Over the previous few years, millions of students, including Cur’ra McCoy, have missed weeks of school. Instead, the teenager from Baltimore frequently played on her phone or slept. For the most part, she did nothing at all. McCoy attributed her absences to boredom, which caused her to do poorly in certain classes. That made her dislike school all the more.
The 18-year-old stated, “I don’t feel like doing nothing when I don’t at all when I don’t do nothing.” “So I gave up trying.”
In American schools, chronic absenteeism is defined as kids missing at least 10% of the academic year, spreading like wildfire. After the pandemic’s instability, educators and supporters have thought that attendance would decline, but it has become more widespread and unmanageable in many situations. The percentage of chronic absenteeism nearly doubled from 15% to 26% between 2018 and 2023.
The problem contributing to poorer performance, even among students who aren’t chronically absent, has become one of the most pressing challenges this school year. According to the American Enterprise Institute, a right-leaning think tank, it is the biggest problem in schools now. It is not only young people from low-income families who are missing cases; student attendance rates are record-high.
Why has the problem gotten so bad? The causes are usually multifaceted and intricate. These are the main reasons why chronic absenteeism has become an epidemic.
Children are bored and disconnected.
According to a nationally representative poll released in April, nearly 2 in 3 teens say school is boring. Of the roughly 1000 respondents, just 2 in 5 said they enjoyed attending school, while a third said going to school is a waste of time. Such disconnection leads to absences. Sometimes, strategies for handling absenteeism, like fines for truancy, worsen the disconnection, which solves it.
They are battling mental health problems.
A lot of children decide not to attend school due to poor health issues. These challenges have worsened in recent years, especially among teenagers. In 2021, over 40% of teenagers reported feeling persistently bad and hopeless.
According to a report in Los Angeles, anxiety and depression are the two main reasons why children miss classes.
School avoidance, which refers to kids who struggle or refuse to go to school daily, is becoming a more significant issue. According to USA TODAY, this kind of refusal has seen a noticeable increase since the COVID-19 outbreak.
They are being bullied.
Bullying is a common occurrence in many schools and often causes children to avoid going to school. According to a study by EdChoice in April, just a third of teens indicated that they thought their school was doing enough to stop bullying. Children who are bullied are most likely to miss class.
Students are more likely to skip school when they don’t have many adult relationships. According to surveys, less than a quarter of teens and preteens say many or all their teachers try to learn about their lives outside school.
They are confused about the rules.
Families were advised to keep their children out of school at an indication of sickness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The regulation changed as society learned more about COVID-19. There is confusion over what to do when a child complains of headaches or sniffles.
According to Hedy Chang, the founder and executive director of Attendance Works, parents continue to be confused by this. “We were pretty dramatic about quarantining and staying at home.” At the same time, they were advised to shift to online learning.
They are navigating family, safety, or transportation challenges.
Some children cannot attend school due to family issues or fears about campus safety. Housing insecurity and poverty continue to disrupt the routines of students from low-income families and educators. Many schools have made it more difficult to enter buildings over fears of active shooters and other dangers, according to Chang.
School transportation is also a problem that increasingly affects school systems nationwide. The number of school buses nationwide is declining due to delays, changes in services, and staff shortages.
