Michigan first in COVID-19-related school absence recovery

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan placed first in recovery from pandemic-related school absenteeism, according to a report from Georgetown University. In Michigan, chronic absenteeism fell 7.7% between the 2021–22 and 2022–23 school years, the largest improvement according to data from 42 states and the District of Columbia.

Chronic absenteeism was defined in the study as missing 10% or more of the school year, which is approximately two school days a month, for any reason.

“Hard work by Michigan schools has paid off, which has generated a significant reduction in chronic absenteeism,” said State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice. “Children need to attend school regularly to learn, to graduate, to be able to continue into postsecondary education, and to pursue their dreams. While we have much work that remains to be done on attendance, today’s news is a welcome acknowledgment of the efforts of educators, support staff, parents, and students themselves.”

The Michigan Department of Education says they have aided school districts in the following ways:

• Implementation of Michigan’s Multi-Tiered System of Supports , strategies based on research to meet the individual needs of children in the school system
• Implementation of the Early Warning Intervention and Monitoring System , an early dropout prevention program designed to improve graduation rates
• Participation in Attendance Works’ national projects to address chronic absenteeism using action research

“Improving school attendance is a key to meeting Goal 5 of Michigan’s Top 10 Strategic Education Plan , to increase the percentage of students who graduate from high school,” said Dr. Delsa Chapman, deputy superintendent of the MDE Division of Assessment, School Improvement, and Systems Support. “Michigan has improved its graduation rates following the pandemic at the same time as chronic absenteeism has gone down.”

Chronic absenteeism in Michigan fell from 38.5% to 30.8%. Officials attribute the recovery figure to support systems being made available by the schools and the state, such as universal free breakfast.

“We were able to maintain all of our programs and services largely due to the support we received from the state in terms of funding,” said Dr. Robert Livernois, Superintendent of Warren Consolidated Schools. “We were able to maintain counselors and social workers and things like that in our school.”

Warren Consolidated Schools saw chronic absenteeism fall from 43.5% in the 2021–22 school year and 36.5% in 2022–23.

“We implemented a social-emotional learning curriculum as an outgrowth of the pandemic to provide very specific supports to students and families, knowing that these types of supports were lacking due to the pandemic,” said Livernois. “Given the duration of the pandemic, I think many families and students wanted to get back to the brick-and-mortar setting because of the social and emotional supports that our schools provide. Some of our children had started kindergarten at the kitchen table.”

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