U.S. Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., and Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, have introduced a bill that would increase block grant funds to allow schools to invest in reducing absenteeism.
The proposed law, known as the Chronic Absenteeism Reduction Act, would address the problem that is defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year, a press release from Herrera Beutler’s office said.
Chronic absenteeism negatively affects school performance, high school graduation rates and overall student success, the report said.
More than 6.8 million students were chronically absent during the 2013-14 school year, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights and Data Collection found. Those students make up roughly 14 percent of all students and making them nearly 70 percent less likely to graduate high school.
The Chronic Absenteeism Reduction Act would allow schools to tailor solutions based on individual groups of students in their districts.
According to the press release, the block grant funding would be invested in academic programs and enact attendance programs while installing attendance data collection and analysis systems, partnering with local health, transportation and social service providers and implementing school-based mentoring programs.
Half of all students who are chronically absent are concentrated in 4 percent of the nation’s school districts, the release said, and Washington state has the most public school districts facing chronic absenteeism in the country.
Data collection and analysis tools would allow educators to track and identify attendance issues and alert parents, which has been shown to improve attendance by 17 percent, the release said.
Partnerships with local health, transportation and social service providers would help school officials deal with unique cases of student absenteeism such as trouble getting to school.
Mentoring programs would also include the presence of a consistent, caring adult to help implement a regular attendance routine. The release said students who regularly met with mentors were 52 percent less likely than their peers to skip a day of school.
