Students all over Michigan are rejoicing with the onset of summer break. If you’re an adult, think back to how wonderful it felt to count down the final days of school and look forward to the freedom of long summer afternoons.
As a longtime teacher, I can assure you students are not the only ones who feel this way. Still, for educators, that feeling has been tempered by a troubling question in recent years.
In the fall, how many of our students won’t return, not because they have moved, but because they have stopped attending school?
It’s been more than six years since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools. That’s long enough for the event to feel distant and for many people to forget just how disruptive it was. As a public school teacher with more than three decades in the classroom, nothing in my career comes close.
Schools responded remarkably quickly to develop remote learning. We did the best we could under difficult circumstances. Leaving aside the politics of how long schools should have remained closed, few would dispute that the interruption affected student learning and that the consequences are still with us today.
One of those consequences is chronic absenteeism.
The term refers to students who miss 10% or more of the school year, roughly 18 to 20 days. While some absences are unavoidable, far too many students are missing school on a regular basis. During remote learning, many students drifted away from consistent participation. For a significant number, that pattern never fully changed.
The numbers are sobering. Nationally, chronic absenteeism stood at about 15% before the pandemic. It rose to more than 28% in 2022 and remained at 24% in 2024. Michigan’s numbers are similarly troubling. Estimates for outstate Michigan districts range from 16% to 44%, while the statewide average during the 2024-25 school year was 27.9%.
According to the Rand Corporation, more than 30% of students nationwide were chronically absent in roughly half of urban school districts during the 2024-25 school year. Four in 10 districts listed reducing absenteeism among their top priorities.
While attendance has improved since the height of the pandemic, it has never fully recovered.
Why?
Part of the answer is that the habit of school attendance was disrupted. For generations, most families viewed attending school as a fixed expectation. The pandemic interrupted that routine.
Teachers notice the difference. Students miss school for reasons that once would have been unusual. Extended vacations, minor illnesses, appointments that could be scheduled at other times and even days taken simply because a student doesn’t feel like attending have become more common. In many cases, families no longer view attendance as the expectation it once was.
Mental health also plays a significant role. Anxiety, depression and social isolation increased during and after the pandemic. Many researchers point to smartphones and social media as contributing factors, particularly for adolescents already struggling with emotional well-being.
Economic challenges cannot be ignored either. Students facing housing instability, transportation problems, family responsibilities, inconsistent health care or other hardships often face barriers that make regular attendance challenging. Not surprisingly, absenteeism tends to hit our most vulnerable students the hardest.
The causes are complicated, but complexity cannot become an excuse for inaction.
The good news is that we already know some things that help.
First, punishment alone rarely works. Fines, court referrals and threats may satisfy adults’ desire for accountability, but they have generally produced disappointing results. Schools see better outcomes when they focus on support and problem-solving.
Communication matters too. Schools are most effective when they contact families early rather than waiting until report cards reveal a serious attendance problem.
School climate is also an important variable. Students are more likely to attend when they feel connected to teachers, classmates and activities. A school that feels welcoming and supportive naturally encourages attendance.
Most important, students and parents must believe being in school is worth it.
As someone who has spent decades teaching adolescents, I know students learn more in classrooms than they do sitting at home reading assignments and completing online quizzes. At its core, learning is not simply the transfer of information. It happens through discussion, questions, relationships, collaboration and the countless small interactions that occur when people learn together.
That reality has not changed, even as technology continues to reshape education at all levels.
Attendance alone will not solve every challenge facing America’s public schools, but it remains one of the few factors we know consistently matters. Students must be present before any learning can occur.
As Michigan students enjoy their summer break, teachers will do the same. But when September arrives, there will be thousands of children whose futures depend, at least in part, on something very fundamental.
Keith Kindred is a retired Michigan teacher who taught at the high school and college levels for over 33 years. He is also the author of several self-published books and regularly writes about education policy.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: COVID-19 normalized missing school. That needs to change | Opinion
Reporting by Keith Kindred, Holland Sentinel / The Holland Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Keith Kindred, Holland Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
