaged at school were 25% less likely to be absent than those who felt negative and disengaged.
It makes sense that bullying plays a significant role in student attendance. Studies have shown that “being a victim of cyber, physical, or relational bullying was associated with increased absences.” In a recent school climate survey, one of our customers discovered that bullying accounted for a notable 67% of absences.
While low attendance can contribute to disengagement and vice versa, school districts have proven that increasing engagement improves attendance.
To illustrate, Salem Public Schools in Salem, MA, piloted a student engagement program at one of its middle schools aimed at improving attendance, and the results were impressive: “Chronic absenteeism dropped from 28% to 12% in its first year and continued to decline below 10% the following year.”
Parental involvement or support
Participants identified parental involvement or support as the second top contributor to absenteeism, with 73% indicating it has a moderate to high impact. Parents play a significant role in ensuring their children attend school regularly, as well as in shaping their children’s perceptions of school.
ASCD investigated the connection between parental involvement and attendance, and their research showed that schools with strong family connections prior to the pandemic had significantly less chronic absenteeism post-pandemic—39% less than those with weak connections prior to the pandemic.
Our partner, Superintendent Dr. Quintin Shepherd, engaged his parents and community, creating an essential recipe for increasing attendance.
Family economic challenges
For 69% of our participants, the third top contributing factor for absenteeism was family economic challenges (e.g., housing instability and poverty).
Research shows that the lower a student’s socioeconomic status (SES), the more likely they are to be absent from school. Contributing factors include neighborhood poverty, lack of access to healthcare, and increased stress at home. This suggests that SES should be a key factor in targeted interventions aimed at increasing attendance.
“ThoughtExchange Interview enabled us to interview 98 homeless families in a very short time. We have all encountered times when you want to ask the following questions or dig deeper to respond—ThoughtExchange’s interview tool filled that gap! The stories and perspectives are integral to the process. ThoughtExchange's rich qualitative data and analytics tools developed a comprehensive needs assessment for our homeless education in record time. The improved efficiency with our time and energy is amazing.”
Solving the school attendance crisis
Savvy leaders know that community engagement plays a significant role in successful attendance initiatives, and the numbers speak for themselves.
At ThoughtExchange, we saw a 216% increase in the number of districts engaging their communities on attendance between 2019 and 2024. We also saw a 50% increase in the number of engagements that mention “attendance,” indicating that our customers are actively seeking solutions for their attendance challenges.
Education leaders are reaching out to their students, parents, and staff—and turning their feedback into actionable plans.
Community engagement in schools yields key insights
In our attendance report, we also asked education leaders about what strategies are improving attendance. Advisor, our AI-powered analytics tool, allowed us to actively listen—reading through participants’ responses and creating an action plan in minutes for school districts seeking school attendance strategies.
Report summary: key school attendance strategies
Based on participants’ insights and recommendations, our report outlines the top-rated strategies education leaders should consider using to effectively tackle attendance challenges.
Here are 5 key participant-informed strategies:
Implement attendance incentive programs:
Develop programs that track and reward students for improved attendance.
Rationale:
Tangible incentives (like electronics) motivate students to attend regularly and understand that attendance drives success.
Enhance parental engagement:
Establish regular communication with parents about the importance of attendance.
Rationale:
Addresses absenteeism by understanding underlying family needs and educating parents on the consequences of excessive absences.
Build personal relationships:
Encourage personal contact from trusted educators and conduct home visits to demonstrate care and provide resources directly to families struggling with chronic absenteeism.
Rationale:
Create engaging learning environments:
Implement rigorous, intentional, and innovative curriculum instruction that uses hands-on opportunities to motivate students.
Rationale:
An engaging environment captures student interest, helping them see the value in their education, making them more likely to attend school consistently.
Monitor and intervene early:
Utilize early warning systems to identify students at risk of chronic absenteeism. Implement collaborative attendance committees across departments.
Rationale:
Prompt monitoring allows for timely intervention, ensuring students and families receive the resources and support they need before issues become severe.
From student absenteeism to action
From lack of student motivation to family economic challenges, the school attendance crisis is complex, creating a significant barrier to student attendance, impacting everything from academic achievement to district funding.
By engaging their communities, districts are implementing practical, impactful strategies. Their solutions focus on creating personal relationships with students and families, enhancing parental engagement, utilizing targeted incentive programs, fostering engaging learning environments, and implementing early intervention systems.
When leaders seek input from students, parents, and staff, they can create a collaborative and supportive culture, reduce chronic absenteeism, and pave the way for higher student achievement and greater overall success.
Ready to move beyond the data and take action? Let ThoughtExchange help you listen, learn, and implement the strategies needed to improve attendance, reduce chronic absenteeism, and drive higher achievement, graduation, and readiness in your district.
