American schools have a chronic absentee problem

The study revealed that instances of chronic absenteeism are found in almost every school district, but that half of the nation’s chronically absent students were found in just 4 percent of districts.

The report, by Attendance Works, a national educational initiative that looks at the relationship between attendance and outcomes, and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University School of Education, also found that the problem of chronic absenteeism disproportionately affected African American, Native American, Pacific Islander and Latino students, as well as students with learning disabilities.

The scope of the absenteeism matters “because chronic absence is really a proven early indicator of academic risk starting as early as preschool and kindergarten,” Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, said in a conference call. “By middle and high school, it is a surefire predictor of kids being on the path to drop out. And if it reaches high levels, the classroom churn can affect the learning of all the students in the classroom, not just those who are chronically absent.”