A Turning Point for Combating Chronic Absenteeism in American Schools
A Turning Point for Combating Chronic Absenteeism in American Schools
December 15, 2020
Before the coronavirus pandemic, chronic absenteeism was a growing epidemic of its own kind that rocked schools across the country. Defined as missing fifteen or more days of a given school year, chronic absenteeism is a systemic issue with serious consequences. Chronic absenteeism in early years can lead to little to no reading abilities by third grade, despite the fact that the average third grader is a proficient reader. Students who cannot read by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school than proficient readers. According to an extensive study done by the organization Attendance Works, nearly 8 million U.S. public school students missed three or more weeks of school in the 2015-2016 school year. 790,000 more students missed enough days of school to be categorized as chronically absent than in the