3 Types of Chronic Absenteeism
Nationally, researchers sort chronically absent students of all ages into one of three types:
- Those who can’t — because of illness, family responsibilities, housing instability, parental incapacity such as drug abuse, transportation issues, the need to work, or involvement with the juvenile justice system.
- Those who don’t — because they or their parents are unaware of the value of school, have something else they’d rather do, or nothing stops them from skipping school.
- Those who won’t — because they choose to avoid bullying, unsafe conditions, harassment, embarrassment, or the prospect of failure.
The youngest students are not yet making the choice to stay home from school. The issues lie with their families. So, chronically-absent kindergarteners fall into the category of those who can’t or don’t make it to school.
