by means of Jill Barshay, The Hechinger Document
June 1, 2026
Absenteeism is a big and apparently intractable drawback for the country’s public colleges. And Michigan has probably the most worst attendance rates within the nation. That makes it a chief goal for researchers. In masses of faculties, greater than 3 out of five scholars had been chronically absent ahead of the pandemic. When categories resumed, power absenteeism approached 4 out of five scholars within the state’s worst-attended colleges.
But a brand new study launched in Might provides hope. Researchers discovered that some Michigan colleges seem to be considerably higher than others at getting scholars to turn up, and known one intervention — widespread house visits to households whose kids are absent from magnificence — that was once used extra steadily by means of colleges creating a distinction.
Faculties that had been extra a hit in boosting attendance had been a lot more prone to habits those visits incessantly — day-to-day or weekly. Per 30 days or occasional house visits didn’t seem to make as a lot distinction. Faculties that visited much less incessantly carried out about the similar as those who didn’t habits house visits in any respect.
Measuring a college’s affect on attendance is hard. If a scholar attends faculty 95 p.c of the time, it may be arduous to inform whether or not the coed was once already conscientious, or whether or not the college itself is having a good affect.
To isolate a college’s affect, researchers on the College of Michigan-Flint and Wayne State College occupied with scholars who switched colleges, reminiscent of the ones transitioning from heart to school. The scholars themselves remained in large part the similar whilst their faculty environments modified so researchers may extra credibly estimate whether or not explicit colleges made a distinction. To account for the truth that extra diligent scholars could be decided on or funneled into higher-performing colleges, researchers additional adjusted their calculations to match scholars with identical backgrounds and educational data as they switched colleges.
Researchers analyzed kind of 2,700 Michigan colleges between 2022 and 2025 and divided them into quarters in response to how a lot they progressed their scholars’ attendance charges. Scholars within the most sensible quarter of faculties confirmed up for sophistication about seven extra days in line with 12 months than identical scholars within the backside quarter. Seven days is really extensive since lacking 18 days a 12 months is the brink for power absenteeism.
Encouragingly, those attendance features weren’t short-lived. The universities that made essentially the most growth tended to turn development throughout all 3 years of the find out about.
However development does now not essentially imply good fortune. One of the crucial most efficient colleges within the state nonetheless had power absenteeism charges above 40 or 50 p.c, stated Jeremy Singer, assistant professor on the College of Michigan-Flint and lead creator of the find out about.
The universities making essentially the most growth have a tendency to teach many kids in poverty, steadily clustered within the state’s poorest towns, reminiscent of Detroit, Flint and Saginaw, or in economically depressed rural spaces the place farms are all of a sudden going into chapter 11. Around the country, absenteeism charges are best possible in deficient communities the place evictions, dependancy, transportation issues, well being problems and circle of relatives tasks intervene with faculty attendance.
Prime-poverty colleges know absenteeism is an issue and feature a lot of methods and body of workers in position to handle it. Researchers sought after to peer if there have been not unusual methods utilized by colleges that had been making growth. And they blended their research with a Michigan faculty survey the place principals disclosed how they had been tackling the issue.
That’s how the price of widespread house visits rose to the highest, which additionally corroborates different research in Connecticut. An intensive home visiting program to spice up attendance has additionally proven sturdy effects there.
Nonetheless, those visits don’t seem to be a assured resolution. Some Michigan colleges engaging in weekly house visits noticed no development in attendance — and even worsening absenteeism. In different phrases, whilst many faculties the use of widespread house visits had been a hit, others weren’t. “They’re for sure no silver bullet,” stated Singer.
Singer says that researchers wish to dig deeper into what makes house visits efficient since they’re pricey and time-intensive. Imaginable components come with who conducts them, what time of day they happen, whether or not they’re scheduled or wonder visits, and what conversations happen.
Faculties within the find out about are attempting dozens of different interventions, however the researchers didn’t discover a robust connection between maximum of the ones efforts and progressed attendance. Those different interventions come with early caution methods, letters house, automatic textual content messages and make contact with calls. Faculties that had toughen from district team of workers, reminiscent of truancy officials or liaisons, didn’t do higher than colleges with out those staffers.
Personalised and widespread textual content messages had been modestly extra not unusual amongst extra colleges with bettering attendance. Researchers additionally discovered that faculties making extra growth had been somewhat much more likely to record actively serving to households deal with out of doors obstacles reminiscent of housing and transportation.
The correlation between interventions and colleges which might be efficient in boosting attendance is a clue about what works, however the researchers can not say whether or not the interventions are using the attendance enhancements. It may well be that probably the greatest colleges are doing different issues now not captured within the survey, reminiscent of hiring particularly professional lecturers or construction more potent relationships with scholars that make faculty really feel value attending.
The findings are a reminder that “easiest practices” suggestions steadily overstate what researchers in reality know. Faculties could make a significant distinction in attendance, however figuring out in actuality a hit colleges is difficult, keeping apart why they be successful is even more difficult, and easy answers infrequently dangle up below scrutiny.
Touch body of workers author Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on Sign, or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This tale about addressing absenteeism in Michigan was once produced by means of The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, unbiased information group that covers schooling. Join Proof Points and different Hechinger newsletters.
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