• Missing 1–2 days every few weeks
• Missing certain days repeatedly (Mondays, Fridays, testing days)
• Absences clustering around a predictable barrier (transportation, health, anxiety)

If you are seeing a pattern, it is worth addressing early. Most schools can offer help before the situation becomes harder to reverse.

Why Absences Happen

Chronic absenteeism is rarely caused by just one thing. Research suggests higher risks of chronic absenteeism when families face barriers that make school attendance hard to maintain. These often reflects overlapping barriers such as health and mental health needs, transportation or housing instability, family caregiving and work constraints, safety concerns or bullying, and disengagement when students do not feel connected or successful at school. These are not “fault” factors, but rather signals that a family may need additional support.

And Why They Matter

When chronic absenteeism occurs, students and schools are at higher risk for:

• Lower achievement and slower skill growth, especially in early literacy and math
• Course failure and credit accumulation problems in middle and high school
• Lower graduation rates and weaker postsecondary transitions
• Reduced engagement and belonging, which can reinforce avoidance and disengagement
• Widening opportunity gaps, because chronic absence is often concentrated among students facing the greatest structural barriers

To learn more about the impacts of chronic absenteeism, visit our summary of the research.

What Families and Caregivers Can Do

1) Build an “attendance plan” (simple and practical)

A strong attendance plan is a small set of routines your family can repeat:

Night before

• Set out clothes, backpack, and materials.
• Confirm transportation plan (bus stop time, carpool, backup contact).

Morning

• Use a consistent wake-up routine.
• Aim for arriving early enough to avoid a stressful start.

Backup plan

• Identify one “Plan B” adult who can help if a ride falls through.
• Keep the school’s main phone number saved in your phone.

Attendance Works provides family-facing tip sheets and materials designed for exactly this kind of planning.

2) Ask for help early (and be specific)

If absences are becoming frequent, contact the school and describe what is getting in the way. Early problem-solving works best when families and schools treat this as a shared barrier-removal effort.

A message you can copy/paste:

“Hi, we’re having trouble with consistent attendance because of [transportation/health/anxiety/housing/work schedule]. We want to fix this early. Who should we talk to about supports and a plan so [student name] can attend consistently?”

Attendance Works’ family engagement resources include conversation starters and practical supports that schools can use with caregivers.

3) If your child is sick, use symptom-based guidance

Families are balancing health and attendance. Public health guidance emphasizes that some symptoms require staying home, but many mild, improving symptoms may allow school attendance if the student can participate and does not pose meaningful risk to others.

If you are unsure, check symptom guidance and ask your healthcare provider or the school nurse. The CDC provides school-focused guidance on when students should stay home.⁴ ⁵

4) If anxiety or school avoidance may be part of the picture

Sometimes physical complaints (headaches, stomachaches) are tied to stress or anxiety about school. In those cases:

• Ask the school for a meeting with a counselor, social worker, or support team.
• Request a “return-to-school plan” with small, realistic steps and check-ins.
• Ask what supports can reduce stress (safe adult, calm start, scheduled breaks, predictable routine).

The key is to treat avoidance as a support need, not as defiance.

5) Remove practical barriers with the school’s help

Schools and districts can often help with:

• Transportation troubleshooting (route questions, stop safety, timing issues)
• Connecting to community supports (food, clothing, housing stabilization, healthcare navigation)
• Mentoring/check-ins for students who need connection
• Problem-solving plans for attendance routines

If the barrier is something the school cannot directly solve, they can still help you connect to local resources and create a realistic plan.² ³

What to expect from the school (and what you can ask for)

Many districts organize attendance supports using “tiers”:

• Tier 1: schoolwide routines and communication for all families
• Tier 2: early outreach and targeted supports when absences start rising
• Tier 3: intensive support plans and coordinated services when absences are persistent

What you can ask for:

“Can we review attendance data together and decide what would help most right now?”

“Who is our point of contact so we do not have to explain the situation to multiple people?”

“Can we put a short plan in writing and check back in two weeks?”

“If transportation/health/anxiety is the issue, what specific supports are available?”

Practical tools and resources for families (recommended)

• Family-friendly handouts and tips from Attendance Works
• “Bringing Attendance Home” toolkit for caregiver conversations and routines
• U.S. Department of Education chronic absenteeism page (family and district resources)
• IES evidence hub with practical strategies and supports
• CDC guidance on when students should stay home when sick

Useful Resources and links: 

1. Institute of Education Sciences (IES). Chronic Absenteeism (Supporting Recovery with Evidence-Based Practices).
  https://ies.ed.gov/use-work/supporting-recovery-with-evidence-based-pra…

2. Attendance Works. Handouts for Families.
  https://www.attendanceworks.org/resources/handouts-for-families-2/

3. Attendance Works. Bringing Attendance Home (Toolkit).
  https://www.attendanceworks.org/resources/toolkits/bringing-attendance-…

4. CDC. When Students or Staff are Sick (Children & School Preparedness).
  https://www.cdc.gov/children-and-school-preparedness/php/interventions/…

5. CDC. When Students or Staff are Sick (Infection Prevention).
  https://www.cdc.gov/children-and-school-preparedness/infection-preventi…

6. U.S. Department of Education. Chronic Absenteeism.
  https://www.ed.gov/teaching-and-administration/supporting-students/chro…