Attendance & Chronic Absenteeism FAQ
Why chronic absenteeism is a school leadership problem, and what principals can do about it beyond sending letters home.
The Root Cause
What's behind the rise in chronic absenteeism?
The simplest explanation is the correct one: parents are no longer making their kids go to school. That has always been the factor that made the difference. No amount of making the curriculum more interesting or caring about kids can substitute for parents getting their children out the door every morning. Watch the video →
Is chronic absenteeism really a school problem?
No. Schools are better than they've ever been — the curriculum is more engaging, teachers are more caring, and bullying is far lower than it was a generation ago. It is absurd to claim that the school environment is driving kids away. Kids have always not wanted to go to school; the solution has always been for their parents to make them go. Watch the video →
What about "school refusal" — isn't that a real condition?
In some cases, sure. But in many cases, what's called "school refusal" is actually parent refusal — a refusal to parent. We've always had kids who get sick, who face genuine health challenges. That's not what's driving the epidemic. The increase is in failure to make kids come to school, plain and simple. Watch the video →
Who's Responsible?
Should teachers be held responsible for chronic absenteeism?
Absolutely not. Teachers don't control whether students show up. Turning attendance into a bureaucratic process where teachers have to justify why a student isn't coming is just a ritual of blaming the teacher. The responsibility for coming to school belongs to the student and the family, not the person standing at the front of the classroom. Watch the video →
If students are cutting class, is it because the teacher isn't engaging enough?
No. No level of excitement in a lesson can compete with the distractions students find on their phones, in the hallways, or anywhere else outside the classroom. If there are no consequences for skipping class, students will skip class — no matter how engaging the instruction is. This is an enforcement problem, not a pedagogy problem. Watch the video →
Whose job is it to get students to class — teachers or administrators?
Administrators. If students are roaming the hallways, it's because nobody is making them go to class. There have to be enforcement measures in place at the school level. Asking students why they're skipping and then blaming the teacher for their answer is not a solution. Clear consequences and administrative follow-through are. Watch the video →
Enforcement and Consequences
Should truancy be prosecuted?
Yes, when necessary. If compulsory education is going to mean anything, there have to be real consequences for not sending your kids to school. Historically, truancy prosecutions were rare because everyone knew they would happen — that expectation alone kept attendance up. Now that we've stopped enforcing truancy laws in many places, chronic absenteeism has skyrocketed. Watch the video →
Do truancy courts need to get tougher?
Yes. Truancy courts have to do their part. Not sending your kid to school is a form of educational neglect with lifelong consequences. I don't want any parent to actually go to jail, but if threatening legal consequences is what it takes to get kids to school, that kind of pressure is necessary and worth it. Watch the video →
Is education still truly compulsory in the United States?
I'm worried that it's not. There are US districts where a majority of students are chronically absent — missing more than 18 days a year. If that's compulsory education, the word "compulsory" has lost its meaning. Voluntary education will not get us where we need to be. We have to make education compulsory again. Watch the video →
Attendance and Grades
Should students who skip most of the year still get promoted?
This one gives me pause. I'm generally pro-social promotion — retention does a lot of harm. But if a kid has missed 50 or 80 or 100 days, how can you send them to the next grade? We can insist on seat time as a minimum requirement. If you want to advance, you at least have to show up. Watch the video →
How are chronic absenteeism and graduation rates both going up at the same time?
Because schools are graduating students who aren't learning. In many districts, students get 50 free points for not turning in an assignment. They catch on — they realize they don't have to go to school or do their work to get half credit, pass their classes, and graduate. The math doesn't add up unless standards have dropped. Watch the video →
When chronically absent students still graduate, who does it hurt?
Everyone. It hurts the students, who get a diploma without an education. It hurts employers, who can't trust the credential. And it forces everyone into expensive credential inflation — if a high school diploma is worthless, then suddenly you need a college degree for entry-level jobs. DC public schools have an 88% truancy rate in some buildings and a 70% graduation rate. That should alarm you. Watch the video →
Does makeup work actually make up for missing school?
No. The whole experience of learning in a classroom — the discussions, the labs, the collaboration, the live instruction — cannot be reduced to a packet that goes home. If you were a science teacher and a student missed every lab, every discussion, and every planning session, there's no paper that replaces that. Plan vacations during school breaks. Watch the video →
Incentives and Interventions
Should schools pay parents to get their kids to school?
I have mixed feelings. Extrinsic motivation tends to drive down intrinsic motivation, and when the incentive period ends, kids might say "that was the only reason I was going." It sets a bad precedent — you shouldn't need to be paid to fulfill a basic obligation. The real solution is enforcing existing attendance laws, not creating new incentive programs. Watch the video →
What's the connection between cell phones and attendance?
A study using commercial tracking data found that when schools ban cell phones, absenteeism goes down. The likely explanation: when phones are banned, school becomes more social and engaging, and students actually want to show up. Solving the cell phone problem may be one of the most effective things schools can do for attendance. Watch the video →
What are the "ABCs" of why teaching has gotten so hard?
Attendance, Behavior, and Cell phones — and they compound each other. Students aren't showing up, behavior expectations have eroded, and phones distract everyone who is present. These three factors are deeply intertwined: absent students fall behind, which worsens behavior, and phones make school less engaging for everyone. We have to tackle all three. Watch the video →
What's the relationship between school safety and chronic absenteeism?
If you're a kid who doesn't feel like going to school, and you know other kids are going to bully you, disrupt class, or be violent, you're more likely to stay home — especially if there are no academic consequences for being absent. We have to improve safety first. Nothing else in education can happen if kids don't feel safe enough to show up. Watch the video →