August in Georgia marks the beginning of a new school year and brings with it a mixed bag of emotions for school-aged children, their parents and the educators who serve them.
The anticipation of seeing the school halls teeming with students is invigorating, yet the reality that many of their returning students likely won’t attend on a consistent basis, if they return at all, is sobering. It’s the reality of chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absenteeism, the trend of students missing at least 10% of the school year (on average 18 days throughout the year, whether excused or unexcused), is a persistent and growing challenge facing public schools in Georgia and nationally. During the pandemic school years, between 2019-20 and 2021-22, the national rate of chronic absenteeism almost doubled, moving from 15% to 28%.
Credit: Contributed
Credit: Contributed
In Georgia during that same period, the statewide rate of chronic absenteeism increased from 14% to 25%. While we cannot account for the specific reasons why approximately 400,000 students represented in this figure are missing school, we do know that if they are not in school, they are missing out on critical learning opportunities and are failing to keep pace with the academic rhythms of the school year, all of which comes at a cost.
There are a myriad of documented reasons for chronic absenteeism. Issues such as illness, chronic health conditions, family and community trauma and housing and food insecurity are some of the barriers to students attending school. As we witnessed during the pandemic, student mental health challenges also contributed to increased absence. Students who endure any combination of adverse childhood experiences, such as poverty, health challenges, community violence and domestic instability, are among those most likely to be chronically absent.
We know from our colleagues at Resilient Georgia that the number of traumatic events and the presence of toxic stress disrupt brain development and increase the risk of poor academic performance, chronic school absenteeism, and emotional dysregulation. Moreover, students with disabilities and those involved in the juvenile justice system are also more likely to be chronically absent.
Chronic absenteeism has both immediate and long-term consequences. Elementary-age students who miss significant amounts of school are less likely to become proficient readers by the end of third grade. Students who do not master core literacy skills by this milestone are four times less likely to graduate from high school. Similarly, for high school students, chronic absenteeism negatively impacts course completion and on-time graduation. In fact, research suggests regular attendance in the ninth grade is a stronger predictor of high school graduation than eighth grade test scores.
In the long term, student absenteeism affects personal well-being and state economic growth. At a minimum, it means that many students will have limited educational and workforce opportunities. In November 2020, the Southern Regional Education Board reported that due to pandemic-driven investments in automation and artificial intelligence, approximately 45% of Georgia’s workforce (about 2 million workers) was at risk for unemployment or underemployment by 2025.
With an increasing number of jobs requiring at least some postsecondary educational attainment, individuals who do not graduate from high school or who earn only a high school diploma will find it increasingly difficult to find employment and earn a living wage.
To ensure students are prepared to successfully enter and navigate this new economic world, district and school-level leaders can — and many districts do — focus on removing system barriers to attendance, such as: improving school climate and culture to reduce student discipline problems and increase school safety; providing wraparound services, such as school-based health centers, for students in need of greater support; and building partnerships with organizations who can provide students with stable housing or food security.
Additionally, districts can be intentional about enlisting communitywide support for communicating the benefits of school attendance. Recent research published by the Brookings Institution found that many parents are not aware of the negative impacts of school absence. Even caregivers who report their children as being chronically absent did not perceive this as a significant problem or concern. Creating a coalition of stakeholders who are committed to encouraging families and students to prioritize school attendance can yield better results for the schools and the community at large.
As both a parent of two school-age children and a leader of an education advocacy organization, I wear two hats in this discussion. My first and most important hat is that of a parent. As my family’s summer ends and I prepare my children to return to school, I understand the mix of excitement about a new school year and the anxiety of not knowing what obstacles may come along with it.
At the same time, I wear the hat of president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education and take seriously the work of helping leaders in every corner of our state understand that a better future for Georgia begins with education. A key component of that work is acknowledging that for students to receive a high-quality education, they must attend school.
Ensuring that all students, from elementary to secondary, are in school for the bulk of their academic careers is of the utmost importance for their learning and growth, as well as the health of their local community and economic vitality of our state.
Dana Rickman is president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education.
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