Chronic Absenteeism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In high school, the flipped classroom fad is making things worse. Previously, a student needed to be at school or else they'd miss that day's lecture. But now, instruction is a collection of videos posted online and class is just for doing homework. A student can do homework anywhere so it lessens the need for them to be at school.

This! My two kids are in high school. So much is posted online. If my kids know that a substitute is going to be there and they are just going to sit there in a loud classroom they think it is more productive to stay home, finish the assignment in 15 minutes and then have time to work in something else. One if my kids is really social so he doesn’t like to miss but my older one who started 9th grade online during COVID never has really felt connected to his high school.

So after COVID my kids think attending school is optional when there are so many resources online. Last year my son had an AP class that was being taught by a long term sub who didn’t know the material, then by a new teacher who wasn’t familiar with AP tests and didn’t really teach much. He preferred to watch YouTube videos and read study guides made by some really amazing teachers. So he barely attended that class and got a 5. His friends who never missed got 1’s, 2’s and 3’s.

I think it used to be struggling students who missed a lot but now there are kids who do well in school who also miss a lot.

This is a parenting issue. Regardless of the situation he needs to go to class.

Why does he need to go to class? His strategy has worked and he is going to a top university. My son kept asking me to stay home and I kept giving the standard answers. But he kept explaining that strategically it made more sense NOT to go to some classes because he learned MORE by not going. He started saying he was sick and I had to leave for work. He would show me when I got home how much work he had done. There are so many kids like him that used to love school because they are high achievers that after not being allowed to go to school for a year during COVID, they now feel like it’s fine to selectively go. He has a part-time job and has never missed a day. So he is a responsible kid.

I just asked him if he was going to go to school everyday this week and next week. He said he looked at the AP testing schedule. He has a class where the majority of the students are taking an AP test he took last year, so they are not going to do anything that morning in any of his classes so he prefers to stay home and study for an AP test he is taking in the coming days.

Why do you think he needs to go to school? You are lucky they passed him given how he skipped so much school. This is a parenting issue. No, he's not a responsible kid.

PP is parenting their kid, and apparently the kid is successful. You aren't listening that school is garbage is many circumstances, and many kids do better off not being there as much.

Remember the "my kid is thriving in virtual!" people? This is the result.

I've taught my child how to decide when going to class is efficient, and when it's not. How to make sure he's learned everything to be in the top 1% of his class, even with a poor teacher. These are skills he will need and use in college, and in the workplace. I've parented my kid. Those who are just blindly sending them to class aren't parenting.

[Anonymous]

Oh please. I bet you'll be pissed when junior flunks college classes because he chose not to go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oh please. I bet you'll be pissed when junior flunks college classes because he chose not to go.

But there are lots of kids who don’t go to college classes who can get A’s. Just depends on the place and class.

This is the point. Different kids do well in different environments. Attendance may matter for some and not others.

What seems to be happening in HS’s is that students who are forced to be there so they don’t commit crimes are just disruptive. Teachers don’t actually want those kids there, and students who want to learn (or simply want a pleasant environment) don’t want them there.

Kids who are successful don’t want to be around the disruptive kids don’t come. Teachers don’t care if they are there or not. They’d probably prefer they not be there bc they have to spend all of their time with the middle to low achieving kids.

Solution seems to be just be fine with low and high performing kids just not going.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Across the US right now there is an epidemic of chronic absenteeism. Why now? What happened to make it so much worse now? Do the parents not know? Are the parents keeping their kids home or not driving them to school?

For elementary school kids, having more parents able to work at home means it is easier for parents to keep older school aged children home when they are sick.

If your child is 9 years old and just not feeling well, but both parents really need to get to the office - into school that child goes.

But if someone's home that day anyhow, it's less difficult to let child stay home half day and see how he feels, while mom or dad works from home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the US right now there is an epidemic of chronic absenteeism. Why now? What happened to make it so much worse now? Do the parents not know? Are the parents keeping their kids home or not driving them to school?

For elementary school kids, having more parents able to work at home means it is easier for parents to keep older school aged children home when they are sick.

If your child is 9 years old and just not feeling well, but both parents really need to get to the office - into school that child goes.

But if someone's home that day anyhow, it's less difficult to let child stay home half day and see how he feels, while mom or dad works from home.

I think its this, plus all the class materials are online now and secondary school teachers just don't really teach that much anymore. Everything is canned curriculum. So if someone misses its really no big deal. My kids have never risen to the level of "chronic absenteeism" which is 18 days, but they are at 10-12 days out a year for sure. Straight A's. College bound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Across the US right now there is an epidemic of chronic absenteeism. Why now? What happened to make it so much worse now? Do the parents not know? Are the parents keeping their kids home or not driving them to school?

For elementary school kids, having more parents able to work at home means it is easier for parents to keep older school aged children home when they are sick.

If your child is 9 years old and just not feeling well, but both parents really need to get to the office - into school that child goes.

But if someone's home that day anyhow, it's less difficult to let child stay home half day and see how he feels, while mom or dad works from home.

Plus we were told quite strongly for years that you should keep your kids home when they are sick. Where I am, parents on the school list serve regularly complain about kids with sniffles coming to school. There's peer pressure to keep kids at home, and I think it became much stronger since the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

A lot of these posts have focused on low-SES factors, but I will say what seems to be an increasing number of mid- and high-SES families seem to think nothing of taking kids out of school for weeks for international trips - sometimes it’s a true family visit situation (maybe a sick grandma so why not spend quality time) but often it’s just a time they consider convenient for an extended vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids have each missed 30 days of school so far, all because of sickness. Pediatrician said it’s to be expected, because kids who had to stay at home during Covid because schools were closed lost immunity and now they have to rebuild it.

This seems a bit like you have anxiety. It should be pretty rare for one child without a serious chronic illness to miss six weeks of school in a year, let alone more than one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In high school, the flipped classroom fad is making things worse. Previously, a student needed to be at school or else they'd miss that day's lecture. But now, instruction is a collection of videos posted online and class is just for doing homework. A student can do homework anywhere so it lessens the need for them to be at school.

This! My two kids are in high school. So much is posted online. If my kids know that a substitute is going to be there and they are just going to sit there in a loud classroom they think it is more productive to stay home, finish the assignment in 15 minutes and then have time to work in something else. One if my kids is really social so he doesn’t like to miss but my older one who started 9th grade online during COVID never has really felt connected to his high school.

So after COVID my kids think attending school is optional when there are so many resources online. Last year my son had an AP class that was being taught by a long term sub who didn’t know the material, then by a new teacher who wasn’t familiar with AP tests and didn’t really teach much. He preferred to watch YouTube videos and read study guides made by some really amazing teachers. So he barely attended that class and got a 5. His friends who never missed got 1’s, 2’s and 3’s.

I think it used to be struggling students who missed a lot but now there are kids who do well in school who also miss a lot.

This is a parenting issue. Regardless of the situation he needs to go to class.

Why does he need to go to class? His strategy has worked and he is going to a top university. My son kept asking me to stay home and I kept giving the standard answers. But he kept explaining that strategically it made more sense NOT to go to some classes because he learned MORE by not going. He started saying he was sick and I had to leave for work. He would show me when I got home how much work he had done. There are so many kids like him that used to love school because they are high achievers that after not being allowed to go to school for a year during COVID, they now feel like it’s fine to selectively go. He has a part-time job and has never missed a day. So he is a responsible kid.

I just asked him if he was going to go to school everyday this week and next week. He said he looked at the AP testing schedule. He has a class where the majority of the students are taking an AP test he took last year, so they are not going to do anything that morning in any of his classes so he prefers to stay home and study for an AP test he is taking in the coming days.

This is interesting, but I've had four kids in college during the last ten years in three different universities and I think every basically every class gave grades for attendance/participation, so your son may be in for a shock.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of these posts have focused on low-SES factors, but I will say what seems to be an increasing number of mid- and high-SES families seem to think nothing of taking kids out of school for weeks for international trips - sometimes it’s a true family visit situation (maybe a sick grandma so why not spend quality time) but often it’s just a time they consider convenient for an extended vacation.

That very well may be true. I wonder if it's significant though. When you look at the chronic absenteeism rates at the APS elementary schools (where economic disparities are the most stark) higher chronic absenteeism rates seem to correlate with the free and reduced lunch rates. There's no way to know who is actually absent obviously, but it seems like a trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In high school, the flipped classroom fad is making things worse. Previously, a student needed to be at school or else they'd miss that day's lecture. But now, instruction is a collection of videos posted online and class is just for doing homework. A student can do homework anywhere so it lessens the need for them to be at school.

This! My two kids are in high school. So much is posted online. If my kids know that a substitute is going to be there and they are just going to sit there in a loud classroom they think it is more productive to stay home, finish the assignment in 15 minutes and then have time to work in something else. One if my kids is really social so he doesn’t like to miss but my older one who started 9th grade online during COVID never has really felt connected to his high school.

So after COVID my kids think attending school is optional when there are so many resources online. Last year my son had an AP class that was being taught by a long term sub who didn’t know the material, then by a new teacher who wasn’t familiar with AP tests and didn’t really teach much. He preferred to watch YouTube videos and read study guides made by some really amazing teachers. So he barely attended that class and got a 5. His friends who never missed got 1’s, 2’s and 3’s.

I think it used to be struggling students who missed a lot but now there are kids who do well in school who also miss a lot.

This is a parenting issue. Regardless of the situation he needs to go to class.

Why does he need to go to class? His strategy has worked and he is going to a top university. My son kept asking me to stay home and I kept giving the standard answers. But he kept explaining that strategically it made more sense NOT to go to some classes because he learned MORE by not going. He started saying he was sick and I had to leave for work. He would show me when I got home how much work he had done. There are so many kids like him that used to love school because they are high achievers that after not being allowed to go to school for a year during COVID, they now feel like it’s fine to selectively go. He has a part-time job and has never missed a day. So he is a responsible kid.

I just asked him if he was going to go to school everyday this week and next week. He said he looked at the AP testing schedule. He has a class where the majority of the students are taking an AP test he took last year, so they are not going to do anything that morning in any of his classes so he prefers to stay home and study for an AP test he is taking in the coming days.

Why do you think he needs to go to school? You are lucky they passed him given how he skipped so much school. This is a parenting issue. No, he's not a responsible kid.

PP is parenting their kid, and apparently the kid is successful. You aren't listening that school is garbage is many circumstances, and many kids do better off not being there as much.

Remember the "my kid is thriving in virtual!" people? This is the result.

I've taught my child how to decide when going to class is efficient, and when it's not. How to make sure he's learned everything to be in the top 1% of his class, even with a poor teacher. These are skills he will need and use in college, and in the workplace. I've parented my kid. Those who are just blindly sending them to class aren't parenting.

Please tell me you are not going to be calling your child's Professors and asking them why your child flunked the class or earned a D? Because I know why, they didn't come to class and I don't share my lecture notes online, which means they flunked the exam because you need to attend class in order to answer some of the questions on the test. And the essays require students to blend the in-class material with the reading. I can't tell you that because your child is an adult but your letting them learn how to use their time efficeintly means that they are going to have crap habits when they get to college and they will flunk my class.

Ask me how I know. And how many times I have received that phone call.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of these posts have focused on low-SES factors, but I will say what seems to be an increasing number of mid- and high-SES families seem to think nothing of taking kids out of school for weeks for international trips - sometimes it’s a true family visit situation (maybe a sick grandma so why not spend quality time) but often it’s just a time they consider convenient for an extended vacation.

Truth. The families I hear of doing this are kids who are in good stead in school and the parents make an effort to keep the kids up to speed on class work. I have seen posts where people use VPNs internationally to log on to schoolology and turn work in on time.

[Anonymous]

The kids know the game and play it well.