Educators and students gathered at a recent Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) meeting to discuss chronic absenteeism, an increasingly prevalent issue in Kentucky schools.
A student is considered chronically absent when they miss more than 10%, or 17 days, of the school year. The percentage of Kentucky school districts with an elevated level of chronically absent students has risen, from 5% in 2018 to about 75% last year. A large proportion of these students are high schoolers, who often get to make the decision to stay home themselves.
Sophia Langford, a junior at J. Graham Brown School in Jefferson County, said the problem of students being unmotivated to come to school starts at home.
“If the parent doesn’t care, then the student doesn’t see a reason to care either,” said Langford. “And I feel we should really push parents to show their kid why it matters and also encourage connection with other students who are there all the time and who are on time.”
Officials reported missing school correlates with worse learning outcomes, as students fall behind academically and socially. Samarah Higgins, a senior at John Hardin High School, said students sometimes don’t see the value in attending school when they could spend their time making money or working on a passion.
“That’s where a lot of schools face the issue of, like, competing with outside opportunities, because I feel like our generation especially is more focused on the hustle and the trying to make money and get ahead on certain things,” said Higgins. “So, when you’re trying to compete with that, a lot of schools are kind of at a loss of, ‘how do you engage students that have other options?’”
According to the KDE, a disproportionate number of low income and homeless students, who feel extra pressure to work while in school, are chronic absentees.
Students and officials recommended various ways to combat absenteeism. Many involve connecting students to their school communities with peer mentoring programs, more social opportunities, and increased public campaigning.
The next council meeting will be held virtually on October 29.