Improving school attendance has been one of the most persistent challenges in children’s education in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chronic absenteeism — when students miss at least 10% of instructional time for any reason — remains roughly one and a half times higher than it was pre-pandemic. During the 2024-25 school year in Ohio, one in every four students was chronically absent.
Because regular school attendance is one of the best predictors of long-term life success, educators and policymakers have been looking for solutions to reduce chronic absenteeism. In 2024, the White House Domestic Policy Council brought together a group of university researchers from across the U.S. to seek ways to address the decline in regular school attendance. Also last year, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine set a goal of cutting chronic absenteeism in the state by half before the end of the 2028-29 school year.
One of the researchers who participated in last year’s White House meetings is Dr. Arya Ansari, an associate professor of human development and family science and a faculty associate in the Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy. The Crane Center has compiled online resources to help improve student attendance, and Ansari’s research has dispelled some of the myths commonly associated with which students are chronically absent from school, and why.
One myth is that the students who miss the most school are rebellious teenagers who are absent without their parents’ knowledge.
Ansari points out that young children are more likely than older students to be chronically absent, and that their attendance problems are often the direct result of circumstances at home.
“We see some of the highest absenteeism rates in preschool and kindergarten,” Ansari said.
Missing school in the earliest years is especially troubling, Ansari said, because it establishes patterns for attendance in higher grades. The Crane Center has made “Strengthening Student Attendance” the theme of this year’s Symposium on Children, which takes place October 16. Ansari is the keynote speaker at the event.
Ansari also points out that students in households facing poverty are much more likely to miss school, due to factors that could include transportation difficulties and work schedules, lack of stable housing, family health crises and the effects of financial stress on family mental health. These factors can pile up, presenting challenges that on many days become insurmountable for some families.
Even among children who explicitly refuse to go to school, there are underlying factors that educators can address to improve attendance.
“It’s important to understand why those issues manifest,” Ansari said. “Is it due to bullying at school? Is it due to test anxiety? Is it due to separation anxiety from parents and caregivers, something we see in the younger grades?”
Ansari is leading a research team that has been working with the Columbus City Schools to find ways to reduce absenteeism in the district, which is more than double the state average. The team and the district are aiming to develop intervention models that can be tested, then adapted and rolled out across various schools in the district.
The many factors that hinder student attendance make combating chronic absenteeism so challenging. No single program or policy change will solve the problem, but coordinated efforts addressing multiple factors have the greatest potential for success.
“A nuanced approach requires educators to look at more than just that a particular student is chronically absent,” Ansari said. “Getting at why that particular student isn’t making it to school, and providing that student and the family with options or connections to make it easier for the student to be in class, allows a district to improve overall attendance one student at a time.”
The Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy’s 2025 Symposium on Children takes place October 16 from 12:30 - 4:30 p.m. at the Marriott OSU Columbus hotel. More information, including how to register, is available on the Crane Center website.
