As every parent knows, getting a child to school every day isn鈥檛 easy. And in generations past, parents felt it was their right to let their children miss school 鈥� whether to tend to the farm or travel to see family. But that鈥檚 no longer the norm. American public schools have gotten serious about making sure students don鈥檛 skip school unless they鈥檙e sick.
Parents may feel that attendance in kindergarten or early elementary school is less important than in later grades, but the habits and values learned in these early years are just as important as academic learning. Making the effort to get your child to school every day, on time, sends them a clear message that education is important to your family.
Avoiding negative labels like 鈥榯ruant鈥� and 鈥榓t risk鈥�
If your child misses more than (about 18 days per year) in an academic year (including both excused and unexcused absences), in many states they will be considered 鈥渃hronically absent.鈥� This may alert your school that your child is 鈥渁t risk鈥� 鈥� for getting into trouble, getting poor grades, or even dropping out of school.
If your child misses even a few unexcused days鈥攆or reasons such as car trouble, a parent鈥檚 work schedule, or a family trip鈥攖he school may label your child 鈥渢ruant.鈥� This may go on your child鈥檚 permanent record. If your child is identified as truant — even in elementary school — the can be severe. In California, the can require truant students to attend counseling, strip them of school privileges, and demand meetings with students, parents, and teachers to determine how to end the truancies. In extreme cases, continued truancy can lead to students being sent to Juvenile Court or the district attorney, who could require the student to attend makeup classes, revoke a student’s driving privileges, or declare the minor a ward of the court. (Attendance experts don鈥檛 endorse such extreme consequences, nor are they the norm.)
The value of attendance for the school and the student
From the school鈥檚 perspective, attendance is important because school budgets may suffer when students don鈥檛 attend. In seven states 鈥� California, Texas, Idaho, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois 鈥� is determined by attendance. If students at a school fail to attend, the school鈥檚 administration is given less money to pay for its essential needs.
But the focus on attendance is about a lot more than school budgets. Experts have found that school attendance — even in kindergarten — is a big predictor for student success. A published in Pediatrics states: 鈥淐hronic school absenteeism, starting as early as preschool and kindergarten, puts students at risk for poor school performance and school dropout.鈥�
Since the pandemic, chronic absenteeism has become a more urgent problem. In 2023, the Council of Economic Advisers under the Biden-Harris Administration released a report titled 鈥淐hronic Absenteeism and Disrupted Learning Require an All-Hands-on-Deck Approach,鈥� which , increased risk of dropping out of high school, and poor work prospects.
It鈥檚 difficult for the teacher and the class to build their skills and make progress together if even a few students are frequently absent. Besides falling behind academically, a student who is not in school regularly may be more likely to cause problems in their community or stumble into illegal behavior. Even in the early grades, missing a lot of school can make students feel like they don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on in class, which can make them even more reluctant to go to school. This is a vicious cycle that is easier to avoid than to fix once it has begun.
Does this mean you need to force your child to go to school even if they are sick or feeling unsafe due to bullying or another extreme scenario? Of course not. But it is important to send your child to school, even when it鈥檚 inconvenient. Making sure your child arrives at school on time and ready to learn will not only help their grades this year, it will help them succeed in years to come.
