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Jess Anderson is the executive director of Count ME In.
The trending solution for improving attendance is to improve student engagement. As the executive director of Count ME In, a Maine non-profit committed to increasing student attendance through data-driven strategies, I have learned that, while improving school engagement is a foundational strategy for reducing chronic absence, it needs to be combined with other practices to ensure that every student is an engaged, successful learner. Reconnecting students and families with school often requires a variety of practices – and partners.
Chronic absence, defined in Maine as missing 10% or more of school days, is affecting millions of students and has far-reaching consequences. During the 2022-2023 school year, over 46,000 Maine students were chronically absent. This is a sobering number of our students, and they are more likely than their peers to fall behind their classmates in academic achievement, struggle to form strong social connections, and have a higher risk of dropping out of high school.
By attending school regularly, learners gain essential academic foundations, practice social-emotional competencies, build resilience, and explore potential career paths – skills they need to contribute meaningfully to sustainable communities. They also have access to the many services and supports provided through schools, including nutrition, health, counseling, instruction in social emotional skills, and more.
We need to work together as a community to support today’s youth, our future leaders, by building connections and providing pathways for student attendance and success.
Our collective efforts can begin by unraveling the underlying causes of chronic absenteeism. Many current interventions address only the symptoms of these underlying causes, be they at an individual, local, or broader systemic level. External factors like transportation difficulties, lack of access to resources, and family challenges can play a role. School discipline policies, often used to address unsafe behavior, can inadvertently perpetuate absenteeism by failing to explore and address the root causes of student actions.
If your local school is experiencing attendance challenges, get curious! Ask questions! Encourage them to dig into their attendance data to better understand the problems. Challenge them to review discipline data and its correlation to graduation rates. Advocate for supportive policies and interventions. (FutureEd’s Attendance Playbook is a great place to start exploring evidence-based interventions.)
Here are examples of other actions community members can take to reduce chronic absenteeism:
If you are a health care or mental health provider, you can offer appointments before and after school hours so students don’t have to miss class.
If you are a printer or business owner, you can help schools with print-related materials and signage to support local attendance efforts, such as posters for students and families and local public spaces.
If you are a faith leader, you can talk about the importance of attendance and encourage congregant students and families to regularly attend school, as well as recognize those who attend school regularly.
If you own a local business, you can post signage about the importance of attendance and encourage your employees to be aware of student customers who need encouragement or support to get to school. You can also encourage your student employees to attend consistently and provide recognition for them and/or local students who attend school each day for a month.
If you are part of local government and have public transportation services, you can work together to offer free or discounted passes for students and their families.
Chronic absenteeism is a complex issue with no easy solutions. But, by working together, we can make a difference in the lives of students and communities. By adopting a strengths-based approach, supporting families, and advocating for effective policies, we can create school environments where every child feels they can succeed. Together, we can break the cycle of chronic absenteeism and ensure that all students do have the opportunity to succeed, because every child counts!