In New Jersey, a student is considered chronically absent if 10 percent or more of the school days are missed in the school year. This is the equivalent of 18 missed days or more based on a 180-day school year.
As we head into a new school year, it is important to understand the issue of chronic absenteeism and why it is still a major problem in New Jersey. In 2014, the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) asked ACNJ to examine the state’s chronic absenteeism problem. Upon investigation, ACNJ learned that in the 2013-14 school year, 125,000 K-12 students, or 10% of the state’s total student population, were identified as chronically absent.
The NJDOE shared data with ACNJ which revealed there were 177 districts with at least 10% or more of chronically absent students. This was a staggering 30% of the total number of districts educating more than 470,000 students statewide. With the aid of the NJDOE, ACNJ published their findings in a report, which named the 177 districts to raise awareness to their specific chronic absenteeism issues. The report garnered a great deal of attention and additional reports, all of which together ushered the issue to the forefront at the state and local levels.
The release of these statewide reports helped school districts and legislators to understand the severity of the issue. Eventually, a bill was drafted to define chronic absenteeism, ensure that residents were more well informed on their districts’ chronic absenteeism numbers, and require districts that are struggling with high percentages of chronic absenteeism to develop corrective action plans to counteract the issue. Governor Phil Murphy signed the bill into law in 2018.
Prior to the pandemic, the state’s chronic absenteeism rate was at 10.6%, which rose to 13.1% in the 2020-2021 school year, and eventually climbed to 18.1% by 2022. So even though New Jersey recently improved its chronic absenteeism problem and developed one of the lowest rates in the country at 16.1%, there are far too many students missing out on essential class time.
The aftermath of the pandemic left its toll on the public, and as the NJDOE suggested, the increase in absenteeism in New Jersey could be a result of more students opting to stay home due to pandemic-related trauma, sickness, or exposure to COVID-19. While the main direct causes of chronic absenteeism can vary school by school and district by district, there is no doubt that the pandemic has left students feeling more anxious and disaffected about being at school.
Chalkbeat.org states that the root causes for absenteeism include barriers to attendance, aversion to school, and disengagement from school, while more specific causes could include family responsibilities, anxiety, lack of academic support, and the false assumption that attendance only matters in older grades. To address these varied causes, it’s important to investigate the background of those causes and find out why a student may feel inclined to disengage or be dissuaded from going to class.
Aversion to school could partially be due to an increased number of incidents of bullying, violence, and suspension, which rose from 36,791 to 44,262 in New Jersey between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school year. Additionally, there are high levels of unaddressed anxiety and depression in both students and faculty as a result of the pandemic, which could lead to burnout and a lack of motivation. To address chronic absenteeism, we must first work to improve the environment of our communities and schools, in addition to the mental well-being of the youth, their families, and their teachers. This is where programs such as New Jersey Statewide Student Support Services (NJ4S) come in.
NJ4S is a preventive approach to mental wellness for youth. Initially proposed by the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, this initiative provides wellness services and referrals for youth by distributing mental health professionals and other staff across communities. With staff connecting and working directly with schools and other members of the community, the social, emotional, and mental health of students and their parents/caregivers could be focused on with a holistic approach. This way, the factors that lead to bullying, youth violence, and insufficient academic support could be mitigated on the ground level before they happen, making schools a more inviting and safe place for students.
Headed by the organization’s staff attorney, Nina Peckman, ACNJ’s Education Rights Program, works to assist parents of students with attendance issues to address the reasons behind excessive absences and to help them and school staff develop education plans to ensure that the children attend school. Through her work, Peckman found many of the causes of chronic absenteeism stated earlier, as well as several common misunderstandings between parents and schools. For example, many parents don’t realize an absence with a doctor's note still counts as an absence. Peckman worked with several parents who weren't aware of the serious ramifications of missing instructional time and how difficult it could be to make up for that lost time. Lastly, she saw many cases where parents weren’t aware that they have a right to home instruction from their school district for chronic health issues, and that there are procedures in place to receive it. This way a student could keep up and avoid an absence. This lack of understanding shows how parents and schools need to improve communication and eestablish better relationships.
The intervention and integration of groups like NJ4S, or even a community school model, would create engagement between families and schools. The positive engagement can lead to a decrease in, or prevention of, many misunderstandings so students can get the most out of their education. This integration, where members of the community, parents, and schools intersect, could also work towards providing resources and support to help students academically and to overcome other barriers to arriving at school, like transportation challenges.
There are NJ4S hubs across the state, and each one hosts info sessions and other events throughout the year that are open to the public. These events are done both in person and virtually, and range from workshops and events for study skills to conflict resolution and coping skills, targeting specific age demographics.
For more information on NJ4S and how to access their services, visit https://nj4s.nj.gov/s/. To find the NJ4S hub nearest you, download the list here.
