How Parents can get chronically absent kids back in classroom

Posted Date: 11/09/2022

In the wake of the pandemic, more students are missing school than ever before. But there are steps parents and schools can take to get kids back into class.

In 2019, before the pandemic began, nearly 6% of the nation’s students missed more than 15 days of school during the average year, for any reason or combination of reasons. Students who miss that amount of school are termed “chronically absent.”

Since the beginning of the pandemic, when school buildings were closed for a period of time, the number of chronically absent students has nearly doubled because of a number of factors, such as students not returning to school once schools reopened, students staying home with COVID-19 or in quarantine or family anxiety about coming back to school during the pandemic. Also, more schools reported increases in students missing classes or school altogether since the majority of schools have transitioned to back to face-to-face instruction.

Of course, some of these absences stem from pandemic-related policies, such as students who are asked to stay home if they show COVID-19 symptoms or have been in close contact with someone who has tested positive. And the more than 1 million U.S. deaths from the pandemic have also required many students to care for other family members, which may require them to miss school.