Early-Years Absenteeism Seen as Critical, p. 1
While most of us think of absenteeism as a secondary-school problem, absenteeism rates in kindergarten and first grade can rival those of high school. One in ten K-12 students nationwide miss 10% or more of school. Reducing this figure is important because studies show that absenteeism is especially acute among students from low-income families and it is related to poor academic performance, disengagement from school, and behavior problems. High absenteeism in kindergarten is associated with poorer test scores at the end of first grade and with continued absenteeism in later grades.
Addressing kindergarten absenteeism requires a different approach than secondary-school truancy intervention. For one thing, kindergarten is not mandatory in many states. Parents often don’t realize the implications of pulling their child out of school—students are now learning to read in kindergarten, and absenteeism can be disruptive to their learning. Home issues like the child or his siblings being ill or a parent of parents who work nights and who are too tired to get their child off to school can be factors in this absenteeism. One school in the Bronx has taken a proactive approach to absenteeism. They interviewed parents of high-absenteeism students to determine what the sources of the problem were. In exchange for a commitment by parents to get their kids to school, school staff performed duties such as taking children to doctors’ appointments and providing before and after school child care.
[My thoughts: Reducing absenteeism is certainly a worthy goal. Students cannot learn as well if they are not in class, obviously. The correlation between absenteeism and other factors such as poor performance on tests or behavior problems could result in part from the relationship of all of these factors to more primary factors, such as support of the child’s education by parent s (whether they read to them, help them with their homework, expect them to do well in school, etc.). Supportive parents are more likely to make sure that their kids gets to school, behave properly, and do well. Absenteeism may not be the direct cause of poor academic performance (although it could certainly be a contributing factor), but rather it could be the result of particular students having parents who do not value school attendance or doing well in school. A more direct approach to the primary problem would be to work with parents to convince them of the importance of their child’s education and encourage them to become actively involved in this by helping with homework and monitoring the student’s progress in school. Success in these efforts would improve absenteeism rates and academic performance.]
You make a good point that the root of the absenteeism may actually be the parents' views about the value of school attendance as well as the level of educational support that they provide to their children. But it would seem to me that working with parents to change their disposition towards education might be a very difficult task. I wonder if the approach taken by the school in the Bronx might actually have the long-range impact of positively effecting parents' dispositions about education when they see their children succeeding in school.
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