How EdTech Can Help Address Chronic Absenteeism in Schools

As school systems, from K-12 to higher education, returned from the COVID-19 pandemic, many were excited to return to their classrooms. In the years that have followed, however, it has turned out that the enthusiasm to re-enter the physical classroom has been shared by fewer and fewer students. Chronic absenteeism, identified as missing 10% or more of the school year, has continued to grow. The American Enterprise Institute, a public policy think tank, found that chronic absenteeism nearly doubled from 15% in 2018 to 26% in 2023. The issue isn’t relegated to pockets of the country, either. FutureEd, an education-based think tank, found that chronic absenteeism rose in every single state between 2018 and 2022, the last year data was available for analysis.

With the issue continuing to grow, many have looked to pinpoint the cause, from internal factors such as mental and physical health to external factors like bullying and transportation issues. Identifying the contributing causes is the first step in understanding this concerning trend, followed by taking active steps to address those circumstances. In this article, we’ll explore ways in which folding virtual classroom platforms into the learning process can actively assist in curbing the chronic absenteeism epidemic.

Heightening engagement

A recent USA Today article cited a 2024 EdChoice poll, noting the results “found that nearly two in three teens say school is boring. Just two in five of the roughly 1,000 respondents said they liked going to school, and almost a third said going is a waste of time. Such disengagement leads to absences.” The article also identifies that many schools’ preferred method of addressing truancy and absences, including fines, only exacerbates the problem. Rather than punishing learners for missing coursework they find disengaging, institutions, and school districts could lean into improving coursework engagement.

Virtual classroom platforms, such as Class, offer a myriad of ways to increase student involvement, from breakout groups to interactive polls and from virtual guest speakers to gamification. By creating a more immersive, involved experience, instructors can look to increase student engagement. Additionally, with the robust analytics that an online classroom platform makes available, educators can learn, both in real-time and over the course of a semester, what activities and experiences are speaking most effectively to students.

Creating a safe haven

Students are less likely to attend classes when they feel unsafe. This can come in many forms, from the fear of violence and bullying to attacks on their mental health. Because of this, many learners have anxiety about attending classes in person. Virtual classroom platforms, even in hybrid use, can help to address this issue.

In addition to their ability to provide off-site learning opportunities, online classroom platforms also can limit unwanted communication between students. Bullying, which is most pervasive at schools in non-classroom settings such as hallways, lunch, and recess, has fewer organic places to develop when communication is logged and set up through direct channels for classwork assignments. While this is not to say bullying, rampant through social media and other communication avenues, cannot still exist, the ability to monitor and/or gate-keep interaction is increased. Additionally, for learners who are working through mental health issues, educators and professionals can check in much more conspicuously than in a physical classroom.

Physical limitations

From health diagnoses to transportation and family issues to neighborhood safety, physical limitations can also keep students out of the classroom. A recent deep-dive into chronic absenteeism by Fabiola Cineas for Vox identified another factor around attendance that has changed post-pandemic: “Some education leaders warn that the pandemic changed the way parents and students think about school. Attendance is now viewed as optional for some parents, while others have grown more sensitive to the slightest signs of illness in their children.”

Not only have realistic health issues kept many learners out of the classroom, but a heightened concern around health, not just from parents but also oftentimes from the schools as well, has encouraged absence for many illnesses that used to not impact a student showing up. Factor in other limitations, such as caregivers working multiple/nontraditional shifts or a requirement to walk through violent parts of a neighborhood to reach school, and attendance becomes more difficult to obtain, especially for lower-income populations more likely to be impacted by these circumstances.

For learners who can access virtual learning, whether through their own means or through school-provided technical resources, an unexpected inability to physically access their school on a given day doesn’t have to result in falling behind. Logging into a class virtually can provide a solution that keeps their learning on track. Just as the inverse of this process has proven important for many learners’ well-being with participation in programs such as free lunch, virtual classroom platforms can provide a safe access point for many learners on days when this otherwise might not be available.

The time to act is now

The circumstances surrounding chronic absenteeism are quickly becoming one of the loudest alarms raised by educators. In a 2024 study conducted by Pew Research, the results found that chronic absenteeism was the second most common concern by teachers behind poverty, followed immediately by anxiety and depression, which, as noted above, are contributing factors to that absenteeism. Leveraging the power of a virtual classroom platform can provide multiple important tools in the arsenal for educators trying to keep students on track and learning.

Interested in discovering how an online classroom platform could help your school district or higher education institution combat chronic absenteeism? Reach out to a Class team member today, and let’s help keep learners on the path to their goals.