What Caregivers Should Know About School Attendance

During the school year, your child might have to miss some days. While missing some school days is normal and often times unavoidable, missing too many days can affect how your child learns and grows. This article will talk about why going to school is important and provide some tips for helping your child attend school and remain throughout the day. 

 What is School Attendance?

Schools are required to track student attendance, or when students are at school. There are many different reasons why students may miss school, like feeling sick, not getting enough sleep, feeling anxious about going, or vacations. These different reasons are grouped into categories:

• Excused absences happen when a child misses school for reasons like a religious holiday, a family emergency, a medical appointment, or illness. Schools usually require a note or proof.
  
  
• Unexcused absences occur when there’s no note or valid reason provided, or if a child misses school for things like a family vacation.
  
  
  • Truancy is another term for missing school without an acceptable excuse.
• School refusal happens when a child avoids going to school or struggles to stay in class.

Why is missing school a problem?

There is a large amount of research looking at the impact it has on students. 

Research has found missing too many days of school can cause problems like: 

• Absences in future school years.
• Lower grades and poor test scores. 
• Decreased social skills, such as making friends or feeling confident, as well as greater levels of anxiety.
• Greater chance of risky behaviors like substance use or getting into trouble. 

A child is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more of the school year. In New York State, that’s about 18 or more days of school during the year. 

Chronic absenteeism is something schools track and report.  It is a measure used to see how well schools are doing in many states, including here in NY. Schools are required to report the amount of chronically absent students to the Department of Education as part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA).

Tips for talking to your child about going to school

• Modeling plays a crucial role in shaping young children's attitudes! Demonstrate the importance of school by maintaining a positive and enthusiastic attitude about it yourself.
  
  
• Many kids enjoy going to school naturally, but others take more convincing. Focus on what your child enjoys about school to make them more excited to go.
  
  
• Talk about how school can help them reach their future goals by learning skills to help them get there.

What to Do If your child is missing school:

Find the Why

Identifying why your child is missing school is important. Children miss school for many reasons. Some include:

• They may not be feeling well or have an appointment. 
• They may be having trouble with classmates or a teacher.
• Transportation: getting to school may not be available, consistent, or safe.
• They may not feel safe or comfortable at school or on the bus.

Be a behavior detective. 

Talk to your child and their teacher asking questions about what is happening at school.  Find out more about different times of the day, subjects, and different people (students and staff) they come across and have relationships with.  Once you are able to find the why, work with your child’s teacher to come up with a plan on how to best support your child at home and at school.      

Talk to the School

Regardless of why your child may miss school, a helpful first step could be having a conversation with school staff. Talking to your child’s teacher could help identify issues your child may be experiencing at school.  You can work together to make a plan you both can work on.  

School staff can also work with you to address barriers you are facing and come up with solutions to fit you and your child’s needs. Schools have certain supports within the school but they can also get you connected to community-based supports like access to food, transportation, housing, or counseling. 

What if my child refuses to go to school?

Some kids may refuse to go or want to leave during the day, this is called school refusal and impacts many school-age kids. This may look like complaints of physical illness, a large amount of fear about attending school, or difficulty separating from caregivers or leaving home.

Here are some things you can do:

• Find the why.  
  
  
  • Speak with your child to find out how they are feeling.  Try to determine if they are feeling scared, worried, if something specific happened at school.
    
    
  • Speak with your child’s teacher to see if they are aware of something that happened or if they have noticed anything different that may have caused the change. If your child has certain accommodations identified, make sure they are being followed.
• Speak with the school counselor or social worker to get support. Oftentimes, school refusal can be a sign of some level of anxiety, or problems at school.  Therapeutic services have been identified as being successful in reducing school refusal.
  
  
• Help your child build a positive relationship with their teacher so they feel more connected, comfortable, (& excited) at school.

FAQ

What if transportation is a problem?

Getting to school can be tough if transportation is unreliable. Here are some ideas:

• Check with your school.  Some schools have staff who can help with transportation coordination or even provide transportation to children who need it.
• Check with your school’s Parent Teacher Association or group, often times carpools, bike pools or walking groups are arranged with families who live close to one another!

How can I help my child catch up if they miss school?

Missing school is inevitable, but you can help them stay on track. 

• Let the teachers know ahead of time if possible and ask for work they can do at home. Sometimes they may provide work and other times they may not!
• After an absence, reach out to the school and ask if there is work to complete or materials to review. 
• At-home learning activities have also been found to reduce some of the negative impacts of absenteeism, like reading or practicing other academic skills.

How do I know if my child’s absences are excused or unexcused?

• Excused absences happen when a child misses school for reasons like a religious holiday, a family emergency, a medical appointment, or illness. Schools usually require a note or proof.
• Unexcused absences occur when there’s no note or valid reason provided, or if a child misses school for things like a family vacation.

Key Terms:

School Attendance is tracking students' presence at school.

School Absenteeism is when student is not at school.

Excused absences happen when a child misses school for reasons like a religious holiday, a family emergency, a medical appointment, or illness. Schools usually require a note or proof.

Unexcused absences occur when there’s no note or valid reason provided, or if a child misses school for things like a family vacation.

Truancy is missing school without an acceptable excuse.

Chronic Absence refers to missing 10% or more of the school year. In New York State, that’s about 18 or more days of school during the year.

School Refusal happens when a child avoids going to school or struggles to stay in class.

References

• Anderson, S., & Romm, K. (2020). Absenteeism across the early elementary grades: The role of time, gender, and socioeconomic status. The Elementary School Journal, 121(2), 179-196. https://doi.org/10.1086/711053
• Ansari, A., & Gottfried, M. A. (2021). The grade‐level and cumulative outcomes of absenteeism. Child Development, 92(4), e548-e564. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13555
• Attendance Works. (2016). Chronic absence: Our top pick for the ESSA school quality or student success indicator. https://attendanceworks.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ESSA-Brief_083016-revised.pdf
• Chang, H. N., & Romero, M. (2008). Present, engaged, and accounted for, the critical importance of addressing chronic absence in the early grade. National Center for Children in Poverty. https://www.nccp.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/text_837.pdf
• Finning, K., Ukoumunne, O. C., Ford, T., Danielson‐Waters, E., Shaw, L., Romero De Jager, I., Stentiford, L., & Moore, D. A. (2019). The association between anxiety and poor attendance at school–a systematic review. Child and adolescent mental health, 24(3), 205-216. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12322
• Gakh, M., Coughenour, C., Assoumou, B. O., & Vanderstelt, M. (2020). The relationship between school absenteeism and substance use: An integrative literature review. Substance Use & Misuse, 55(3), 491-502. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2019.1686021
• Gottfried, M. A. (2009). Excused versus unexcused: How student absences in elementary school affect academic achievement. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 31(4), 392-415. https://doi.org/10.3102/0162373709342467
• Gottfried, M., & Ansari, A. (2022). Classrooms with high rates of absenteeism and individual success: Exploring students’ achievement, executive function, and socio-behavioral outcomes. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 59, 215-227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecresq.2021.11.008
• Gottfried, M. A., & Gee, K. A. (2017). Identifying the determinants of chronic absenteeism: A bioecological systems approach. Teachers College Record, 119(7), 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811711900704
• Lee, K., McMorris, B. J., Chi, C. L., Looman, W. S., Burns, M. K., & Delaney, C. W. (2023). Using data-driven analytics and ecological systems theory to identify risk and protective factors for school absenteeism among secondary students. Journal of School Psychology, 98, 148-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2023.03.002
• Santibañez, L., & Guarino, C. M. (2021). The effects of absenteeism on academic and social- emotional outcomes: Lessons for COVID-19. Educational Researcher, 50(6), 392-400. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X21994488