69传媒

Student Well-Being

The Influential Allies These 69传媒 Are Enlisting to Boost Attendance

The idea is that chronic absenteeism isn鈥檛 a problem for schools to solve alone
By Caitlynn Peetz 鈥 July 24, 2024 4 min read
Back of a teen girl walking home from school while wearing a backpack with one strap hanging off her shoulder.
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Seventeen school districts this summer are embarking on a new approach to reducing chronic absenteeism: enlisting the help of students, parents, and other community members in crafting an absence-fighting strategy, with the hope that all the input will yield effective results.

The idea is that the people closest to the problem鈥攕tudents and their families鈥攚ill both be able to offer important insights into the unique barriers that keep students in their communities from attending class, and help the community feel a sense of ownership over the issue so it鈥檚 not strictly a school district problem, said Baron Davis, a senior adviser for Digital Promise, the education nonprofit overseeing the cohort of districts working on this strategy.

鈥淚f I give you something and tell you it鈥檚 a problem and here鈥檚 how I think we should fix it, you have no ownership in that problem, and you don鈥檛 have the same level of urgency to solve the problem,鈥 said Davis, the former superintendent in Richland, S.C. 鈥淏ut when we co-create and co-design the solution to the problem, I have now given you agency and ownership of the issue, and gotten more people invested in the solution.鈥

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Julian Gresham, 12, left, works in a group to program a Bee-Bot while in their fifth grade summer school class Monday, June 14, 2021, at Goliad Elementary School. Bee-bots and are new to Ector County Independent School District and help to teach students basic programming skills like sequencing, estimation and problem-solving.
Julian Gresham, 12, left, works on a robotics programming activity in a 5th-grade summer school class June 14, 2021, at Goliad Elementary School in Ector County, Texas. Active summer programs may improve students' attendance during the school year.
Jacob Ford/Odessa American via AP

More than 1 in 4 students nationwide were chronically absent鈥攎issing at least 10 percent of school days鈥攄uring the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, according to an analysis of federal data conducted by the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University and Attendance Works. Those figures represented a marked increase over pre-pandemic levels.

Chronic absences have profound impacts on students who miss classes, hurting their grades, connectedness to their peers and school community, and chances of completing high school. When chronic absences reach high levels, the churn makes it harder for teachers to set classroom norms and teach, and harder for students to learn even when they do show up every day.

The 17 districts from 10 states make up the new cohort, which is an initiative of the Center for Inclusive Innovation within Digital Promise. They hope to address absenteeism at its roots, Davis said.

The districts involved range in size from 1,500 students to more than 45,000 with percentages of students in free and reduced-price meal programs ranging from less than 10 percent to more than 60 percent. Not all districts have an alarmingly high absenteeism rate, but many do. The districts鈥 chronic absenteeism rates vary from 10 percent on the low end to up to about 45 percent, Davis said.

鈥淭he issue of absenteeism is really well suited for finding strategies and solutions through the lens of collaborations between schools, parents, and students鈥 because it can be such a complex problem that is different from student to student, Davis said.

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An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year.
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. A White House summit on May 15, 2024, brought attention to elevated chronic absenteeism and strategies districts have used to fight it.
Brittainy Newman/AP

Each district involved will spend the next six months in an 鈥渋ntensive engagement process,鈥 said Kimberly Smith, chief inclusive innovation officer at Digital Promise. The process will include workshops with other participating district leaders, community forums, and small group activities with families from various backgrounds to solicit feedback.

By the end of 2024, each district will develop a blueprint for addressing absenteeism with ideas generated during the engagement process. The hope is that some initiatives will be short-term and schools will be able to implement them at the start of the second semester. Some will be longer-term initiatives, Smith said.

Districts will be asked to keep close tabs on their chronic absenteeism rates between the first and second semesters to determine whether any changes they make have the desired impact so they can adjust for the next school year if needed, Smith said

The participating districts鈥 superintendents, or other high-ranking officials in district central offices, will lead the work, Smith said. Principals will also play a key role.

Each district participating in the cohort volunteered to do so, and Davis hopes there will be additional cohorts in the future.

The 17 districts in the inaugural group will receive support and guidance from their peers and staff at the Center for Inclusive Education, including feedback on the blueprints they develop and expert input on implementing new initiatives.

There are some research-backed approaches to combating chronic absenteeism鈥攍ike ensuring students have reliable transportation to school and that they feel a sense of belonging once they get there. But the inclusive innovation model allows districts to tailor those best practices to fit their communities鈥 desires and needs.

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Rebecca Grabill/E+
Rebecca Grabill/E+
States This State Set Up a Program to Reduce Chronic Absences. It Worked
Caitlynn Peetz, January 26, 2023
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鈥淲hat we see in inclusive innovation is that the solutions that come out are things that are really wholly reflective of the folks that are at the table,鈥 Smith said.

At the end of the program, Davis hopes district leaders take the skills they learn about inclusive innovation and apply them to other complex and persistent challenges they face.

鈥淲hen they move on from chronic absenteeism, and they are faced with the next challenge, I hope and believe they鈥檒l remember to use the inclusive innovation process in helping to solve that problem as well,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e want it to become culturally ingrained in the educational ecosystem.鈥

The 17 participating districts are:

  • Adams 12 Five Star 69传媒 (Colorado)
  • Allentown School District (Pennsylvania)
  • East Irondequoit Central School District (New York)
  • El Segundo Unified School District (California)
  • Elizabeth Forward School District (Pennsylvania)
  • Hudson City School District (New York)
  • Lynwood Unified School District (California)
  • Mount Vernon School District (New York)
  • Mountain View Whisman 69传媒 (California)
  • NOLA Public 69传媒 (Louisiana)
  • Richland School District Two (South Carolina)
  • Roselle Public 69传媒 (New Jersey)
  • Spokane Public 69传媒 (Washington)
  • Springfield City Public 69传媒 (Ohio)
  • Suffern Central School District (New York)
  • Wilmington Learning Collaborative (Delaware)
  • Greenfield Union School District (California)

A version of this article appeared in the August 14, 2024 edition of Education Week as 69传媒 Enlist Influential Allies to Boost Attendance

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