To the Editor:
“Pandemic Effect: Absence From Schools Is Soaring” (front page, March 30) highlights the persistent challenge of chronic absenteeism in US schools. If pandemic-related “cultural changes” are among the factors keeping students out of school, bringing them back may require us to rethink the culture of education itself.
Despite the efforts of many visionary educators, too many schools still offer a desk-bound, testing, and compliance-driven experience that leaves students passive, uninspired, and bored.
Over the past two years, a pilot program in Salem, Massachusetts has succeeded in cutting chronic absenteeism in half among middle school students by listening to students and designing learning with their interests in mind, including regular field trips, hands-on projects, and student mentoring . Today, the chronic absenteeism rate among the pilot cohort of seventh- and eighth-graders hovers at 8 percent, largely because students don’t want to miss out on what the school has to offer.
Educators can restore school culture by being adaptive, believing in teacher leadership, and recognizing that powerful learning can happen outside the classroom walls. Unlike using strings and gimmicks that don’t lead to long-term change, valuing an “everywhere education” philosophy, as Salem has embraced, will result in improved participation and academic growth.
Stephen Hinds
Laura Tavares
Steven Zricke
Chelsea Banks
Mr. Hinds is president and Ms. Tavares is executive director of the WPS Institute, an educational nonprofit organization. Dr. Zrike is superintendent and Ms. Banks is dean of innovation for Salem Public Schools.
To the Editor:
This article sheds light on an issue plaguing school districts across the country. As a former classroom teacher, I remember talking to students who had returned to school after being away. They would ask for the job they were missing. Although I could share the work, I couldn’t share the rest of what they lacked, including the social and academic interaction with their peers, the instruction provided, the opportunity to ask questions while working with materials, and being part of a community .
When done right, school is more than a collection of assignments. It is a vibrant social web that provides a culture of belonging and opportunities for growth and exploration with trusted adults guiding the way.
The solution to the problem of absenteeism is not easy. As the head of education at Mikva Challenge, a group that works to engage young people in the civic process and have their voice a part of making critical decisions that affect their lives, I know that for any solution to be successful, must involve young people in the process.
Our default as adults is to make decisions in the best interest of children, without asking them what they think and whether an idea will work. Young people are not apathetic. they are uninvited. They care deeply about the issues that affect them. And when they are involved in decision-making, politics is better.
Jill Bass
Chicago
To the Editor:
We had mixed feelings when we read “Pandemic effect: School absenteeism soars”. On the one hand, it is important for the public to understand that chronic absenteeism in America is no small problem. On the other hand, the article inadvertently minimized the deep struggle many families experience, particularly those from low-resource backgrounds.
You quote one researcher who stated, “The problem got worse for everyone in the same proportional way,” but we question whether that accurately reflects the reality in America today. Based on our own research and that of others, we believe that families who struggled before the pandemic were much more vulnerable to its effects.
We cannot ignore how much more deeply Covid has affected communities of color, communities with risk factors, communities in poverty, and communities in rural areas. That doesn’t negate anyone’s struggles. however the struggle was disproportionate. This cannot be ignored.
Zahava L. Friedman
Keri Giordano
Hillside, NJ
Dr. Friedman is an assistant professor and Dr. Giordano is an associate professor in Kean University’s College of Health Professions and Human Services.
To the editor:
My 12 year old son has been absent from school most of this year and is part of the chronic absentee statistics mentioned in the article. His schooling was excellent until he caught Covid twice within a year of school. He was 9 years old and had been chronically ill ever since.
It is shocking to me that the article never suggests that any absence may be due to chronic illness from Covid.
A recent study showed that as many as 5.8 million children in the United States have been affected by long-term Covid. These statistics are highly questionable, but given how reluctant our doctors have been to diagnose or treat our child for something they can’t measure with any blood test, it’s no surprise that we don’t really know the full extent of it. of the disease.
My child, and many other children like him, are unable to go to school because they struggle with the persistent, life-changing symptoms of chronic illness. These kids want to go back to school. Don’t leave them out of the story.
Sarah Mathis
Pleasanton, California.
To the editor:
The root causes of chronic absenteeism in American public schools are as diverse as the solutions needed to combat it. An often overlooked and underfunded strategy with the potential to re-engage students in learning is arts education.
A 2021 study on the benefits of arts instruction in Boston Public Schools found that increased access to arts education reduced student absenteeism, with a greater impact on students who were chronically absent.
BPS Arts Expansion is a public-private partnership that has dramatically expanded access to quality arts education across the school district and enabled longitudinal research on its impact.
No single strategy will be a panacea for chronic absenteeism. But as districts across the country grapple with this issue, expanding access to in-school arts instruction warrants attention.
Marinell Roussmaniere
Boston
The author is the president and CEO of EdVestors, a nonprofit school improvement organization.
