The research on chronic absenteeism keeps asking why kids leave. The more useful question might be why they stay.
It’s 6:30 a.m. and children across the country, half awake, are pulling on socks and shoes, racing through a bowl of cereal and making a mad dash for the school bus.
But millions of children are missing out on school.
We’ve seen the stats. Last year, nearly one in four students did not show up for school regularly, up from one in seven before COVID-19. Chronic absenteeism affects children nationwide. It starts early and adds up. If a kindergartener misses ten school days a year, they’ll lose over half a year of instruction by the end of high school. Children who are chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are far less likely to read proficiently by the end of third grade.
Alongside those numbers sits another question: what keeps a child coming back? Belonging, safety, and relevance are three good places to start looking. Below, we explore the research on each, along with activities to try in your program.
To Belong Makes You Strong. At the Crane Center in Ohio, researcher Arya Ansari and his colleagues knew that the root causes of absenteeism were structurally complex—from transportation to service inequity—but connection also played a key role. So, drawing on district-level data, they went straight to the source, asking students whether they felt understood, respected, connected, and supported at school. The findings were telling: youth who felt a stronger sense of belonging at the start of the school year were less likely to be absent for both excused and unexcused reasons.
Try it in your program
In How to Remember Names, by Mizzen Education (grades 3–5, 6–8, 9–12), youth practice memory strategies for learning one another’s names, then play a game to see how many they can recall. Small as it seems, being known by name is a first step toward the sense of being understood and respected.
Safe to Show Up. In a recent article for The Conversation, education scholar Jerome Graham at Michigan State University and his colleagues share how a positive school climate can reduce chronic absenteeism. Drawing on nearly a decade of data on absenteeism from Georgia, they find that feeling welcome and safe is crucial to attendance. Put most plainly, when students feel welcome, valued, and safe, they’re more likely to show up. “Creating a welcoming school climate requires real work,” Graham and his co-authors write. It’s less a verdict than an ongoing practice—one they frame as a question every school can keep asking itself: “Are we inviting students in or pushing them away?”
Try it in your program
In Superhero Capes by !Mpact Players (grades 3–12), youth don capes and write on one another’s capes why each person is a superhero. Being recognized by peers helps youth feel welcome and valued.
Make It Matter. Amie Rapaport and her colleagues at the University of Southern California delved into conversations about absenteeism with parents across seventeen states. Their findings? Rethink one-size-fits-all responses to absenteeism and double down on what makes school worth attending: “Families want schools to invest in hands-on learning, more relevant curricula, and environments where students feel excited to show up.” Attendance improves when schools are places where kids genuinely want to be, the researchers share in a piece for FutureEd.
Try it in your program
In Find Your Story (grades 6–12), youth explore topics and people that interest them and develop their own news stories. The activity is part of a PBS NewsHour Student Reporting Labs module in which youth step into the roles of reporters, creatives, and community storytellers. Starting from their own questions and interests gives youth a reason to keep showing up.
The good news: the first months of the school year are a great time to focus on each of these pillars—and schools don’t have to go it alone. Out-of-school time programs have a powerful track record in helping schools address chronic absenteeism, according to the Afterschool Alliance. A national report from the US Department of Education on 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC), for example, found that during the 2022–2023 school year, nearly 60 percent of 21st CCLC participants who were chronically absent the previous year improved their school-day attendance in the current school year.
OST programs build a sense of belonging by centering youth voice. They strengthen safety by creating a culture of care through supportive mentors and adults. And they spark excitement about learning by opening opportunities for youth to explore what genuinely interests them.
While building belonging, securing safety, and making learning matter don’t address every issue, treating each as a priority this year can help young people feel far more connected, included, and engaged.
As Ramaya, an Afterschool Youth Ambassador, shared in an Afterschool Alliance video: “Afterschool programs aren’t just buildings, they aren’t just physical spaces. They are spaces where youth are able to be enlightened, inspired, and surrounded by people who can change their lives.”
Wherever they’re learning, every young person deserves that kind of welcome, and there’s no better time to build it than now.