Commercial Appeal: To Fix Chronic School Absenteeism, We First have to Ask Why | Opinion
Heather Fisher, Guest Columnist
According to Attendance Works and Johns Hopkins University, between 21 and 23 percent of students nationwide were chronically absent during the 2024-25 school year. That means missing at least 10 percent of their instructional days.
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Here in the greater Memphis area, our metro district came in above the national average, though it improved from the year before. Those are students who aren't there to learn. And missing school adds up fast. Students who are chronically absent are more likely to fall behind in reading and less likely to graduate.
September is Attendance Awareness Month, and it's the right time to get honest about why students aren't showing up. Every absence has a reason. Our job is to go find it.
I've spent 30 years in education, first as a teacher, then as a virtual school principal, and now as the CEO of a digital education company. From all of those roles, the lesson is the same: you can't teach a student who isn't there.
Recently I read a report from the U.S. Department of Education on chronic absenteeism, and it lined up with what I've seen firsthand. Illness is far from the only reason students miss school. The report points to lack of transportation, no adult home during the day, anxiety, bullying, even sports and activities. Many of these barriers track with poverty and circumstance, not with how much a family cares.
That's why I encourage schools and districts to pinpoint the why behind their absenteeism first. Understanding the why is where the real work starts. Once we know what's keeping a student home, we can start removing it.
A few questions here are worth asking:
• What role could digital education play in your school or district's absenteeism?
• And how can we build stronger relationships between the school and the home?
Think about the students a standard schedule was never built for. Tennessee defines homebound instruction narrowly, as temporary, individual instruction for a student who can't attend because of a medical condition. Other students need flexibility too. A child recovering at home shouldn't have to fall behind. Athletes, students who work, and students who travel could keep learning on a schedule that fits their lives. Digital education is a resourceful way to meet those needs.
And when I say digital, I don't mean the scramble of 2020. Virtual learning has grown more robust and structured since then. Plenty of schools already lean on it for credit recovery or a course they can't staff. Used to supplement a student's school rather than replace it, it can keep instruction going for students who struggle to attend in person.
Still, the most critical piece of all this is the relationship between the school and the home. It may sound old school, but a phone call or a handwritten note still works. A phone call beats a form letter every time. We can't do that for every student, I know. But what if our outreach about absences got more personal? In Tennessee, we already use a tiered attendance approach that documents every effort to reach a family and clear a barrier, and it gives us a solid structure for those conversations.
We're already doing good work here, and I've seen it up close. But good isn't the finish line when a fifth of our students are missing. Digital education, done well, is one more way for us to reach the kids we're losing. The barriers keeping them home are real, but nearly all are something we can work to remove together. This month, let's not just count absences. Let's ask why, and then let's get to work.
Dr. Heather Fisher, Ed.D., is a former virtual school principal, CEO of Village Virtual, and a member of the Germantown Municipal School District Board of Education.