You may have seen them – on billboards, on television, or your favorite social media platforms. Since the start of the school year, messages targeting students and parents have advised that “absence adds up.” And it’s true: The first step to succeeding in education is to show up to class.
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant shift in school attendance rates throughout the United States. Chronic absenteeism, when a student misses 10 percent or more of class time, has risen across the country. Although chronic absenteeism rates in South Dakota did not spike as dramatically as they did in other states, they have increased significantly since the 2018-19 school year – going from 14% to 21% in 2022-23.
The Department of Education (DOE) is working to address chronic absenteeism in South Dakota. “Being present is foundational to learning,” said Secretary of Education Joseph Graves. “Students can’t master academics if they’re not in school.”
As part of its efforts, the department is sponsoring an attendance awareness campaign, which targets students and parents with messages about the importance of consistently attending school. A similar, but smaller campaign, ran during the 2022-23 school year.
Funded with federal COVID dollars, the campaign utilizes a variety of channels to share the messages. These include traditional channels such as newspaper and radio ads, as well as social media, gas station TV, and digital audio. Ads also run during the state championships for high school sports teams.
In another effort to ensure students are in school, the DOE has awarded grants to nine school districts in South Dakota to combat chronic absenteeism. The grants are being used to hire attendance liaisons; expand extracurricular and co-curricular activities; sponsor Check & Connect programs; support mentoring programs for at-risk students; and more.
School districts receiving the grants are Sioux Falls, Pierre, Waubay, Wilmot, Sisseton, Spearfish, Mitchell, Leola, and Watertown. The DOE will monitor the use of the grant funds; the most successful models will be shared throughout the state so that all districts can benefit from lessons learned.
According to Attendance Works, there are four basic reasons for chronic absenteeism: barriers to attendance such as family responsibilities or lack of transportation; aversion due to anxiety, academic struggles, or peer challenges; disengagement from school because of boredom, failure to earn credits, or having no meaningful relationships with adults at school; and misconceptions about the impact of absences.
Data from the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years show that the statewide attendance rate stayed steady at 86 percent. The chronic absenteeism rate also stayed steady at 21 percent. In that same time period, the attendance rate for economically disadvantaged students increased by 4 percentage points, and the rate for English learners increased by more than 2.5 percentage points.
“This data is promising and may signal a reversal in the trend we have been seeing,” Graves said.