KALAMAZOO, Mich. — With kids and teens back in school, not every student who should be in class is in their seat.
The rates of chronic absenteeism across the country have significantly increased since the start of the pandemic.
A new study from Stanford University ranks Michigan 4th highest in the country, for students who missed at least 10% of days out of the 2021-2022 school year.
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In the latest data for our state, comparing the school year before the start of the pandemic and after, students who were chronically absent almost doubled.
It jumped from 20% of students being chronically absent in the 2018-2019 school year to 39% of students being chronically absent in the 2021-2022 school year.
"It is true, right after the pandemic across the country, a lot of students did not return back to school," said Kalamazoo Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Darrin Slade.
Dr. Darrin Slade is new to Kalamazoo Public Schools this year.
As superintendent, he said while numbers were slightly better this past school year, there are many students who are still chronically absent.
"We need students to come to school every day. You have to come to school every day if you want to learn and master the skills, and that is why we are emphasizing," said Dr. Slade.
According to the Stanford study, students didn't return for a variety of reasons.
Those examples include:
The data found the growth in being chronically absent did not correlate with Michigan's COVID-19 rates.
"Most cases, sometimes, parents leave to go to work in the morning, and they trust their young people to get on the bus and go to school. Then sometimes, the young people don’t," said Dr. Slade.
FOX 17 took a look at attendance data from three districts in West Michigan through MI School Data.
The data looked at were Grand Rapids Public Schools, West Ottawa Public Schools and Kalamazoo Public Schools.
For the 2021-2022 school year, nearly 54% or almost 8,000 students were chronically absent from Grand Rapids Public Schools.
That is the highest of the three districts.
West Ottawa Public Schools had 38% of students chronically absent during the 2021-2022 school year, and Kalamazoo Public Schools had just over 27% chronically absent.
All of the districts saw an increase in students who were chronically absent, from the 2018-2019 school year before the start of the pandemic. Grand Rapids Public Schools almost doubled its number of students who were chronically absent during that time period.
Numbers like these are why the Kalamazoo Public Schools district says it's cracking down.
"When students don’t come to school, we are going to have phone calls every day. Not just robocalls, but a real live person call and talk to parents. When students don’t come to school, we are going to go out and knock on their doors. We are going to do a lot of home visits to make sure kids are coming to school. You can’t learn if you’re not in school," said Dr. Slade.
Breaking down the data into sub-groups between the three districts, grade level wasn't a factor when it came to being chronically absent and was spread throughout all ages.
Looking at race and ethnicity across all of the districts, Native American and African American students were most chronically absent, before and after the start of the pandemic, while white and Asian American students were least chronically absent.
Data for Native American as well as Native Hawaiian students was not available in certain districts due to a population of less than 10 students.
In all cases for both school years, the majority of students who were chronically absent were economically disadvantaged.
"That is normally the case in most school districts. That is not unique to Kalamazoo or Michigan. That is true, and I think for whatever reasons, we want to make sure that we focus on all of our students, every sub-group, to make sure they come to school and come to school on time," said Dr. Slade.
FOX 17 reached out to the Michigan Department of Education regarding these statistics on how Michigan compared to the rest.
They did not have anyone available for an interview but provided this statement:
The soon to be released Stanford University findings note that every state in the nation experienced increased chronic absenteeism since 2018-19. Identifying and helping local school districts address the factors for that increase, not the least of which were the COVID-19 pandemic and its residual impact on student attendance, have been a focus of the state and the Michigan Department of Education (MDE).
While we have more to do in local districts to reduce chronic absenteeism, Michigan identified the issue early and took action—including launching a tiered approach to universal support for all students, known as Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) [michigan.gov], and a data-driven Early Warning and Intervention Monitoring System (EWIMS) [michigan.gov].
Further, in February 2021, Gov. Whitmer signed Executive Order 2021-02 [michigan.gov] creating the Student Recovery Advisory Council of Michigan. She tasked the advisory council with creating guidance that helped local school leaders and educators build comprehensive, evidence-based, and equity-driven local recovery plans to help local students, staff, and schools emerge from the pandemic. Some of the issues were those caused or worsened by absenteeism. In May 2021, the Council issued its MI Blueprint for Comprehensive Student Recovery [michigan.gov] that provided key strategies for school districts and policymakers to help Michigan’s children begin to rebound from pandemic challenges.
In a presentation to the State Board of Education on September 2022, the state’s Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) showed that student attendance in Michigan schools dropped to just under 89% in the 2021-22 school year, down from 93% in the 2019-20 school year. In addition, the statewide rate for students deemed “chronically absent” jumped to 38.5% compared to roughly 20% for the previous four years. Michigan uses the federally required definition of chronically absent as being students who missed 10 percent or more of possible days during the scheduled school year. A student who attends 90 percent or fewer scheduled school days is considered chronically absent by this federal definition.
At that time, State Superintendent Dr. Michael Rice said these data were “consistent with what we have already known to be true during the past two years—students have received less instruction during the pandemic.”
“Students need more instructional time, especially vulnerable students such as those who are economically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, and English learners,” he added.
Dr. Rice has consistently discussed the issue of “missing students” – those uncounted or undercounted by local districts – for reasons that have included absenteeism, changing to a homeschool learning environment, and relocating to other districts. He sent related guidance [michigan.gov] to local districts as well as a tool [michigan.gov] endorsed by MDE and several statewide education organizations.
This summer, Gov. Whitmer signed a record-setting state School Aid budget for Fiscal Year 2024 that extends investments in per-pupil funding, more equitable categorical funding, and other targeted initiatives.
Those investments include:Dr. Rice has noted: “These funding increases, among others, will help to provide more support for students and staff in schools and help make schools more welcoming and engaging for children, schools that kids increasingly want to attend.”
- A 5 percent, $458 per-pupil increase in the state’s foundation allowance to $9,608 per pupil and large percentage increases for students with disabilities; economically disadvantaged students; and English learners
- $150 million for MI Kids Back on Track
- $328 million to improve mental health and improve school safety
- $50 million to lower energy costs and improve health outcomes at school facilities
- $6 million for local and intermediate districts to purchase and implement tools to identify and provide intervention to prevent abuse, self-harm, or violence in schools
- $160 million to provide free school meals and $2.5 million to forgive all meal debt of families who have been unable to pay for school meals this past school year.
At the local school district level, the state funding helps to provide greater support for students and staff and, by extension, to reduce absenteeism and chronic absenteeism.
At the state level, MDE has produced or co-produced guidance in a wide range of areas, including but not limited to:The latest data on attendance and absenteeism are from the 2021-22 school year, which the Stanford study uses. We look forward to seeing the updated data for the 2022-23 school year when it becomes available this fall.
- Local school district efforts to improve graduation rates [michigan.gov] (which include sections attendance/chronic absenteeism, tutoring, mentoring, and extracurricular engagement)
- MTSS [michigan.gov]
- Social and emotional learning [michigan.gov]
- EWIMS [michigan.gov]
As stated above, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation this past summer in an effort to provide more support for students and staff in schools, to help make them more welcoming and engaging. It puts nearly $20 billion into the School Aid Fund for the Fiscal Year 2024.
Even with the extra funding, Dr. Slade said the work starts at the local level, in your district and at home.
"My advice to parents is to make sure you’re checking your students' classwork. Most districts, including Kalamazoo, you can go online and keep track of your students progress in class. Make sure you are checking to see if students are attending every day. Make sure you check — especially for high school students — that they are attending every class every day," said Dr. Slade.
Dr. Slade added a larger issue than chronic absenteeism in the Kalamazoo Public Schools district is tardiness. He added students are expected to be in their seats when the bell rings.
FOX 17 did request attendance data from Grand Rapids Public Schools through the Freedom of Information Act. Due to the way they calculate their attendance rates, it was different than the numbers from MI School Data. The full explanation of their calculations are below:
The data was different than what was provided through MI School Data. The full explanation of how the information is calculated is below:
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