Washoe's chronic absenteeism crisis — and what we can do about it

The word "crisis" is not an exaggeration as the number of kids chronically absent in WCSD is shocking; however, unless you are in the education system, you may not realize just how significant this crisis is.

After the pandemic, most people expected the extremely high chronic absenteeism rate to drop back to the (still way too high) 14% pre-pandemic levels. While initially, there was a reduction in chronic absenteeism, it only dropped to levels double that of pre-pandemic levels and is now settling in the mid-20%. Most of us cannot recall a single classmate in our entire school life who was chronically absent, yet many are not alarmed or even aware that more than 23% (14,000 kids) in our district are chronically absent.

What is chronic absenteeism? Some people are under the mistaken impression that chronic absenteeism is just a politically correct way of saying truancy. In fact, the two terms describe different aspects of student absenteeism. Truancy generally refers to unexcused absences, which typically lead to a focus on compliance with the rules. Chronic absenteeism, however, incorporates all absences: excused, unexcused, and suspensions. The focus is on the academic consequences of this lost instructional time and on preventing absences before students miss so much school that they fall behind and drop out.

Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10 percent (about one month) of the school year for any reason and severely chronically absent when they miss 20% (one day a week) or more. Regardless of the reason, if they are not in the classroom, they cannot learn. The long-term implications of this trend are frightening.

Why is chronic absenteeism occurring now at such high rates? The rates were already trending up before the pandemic, but during the pandemic, many parents and students changed their view of education from mandatory to optional. The root causes of chronic absenteeism are vast. Poverty, illness, a lack of child care, food insecurity, transportation and social services remain contributors to poor attendance.  Additionally, the pandemic has brought on a youth mental health crisis, while parents have reframed how they think about illness, ready to keep their children home at the slightest signs of sickness.

"When you see these high levels of chronic absence, it's a reflection that the positive conditions of learning essential for motivating kids to attend school have been eroded," said Hedy Chang, the executive director of Attendance Works.

Washoe County School District, the chronic absenteeism numbers are staggering. WCSD has gone from 14% chronic absenteeism in 2019 to 38% during the pandemic in 2020, to 22% post-pandemic in 2021, and now 23% in 2023. The numbers are almost double pre-pandemic levels. Data shows that being chronically absent in preschool makes a child much less likely to be able to read at grade level by second grade, and they are four times more likely to drop out of school than those who can. Another study reported that even a single year of chronic absenteeism in high school resulted in a sevenfold increase in the likelihood of dropping out.

Dropping out of school is often the equivalent of dropping out of life. Dropping out of school leads to lower-paying jobs and less job stability. A high school dropout’s lifetime income is half that of a high school graduate. This can lead to a cycle of poverty for their kids. In addition, dropouts are more likely to commit crimes and be victims of crime . Chronically absent students are 12 times as likely to commit a serious assault and 21 times as likely to commit a serious property crime. (Henry & Huizinga, 2005).

In San Francisco from 2004 to 2008, 94 percent of the homicide victims under age 25 were high school dropouts, and 92 percent of Baltimore public school youth who were victims of violence were chronically absent in at least one academic year. In short, dropping out of school can have life-changing severe consequences.

It is time for a comprehensive action plan for the community and district. Education is the key to success in life, and attending school cannot be considered optional. Strengthening our Community (SoC) made chronic absenteeism our top priority. In a convening role, we will engage with WCSD, local governments, the business community and many community partners to identify the causes of chronic absenteeism in Washoe County, learn from other districts that have had success and develop a community plan to address each of the identified causes systematically. The goal is to get WCSD back to pre-pandemic levels within five years.

Together, we can achieve our goal to reduce chronic absenteeism and, more importantly, help thousands of WCSD students, future employees, citizens and community leaders achieve economic and personal success.

Mike Kazmierski is the executive director of Strengthen our Community.

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This article originally appeared on Reno Gazette Journal: Washoe's chronic absenteeism crisis — and what we can do about it