What problem is Iowa’s new school attendance policy addressing?

A new school attendance policy in Iowa is causing some confusion, and doesn’t seem to address the cause of the problem it wants to solve.

What do you think would get high schoolers more interested in school—punishment for missing class or recess?

We’ll talk more about that question later, but first, let me clarify some of the confusion around a new Iowa law that has added another step in the punitive process for frequently absent students.

Senate File 2435 defined “chronic absenteeism” as student absence from school for over 10% of the time in a school’s grading period. It also established that if a student reaches chronic absenteeism, the school will send a letter to their parent or guardian and notify the county attorney.

Where people are getting confused is what absences count towards that total, and the answer is all of them, with some exemptions.

The law does not differentiate between excused and unexcused absences, but it lists a few situations in which an absence will not count towards a student’s total, listed here.

Some things to note: the Iowa Department of Education reported that students who are learning English, come from low income families, have disabilities or students of color miss school at higher rates. And reporting by the Associated Press found that mental health struggles, illness, bullying, working a job or caregiving, and general disinterest in school are causing students to miss so much.

So is another punitive measure really addressing the root cause of low attendance? Some schools are taking a more creative approach.

One Massachusetts high school principal offered a recess during lunch if students attended all their classes, and it cut that school’s share of chronically absent students by 12%.

In Oakland, California, the school asked students what would get them to attend school. The students said money and a mentor, so the district started paying kids with perfect attendance $50 a week and had them check in with an adult daily. 60% improved their attendance.

At a Fresno middle school, where half the students were chronically absent, students missed because of dirty laundry and not having access to transportation. The school bought a washer and dryer for families to use and an SUV to pick up students who missed the bus. Chronic absenteeism improved to 35%.

@iowastartingline Iowa’s new school attendance policy is meant to address high rates of school absence—rates that have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels across the country. But how well does the new policy actually address why students are missing in the first place? Read more from AP here: https://apnews.com/article/school-attendance-sick-day-chronic-absenteeism-270f6d07041760e90bf84d9f4108aa4d #iowa #iowanews #iowalife #schoollife ♬ original sound – Iowa Starting Line

The point is, if students are missing school because they don’t have the proper resources to support their educational experience, why not ensure that schools can provide those resources? Better yet, why not write legislation that actually supports working class families, rather than harms them? Why not ask students why they miss school and directly address those reasons, rather than wait until they’re already missing school to help them?