'Why won't they just go to school?"
A Personal and Professional Reckoning
with Chronic Absenteeism.
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Written by Kari Vogelgesang, PhD
I’m an educator. I’ve spent my entire career in service of students, teachers, and schools. I’ve trained future teachers, advised school districts, and researched education systems. I’ve given talks on classroom climate and student engagement. I’ve led national initiatives on school mental health. So, when I became a parent, I assumed—naively—that my own children might not always love school, but they’d go, do their best, and move forward.
I could not have been more wrong.
When my children started missing school, I was overwhelmed with confusion, frustration, and—if I’m honest—shame. What was wrong with me as a mother? Hadn’t I done everything right? How could I be both an expert in education and so unprepared for this?
Then the pandemic hit. Everything unraveled further. Remote learning, isolation, anxiety—it didn’t just disrupt our routines, it upended our relationship with school. And while the mother in me was heartbroken, the professor in me was…fascinated.
I knew this wasn't just about my family. Something bigger was happening. The story unfolding in my home was echoing across the country…across the globe!
Today, chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10% or more of the school year—is one of the most urgent issues in education. More than one in four students are chronically absent, and in some communities, it’s closer to half.
This isn’t just a student issue. It’s a system issue. It’s a community issue. And it’s one that threatens to derail our recovery from the pandemic, deepen existing inequities, and erode the foundational trust between schools and families.
When students miss school, they don’t just fall behind on math or reading. They lose connection—to peers, to caring adults, to opportunity. As I discussed in my podcast conversation with Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty and the team at Attendance Works, chronic absenteeism reflects deeper issues of mental health, disengagement, and unmet needs.
Through my research, collaboration with school districts, and personal experience, here’s what I’ve learned: students aren’t missing school because they’re lazy or apathetic. They’re missing school because they’re overwhelmed.
Some are struggling with anxiety or depression—one EdWeek survey found that anxiety is the leading reason high schoolers miss school, after illness. Others face housing instability, bullying, lack of transportation, or the pressure of working jobs to support their families. Many feel disconnected from school culture, unsure of their value or place in the system.
For some parents, school attendance has come to feel optional. During remote learning, many families learned to make do—and some still believe that if a child falls behind, they can catch up later. But the truth is, every missed day matters.
We have to stop relying on outdated strategies. Perfect attendance awards? They often alienate the students who need the most support. Punitive responses like truancy court or withholding privileges? They erode trust and push students further away.
We can’t solve 21st-century problems with 20th-century tools.
What’s working—in schools that are turning the tide on chronic absenteeism—is something more holistic, more human:
Connection. Students need to know someone at school sees them, knows them, and wants them there. Research shows that relationships with even one trusted adult can significantly reduce absenteeism.
Support over shame. When students return after a string of absences, they don’t need punishment—they need wraparound support. Tutoring, mental health services, and patience.
Community partnerships. Schools can’t do this alone. At the national Every Day Counts Summit, leaders shared powerful examples of door-knocking campaigns, pediatrician referrals, and local business incentives—all helping families find their way back to school.
Smart data. Real-time dashboards in places like Rhode Island and Indiana are helping schools track attendance daily and intervene early.
We must reframe how we talk about attendance. This is not just about compliance—it’s about connection. It’s not about getting bodies in seats—it’s about building environments students want to return to.
At the Scanlan Center for School Mental Health, we are committed to supporting schools in this work. Through professional development, strategic guidance, and research-based tools, we’re helping educators and community partners reimagine what’s possible.
But make no mistake—this is not a school problem to be solved by schools. It’s a call to action for all of us: parents, policymakers, pediatricians, pastors, and yes—even professors who thought they had all the answers until the crisis hit home.
Listen to our podcast episode on attendance with Dr. Carolyn Gentle-Genitty and Attendance Works.
References
Attendance Works. (n.d.). Chronic absence: What is it and why does it matter? Retrieved from https://www.attendanceworks.org
EdWeek Research Center. (2023). Why students are missing so much school: Anxiety, health issues top the list. Education Week. Retrieved from https://www.edweek.org
Gentle-Genitty, C., & Attendance Works. (2024). Podcast episode on chronic absenteeism and school connectedness. Scanlan Center for School Mental Health. https://scsmh.education.uiowa.edu
U.S. Department of Education. (2024). Every Day Counts Summit: National strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. Retrieved from https://www.ed.gov
FutureEd at Georgetown University. (2023). Real-time data systems to track attendance: Innovations from Rhode Island and Indiana. Retrieved from https://www.future-ed.org
Chang, H. N., & Romero, M. (2008). Present, Engaged, and Accounted For: The Critical Importance of Addressing Chronic Absence in the Early Grades. National Center for Children in Poverty.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Chronic absenteeism in public schools: An analysis of the 2021–22 school year. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov
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From attendanceworks.org
September 9, 2025
Educators from across the country tell us that student anxiety, depression and sadness are more prevalent than ever before. Survey data suggest that mental health issues are significant drivers of current elevated levels of chronic absence. To help us better understand the connection between mental health issues and absenteeism, we asked renowned child psychiatrist, Pamela Cantor, M.D., Co-Founder and CEO, The Human Potential L.A.B., to share her insights as well as reflect upon what schools and community partners can do to address this troubling situation. Read Dr. Cantor’s answers below or click on the video link to see Dr. Cantor answer each question.
Attendance Works: What do you think is the connection between the current high levels of chronic absence and anxiety?
Dr. Cantor: see video
Dr. Cantor: If children are not attending school right now in large numbers, the question we need to be asking is why? And it's not going to be just one answer. The answer that I hear a lot about is that kids are anxious. And that may be, but anxious is a symptom. And the question that follows that is, anxious about what? So one of the things that I often think about is the degree to which we've under-recognized the impact of the Covid pandemic on kids and the fact that they were driven to discover and find connection using social media, using the Internet.
And on the one hand, it was life saving for some kids to not be so separated from their world, but on another, it's actually caused kids to feel uncomfortable in physical surroundings with other kids. It's much more anxiety provoking to actually be dealing with somebody in real life than to be dealing with them and communicating with them online. I mean, sometimes I think to myself, when I go to restaurants and I see a family of four having dinner together and they're all on their phones, I think to myself, what is going on here? That the thing that we know produces connection, attachment, love, and so many wonderful things that are uniquely human. Those are the things that are being missed.
And kids are much much more anxious when they're accustomed to relating to the world through their phones than relating to the world through human contact.
Attendance Works: You describe anxiety as a symptom. How can we better understand why students are feeling anxious?
Dr. Cantor: see video
Dr. Cantor: Anxious is a symptom. When I practiced as a psychiatrist, if somebody was anxious, you would still have to ask the follow-on question, why are they anxious? And you wouldn't assume that all of your patients were ever anxious for the same sets of reasons. So I'm a little concerned right now that we don't know why our kids are feeling the way they're feeling. There are probably more than a few things that would make young people anxious today, depending on their age, depending on their life circumstances, depending on whether they are in homes where their parents are anxious. So I think what I'd like to see us do is actually talk to young people more and more and more and more and get a richer picture of actually what's causing this and what is making them anxious.
We're not going to find that it's only one reason.
Attendance Works: There are things schools can do that are typically within their control to address student anxiety and improve attendance. What is your advice to schools with high levels of chronic absence?
Dr. Cantor: see video
Dr. Cantor: If a school is having a very significant absenteeism problem, I would be wanting the school to do two things. I would want them first to understand their young people as individuals and to do everything that they can to tease apart the reasons that kids are staying home as opposed to coming to school. I wouldn't assume, as we often do, that the problem is in the kids. The problem can also be in schools. Schools are places that frighten some kids. Kids are afraid of being bullied, they're afraid of being teased. They can protect themselves from bullying and teasing online in different ways that they can't when they're in person. Do kids believe that a school will adequately protect them from those kinds of experiences? If they don't, they're not going to come to school. So there's a moment here for self-examination by schools and for deeply understanding that kids are different. Their reasons are not going to be the same and we need to know as much as possible about what their experience is and then try to solve it together. Kids and schools.