OPINION: To solve chronic absenteeism, let’s make school a place where students really want to be

“Chronic absenteeism has become one of the defining challenges facing American schools. Students are missing more school than they did before the pandemic, when absenteeism was already labeled a national crisis. The consequences are serious : lower grades, higher dropout rates and long-term economic and social harm. Districts have responded with better messaging, expanded mental health services and efforts to remove logistical barriers. Yet the share of students missing 10 percent or more of the school year remains stubbornly high. Part of the problem is that we haven’t had detailed national data on why students are missing school. Until now. Our Understanding America Study helps fill that gap. In the survey, we asked parents and teens to account for each missed day during the 2024-25 school year, choosing from 23 specific reasons. In interviews, we discussed the contexts that led to absences and family attitudes toward absences in general — for example, when is it OK to miss school and why? Our findings suggest that if we want to reduce absenteeism, we must rethink which causes we target for intervention, and how. We must understand — and intervene in — the specific factors driving students’ attendance problems. Related: A lot goes on in classrooms from kindergarten to high school. Keep up with our free weekly newsletter on K-12 education . Illness is universal, but it is not the whole story. Nearly all students miss school at least occasionally for physical health reasons — this is simply the reality of schooling. But illness alone isn’t a major driver of chronic absenteeism. When we look at students who miss many days of school, it’s the less common reasons that contribute the most — such as suspensions, taking care of family members, transportation barriers, mental health struggles and “just didn’t want to go.” In some cases, these causes produce two to three times as many missed days per student as routine illnesses. These are what we might call high-impact, low-prevalence drivers. They affect a smaller number of students, but for those students, the absences accumulate. We can’t ignore mental health either. Mental health challenges are deeply intertwined with engagement, school climate and family stress. The data shows that teens who report struggling with emotional or psychological well-being miss an average of 12 more days than peers who do not. Behind those numbers are students who, in our interviews, described mornings when attendance feels impossible. “Yeah, like if I really . . . like I don’t want to get out of bed. I will just stay home because I don’t want to have a bad day trying to force myself to push through,” one teen explained to us. Another described how anxiety builds before school: “There’s times when it’s, like, really hard for me to even get ready, and I can already kind of tell that I’m really anxious . . . and I know that I wouldn’t be able to handle it if I went to school.” Students are also clear about what might help. “I think maybe they could provide more therapy or counseling, or more mental health days on campus . . . so students get a break,” one shared with us. We can’t treat mental health as a marginal issue when it comes to solving the absenteeism problem. Investments in counseling, calmer school environments and proactive supports are not add-ons. They are strategies to improve attendance. Perhaps the most striking finding from our survey is how strongly student engagement predicts attendance. Teens who say they care “a lot” about how they do in school miss about 10 fewer days per year than peers who say they care less. Students themselves recognize the role of motivation. “I feel like the students just got to motivate themselves,” one teen said. “People just want to stay at home, watch YouTube and do whatever they want, instead of go to school.” But engagement is not just about individual grit. Relationships matter. “Sometimes knowing that a teacher cares about where you are or what’s happening in your life means a lot,” one student told us. Following up makes a big difference. “Teachers who are like, ‘Hey, I saw you having a hard time. Let me know if you need anything . . .’ for me, it makes me want to put in more effort.” Related: PROOF POINTS: The chronic absenteeism puzzle In other words, our survey and interview results tell us that students who feel seen and supported are more likely to show up. But to make that happen, schools need better data. Most current attendance systems focus on whether absences are “excused” or “unexcused.” That distinction may satisfy state or other reporting requirements, but it does little to illuminate root causes. First, schools need to gather systematic, specific information about why students are missing school, whether it’s anxiety, caregiving responsibilities, transportation barriers or disengagement, and then aim policies and interventions at what’s really most impactful. Second, districts should target high-impact, low-prevalence causes with precision supports. A relatively small group of students may be caring for siblings, lacking reliable transportation or getting repeatedly suspended. But for those students, these factors drive chronic absence. Targeted interventions can yield outsized returns. Third, and most importantly, we must rebuild engagement and expectations. Improving engagement should not be an afterthought. Students who feel connected to school, who believe adults care about them, who hear from those adults about the importance of attending school and who see value in what they are learning show dramatically better attendance patterns . If we focus only on what is most common, we will miss what is most consequential. Our results highlight the importance of tracking absences from different root causes and the urgency for making school a place students want, and feel able, to attend. Amie Rapaport is co-director of the Center for Applied Research in Education at USC. Morgan Polikoff is a professor of education at USC Rossier School of Education. Anna Saavedra, co-director of Center for Applied Research in Education, contributed to this opinion piece. Contact the opinion editor at opinion@hechingerreport.org . This story about chronic absenteeism was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. 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