{"id":17918,"date":"2023-05-01T18:04:22","date_gmt":"2023-05-01T18:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/2023\/05\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/"},"modified":"2025-11-20T15:19:47","modified_gmt":"2025-11-20T20:19:47","slug":"addressing-the-attendance-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/","title":{"rendered":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em><em><em><em>Originally published in TEACH Magazine, <a href=\"\/issues\/may-jun-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">May\/June 2023 Issue<\/span><\/a><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:20px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>By Crystal Carranco<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we talk about school attendance rates, we\u2019re actually talking about students who are <i>not <\/i>in attendance. This is not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem. During the 2021\u20132022 school year, for instance, more than <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/education\/2022\/07\/05\/absenteeism-behavioral-issues-pandemic-data\/?\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">70% of public schools in America<\/span><\/a><\/strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong> <\/strong><\/span>saw an increase in chronic student absenteeism. Pre-pandemic, and still, there are many factors that have contributed to poor attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"p2\">One such factor involves misconceptions around the importance of elementary school, which is something I have seen first-hand as an early childhood educator. These early grades are often seen as \u201cplay\u201d grades, when in fact they are the most important years with regard to reading acquisition. According to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/healthychildren.org\/English\/ages-stages\/gradeschool\/school\/Pages\/School-Attendance-Truancy-Chronic-Absenteeism.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">HealthyChildren.org<\/span><\/a><\/strong>, children who are chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade are less likely to read at the expected level by the time they reach third grade.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-woocommerce-memberships-member-content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"woocommerce-info wc-memberships-restriction-message wc-memberships-message wc-memberships-content-restricted-message\">\n\t\t\t\t<h3>Subscribe to Keep Reading<\/h3>\r\n<p>\ud83d\udd11 You\u2019re one step away from unlocking premium content.<br>\r\nSubscribe now for as low as $5.99 and get full access!<\/p>\r\n<p><a class=\"btn\" href=\"\/product-category\/subscription\/\">Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p><small>If you\u2019re already subscribed, please <a href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/my-account\/\">Log In<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\t\t    <\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Student absences are not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":19913,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2928,2950,3620],"tags":[3861],"class_list":{"0":"post-17918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-classroom-management","8":"category-classroom-perspectives","9":"category-family-engagement","10":"tag-attendance"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem - TEACH Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Student absences are not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Absenteeism is not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the pandemic have only added to this growing problem.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TEACH Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance.jpg?_t=1763669987\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Crystal Carranco\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Absenteeism is not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the pandemic have only added to this growing problem.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@teachmag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Crystal Carranco\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Crystal Carranco\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8\"},\"headline\":\"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\"},\"wordCount\":781,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Attendance\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Classroom Management\",\"Classroom Perspectives\",\"Family Engagement\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\",\"name\":\"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem - TEACH Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8\"},\"description\":\"Student absences are not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/\",\"name\":\"TEACH Magazine\",\"description\":\"Education for Today and Tomorrow | L&#039;Education Aujourd&#039;hui et Demain\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8\",\"name\":\"Crystal Carranco\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar-96x96.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Crystal Carranco\"},\"description\":\"Crystal Carranco is an Assistant Principal at Stagecoach Elementary in Cabot, AR, and previously taught first grade for 10 years. She is passionate about working alongside and supporting teachers, and serving our most at-risk student populations. Crystal is a 2022 ASTA and AAEF Advocacy Fellow.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/author\/crystal-carranco\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem - TEACH Magazine","description":"Student absences are not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem","og_description":"Absenteeism is not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the pandemic have only added to this growing problem.","og_url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/","og_site_name":"TEACH Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/teachmag","article_published_time":"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":628,"url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance.jpg?_t=1763669987","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Crystal Carranco","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem","twitter_description":"Absenteeism is not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the pandemic have only added to this growing problem.","twitter_creator":"@teachmag","twitter_site":"@teachmag","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Crystal Carranco","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/"},"author":{"name":"Crystal Carranco","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8"},"headline":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem","datePublished":"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/"},"wordCount":781,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp","keywords":["Attendance"],"articleSection":["Classroom Management","Classroom Perspectives","Family Engagement"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/","name":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem - TEACH Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp","datePublished":"2023-05-01T18:04:22+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-20T20:19:47+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8"},"description":"Student absences are not a new issue in education, and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have only added to this growing problem.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/May-Jun_2023_Attendance_Web_1920px.webp","width":1920,"height":1600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/addressing-the-attendance-problem\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Attend Today, Achieve Tomorrow: Addressing the School Attendance Problem"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/","name":"TEACH Magazine","description":"Education for Today and Tomorrow | L&#039;Education Aujourd&#039;hui et Demain","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/bae0a25e3a56285b56f19faa7a5587d8","name":"Crystal Carranco","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar-96x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Author-Avatar-96x96.jpg","caption":"Crystal Carranco"},"description":"Crystal Carranco is an Assistant Principal at Stagecoach Elementary in Cabot, AR, and previously taught first grade for 10 years. She is passionate about working alongside and supporting teachers, and serving our most at-risk student populations. Crystal is a 2022 ASTA and AAEF Advocacy Fellow.","url":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/author\/crystal-carranco\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17918"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31558,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17918\/revisions\/31558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teachmag.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}