being and function across health, education, and social do-

mains. In the 2022–23 school year, 28% of US children were

chronically absent from school, contributing to national de-

clines in academic performance."

This supports my claim that chronic absenteeism is a high risk issue. This quote highlights student motive for not attending school.

"A majority of home visit records (71%) selected “Health” and 18% selected “Social” as the primary reason for school absences. Nearly 10% of families reported having both health and social barriers to attendance.”

I believe that this quote is important because understanding why students are not coming to school can help lead to potential solutions. As a teacher, knowing a way to support students based on the what they are facing is vital to the individual child connection.

“The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted student learning, affecting academic performance across grade levels.1 Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10% or more school days for any reason, emerged as a significant

issue: In the 2022–23 school year, more than one out of four US children (28%) remained chronically absent from school, double pre-pandemic rates.”

Noticing a trend in absence after the pandemic goes hand in hand with my value of student growth. Students lacked education during that time and chronic absences will not help with growth.

"However, a larger online survey of 1048 low-income families with children across four urban centers demonstrated much higher prevalences of social needs: 76% reported concerns about financial instability, 43% employment, 69% food availability, and 31% housing stability."

Understanding groups or individual students who need more support is important because it helps me become a better teacher. A student is bound to succeed more if they have extra support.

Pre-pandemic data is important for comparisons overtime. I can use this to support my claim that it is more an issue than ever.

"Multiple studies and forthcoming research show how lower academic achievement is consistently linked to absences at every level, indicating that while chronic absenteeism is a significant problem, every day of absence affects students’ academic progress."

Since I am passionate about the individual child, that means I am also passionate about their success and future. Lowering academic success supports my worry. This article talks about pre and post rates (historical).

"Between 2022 and 2024, absenteeism declined everywhere, but the lowest-achieving districts registered the largest drop—6 points, compared with 4 and 3 points in the middle and top terciles. Despite such an impressive decrease, the lowest-achieving tercile still ended 2024 with the highest rates of chronic absenteeism."

Noticing the areas affected most matters in this argument because it determines how much support to give each child. While caring for each individual student pre-pandemic was important, at this rate post-pandemic is vital.

"Beyond absenteeism’s toll on students are the burdens it creates for teachers and administrators. Teachers face more demands to reteach content and differentiate instruction for students who are frequently absent."

This quote highlights another issue. Teachers are also faced with more challenge than ever. In order to be the most successful educators possible there is also a new burden to adapt and supply more aid.

While this article is older and pre-pandemic the issue of absenteeism has the same effects as post-pandemic absenteeism. This quote is important because it discusses the consequences of absenteeism.

"Additionally, the less education an adult has, the more likely they are to smoke, be overweight, have diabetes, and die prematurely of certain chronic conditions. Therefore, chronic absenteeism, which leads to lower educational success, is a predictor of worse lifetime health."

Health risks are severe long term effects for students lacking education from not showing up to school. Because I value the individual child it is important to recognize the long term harm that comes from absenteeism in general.

"Early childhood is crucial for learning, but 24% of Oregon Kindergarteners are chronically absent, and this is a predictor of future absenteeism in later grades. Chronic absenteeism increases achievement disparities between those attending and those missing school at the elementary, middle, and high school levels."

No matter the age absenteeism is a problem and it has been for years. Students will lack curiosity and learning in all years of schooling if they continue to miss.

"This paper takes a deep dive into the chronic absenteeism challenge, why it matters, different factors that affect it, its connection to health, and starting points for working collectively to address it. In thinking about this issue, Upstream uses the World Health Organization’s definition of “health” as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

The paper as a whole is great background information as to why absenteeism can be such a concerning issue. It shares generalized information related to long-term effects. No matter the year everyone should be worried about this on-going issue.

This data is important because having students involved in research for a student based issue could be really beneficial for solving the problem.

“Since it’s such a major problem affecting young people and schools, with learning outcomes and budgets tied to student attendance, it is vital to partner with students in solving the problem.”

This gives insight on the growing issue and new opinions.

"What’s been less clear is how to include young people’s voices in the academic research process. Adults may have ideas about why students miss class, but young people know firsthand what’s going on and can glean information that adults might miss."

This article is great support for a differing and new opinion on the topic. Insight from young people present ideas yet to be heard.

"One project engaged students with disabilities, who identified ways to improve support services and resources. In response, the school launched a student-led podcast and poster campaign to spread awareness about accommodations for students with disabilities — solutions that came to light because of the collaborative research."

This shows how student involvement and concern led to change.

Most of the articles I have pulled highlight student absenteeism but neglect to also call out teacher absenteeism. I think noticing that this problem is also occurring in teachers can help correlate to student absenteeism.

"Even the length of school closures during the pandemic was not a particularly useful predictor of absenteeism. On average, districts that were closed longest have experienced similar increases as those that opened sooner."

This is important because it recognizes that the issue is rooted in something else than the length of the pandemic. This is useful evidence for an educator to understand how they need to recognize the root problem and shift their curriculum.

"“Our relationship with school became optional,” said Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor at Duke University."

A professional opinion and quote is always reliable. This one cuts straight to the point and can help guide to a solution. What are ways teachers can shift their curriculum to make school less of an optional thing?

"They offered many reasons for the absences: illness, mental health, transportation problems. But underlying it all is a fundamental shift in the value that families place on school, and in the culture of education during the pandemic."

This quote is a good one because it counteracts a lot of the other research I have found. It is compelling to find why it may be different so I can use that in my writing.

"Efforts to optimize the utilization of the teaching staff are frequently hampered by high rates of absenteeism and attrition among teachers which can be considered as a waste of scarce resources and a threat to instructional quality."

Teachers are a resource themselves so knowing how wasteful chronic teacher absences are helps call out another issue.

"The primary problem caused by teacher absenteeism is the loss of instructional time for pupils. Since amount of direct instructional time is one of the most important factors in student learning, absenteeism poses a serious threat to overall student achievement."

Because I care so much about student growth learning that teacher absences is causing harm to student growth is another issue I need to address.

" A secondary problem is that teacher absenteeism can lead to higher levels of pupil dropout. If parents perceive that teachers' lack of attendance leads to poor quality instruction, parents may perceive the opportunity cost of schooling to be higher than having the child work at home"

This quote indirectly correlates to covid. Students staying home to do work is more harmful for them than good. They need in-person connection and structure so teacher absence influencing this is something to note.

" Teacher absenteeism reduces students' direct instructional time; achievement drops as students miss instruction. Turnover results in a loss of experienced teachers who then have to be replaced at considerable expense to the education system. This additional cost, therefore, drains further the scarce available resources which could otherwise have been used to improve the educational quality."

Once again this is a good quote to have based on what teachers missing school does to a students learning. Not only will this harm their educational pricess but also their future.