I’ve been screaming from the rooftops about chronic absenteeism for over a year now. The phrase refers to when a student misses at least 10 percent of days in a school year and can lead to all sorts of negative educational outcomes.
In fact, it’s one of the key factors in students’ sluggish post-pandemic educational recovery, because – and stop me if you’ve heard this one – no educational intervention can be effective if kids aren’t in school to experience it.
I’ve written about the unevenness of the chronic absenteeism crisis and how, even though rates nearly tripled at many schools across San Diego, because poorer schools already had higher rates where they ended up was very different. I’ve written about how the crisis is even more acute in earlier grades, which is a big problem given how many foundational bits of knowledge are learned in those years. I’ve even written about how the County Office of Education and various schools are working to tackle the issue (including in my latest column.)
Throughout it all, one of the most frightening aspects of chronic absenteeism is just how tricky it is to reverse. Every child’s reason for being chronically absent is different, so blanket fixes are nearly impossible to come by. Something I’ve also mentioned in multiple pieces – like in this overview of where the chronic absenteeism crisis stands two-years after full return the classroom – is that part of why it’s so different is that the culture of going to school has changed.
The vibe shift: That’s partly what The New York Times (and an episode of The Daily) found. One reason the piece highlighted for the continued severity of chronic absenteeism is that for some families, the fix isn’t as simple as just getting kids rides to school. San Diego Unified and other districts have tried that, but the district hasn’t seen the sort of post-pandemic snapback it had hoped for.
For many, what school represents in their lives has, possibly irrevocably, changed. While some of that change is due to parents being more hesitant to send their children to school when they’re sick, it also can mean being more hesitant to send kids to school more generally.
As Sarah Mervosh wrote for the Times, “What was once a deeply ingrained habit — wake up, catch the bus, report to class — is now something far more tenuous.”
Heather Hough, the executive director of the research group Policy Analysis for California Education, has been thinking about this vibe shift too. California lawmakers tasked Hough’s group, which includes Stanford University and University of California faculty, to investigate the factors behind the skyrocketing rates of chronic absenteeism.
Back in November, she told me there’s been a fundamental cultural shift in the values of consistent school attendance.
“The disruption of that pattern of going into school every day (when schools went virtual during the pandemic) has really made people reevaluate whether and when they go to school,” Hough said. “Instead of going to school being something that’s expected that you do, it’s more of a question of ‘is it worth it to me to go to school today? Or to send my kids to school today? Do we need a mental health day? Would we rather go on vacation or visit family?’”
That’s bad news for educators, and ultimately for students. Just giving kids a lift to school isn’t very hard, but it’s much more difficult to convince families (again) that school actually matters. That it’s not optional, or some a la carte setup where you can choose when to attend.
The idea that school is optional isn’t new. Chronic absenteeism rates have long been the highest, or near the highest, in kindergarten and first grade, largely because many parents have viewed those grades as a glorified daycare where kids play with blocks and don’t learn a whole lot of anything. That may have once been true, but not anymore. Kindergarten especially has gotten much more academically rigorous in recent years as teachers try to instill kids with the basics before they reach first grade.
“For the most part, when kids get behind in those early years, they stay behind. And if anything, they get more behind,” Deborah Stipek, a professor emerita at Stanford’s Graduate School of Education, told me once. It’s even harder for kids to catch up if they keep missing school.
Though schools have had some success tamping down chronic absenteeism, this issue is not something that will go away soon. Districts will inevitably have to spend big time bucks to instill in families that school attendance is no joke – a tall order given that chronic absenteeism itself can meaningfully decrease school funding. And given how slow and arduous that vibe shift work can be, those dollars have to stick around.
Related: We published my second column on how some schools are using a new approach to home visits to combat the chronic absenteeism crisis. That’s the Progress Report, which explores how schools are trying to evolve to meet the challenges of today.
What We’re Writing
- When San Diego Unified built Logan Memorial Educational Campus, its most expensive construction project to date, it loaded up on lofty promises. It was a dream come true for many parents, who collaborated with the district on some of the new school’s offerings. But just a year and a half in, the community feels the district hasn’t delivered, and are worried the grand Logan Memorial experiment may be falling apart just as it’s beginning. At a recent meeting I attended, one parent asked if the district’s lofty promises and shiny new facilities are going to be marred by a shoddy rollout and institutional instability.
- Last week, we broke the news that the San Diego Police Department had arrested a Hoover High assistant principal for allegedly “distributing lewd content to a minor and possession of child pornography,” police wrote in a press release. As the Union-Tribune reported he’s since pled not guilty to charges of “sending harmful content to a minor, contacting a minor to commit a sexual offense and possessing child sexual abuse material.”
- As you’ve probably seen already, I’ve been thinking a lot about Edison Elementary recently, a school that has for years defied educational gravity by helping students succeed despite sky-high levels of poverty. Last week I wrangled three education experts to think through the school’s success with me.