New Survey of Teens Provides Insight on Possible Solutions to Reduce Chronic Absenteeism 

The rate of chronic absenteeism, defined as a student being absent for at least 15 full days of school in a single year, increased dramatically from 2018 to 2022. Thankfully, there has been a consistent stream of good news reported on the subject over the last few months. States like Connecticut, Indiana, and Michigan, to name a few, have indicated that the rate of chronic absenteeism in their state has started to decline. Data from the Return to Learn Tracker, a site that tracks and reports data related to chronic absenteeism, has also signaled that states are starting to inch closer to pre-pandemic levels of chronic absenteeism.   

Statistics tell one part of the story. Our recent survey of American teenagers can tell us more. Are teenagers also observing a decrease in chronic absenteeism? What are some ways schools can help bring absent students back to class?  

Since August 2020, EdChoice, in partnership with Morning Consult, has been surveying a nationally representative sample of American teens, ages 13-18, semi-annually. Our most recent poll was in the field from August 22-26, 2024. This is the ninth installment of the survey and the second in 2024. We asked American teenagers a plethora of questions about absenteeism, cellphones, their school’s handling of bullying and mental health, and much more. Here are a few of the key findings: 

Teens self-report being chronically absent at nearly the same rate as they did a year ago.

We posed the following question to teens, “Thinking back to last school year, how many whole days of school did you miss and were absent?” Nearly 1 in 5 teens (18%) self-reported being absent for more than 15 whole days of school last year. For comparison, 19% of teens self-reported missing more than 15 days of school when asked the same question in a fall 2023 survey of American teens. Notably, females (24%), teens living in urban areas (21%), and teens identifying as LGBTQ (21%) were more likely to self-report missing more than 15 days of school last year.  

When asked about the reasons for why they were absent from school, teens were most likely to cite illness (67%) or having an appointment (61%). Other reasons for being absent cited by teens were a lack of interest in school (20%), fear of bullying or concern for safety (10%), and having to miss school to work (8%).  

Teens report apathy towards school.

Overall, 68% of teens feel that school is boring. In addition, 40% of teens disagree with the statement “I like going to school.” Another 43% disagree with the statement, “The homework I am assigned helps me learn.” 

Now, there are some positives to glean from this question. For starters, more than half of teens (54%) agree that they like going to school. Also, 55% of teens feel that their teachers prepare interesting lessons.  

Finally, while more than two-thirds of teens feel that school is boring, they are far less likely to feel that school is a waste of time. While 33% of teens agree that school is a waste of time, 61% disagree with that statement. We’ve observed this attitude from teens in previous surveys as well. Teens may be bored in school, but by rejecting the idea school is a waste of time they acknowledge there are valuable elements of their schooling experience.   

Apathy and absenteeism could be connected, according to teens.

We continued to dive deeper into the “why” of chronic absenteeism. Teens point to school being boring (43%), school being too stressful (43%), and school being pointless (42%) as potential reasons to explain the increase in chronic absenteeism. Interestingly, a smaller but still significant percentage of teens speculate that being bullied (29%) and getting sick frequently (26%) contribute to increased student absences.  

Teens feel that more focus on building life skills and mental health services could help reduce absenteeism.

When given a few potential solutions to reduce absenteeism, teens are most energized about including more learning activities focused on building life skills (57%). This takes aim directly at the boredom issue teens have identified. Creating better access to mental health services is the next most effective action schools could take, according to teens (54%). Teens are slightly less enthused about the effectiveness of adding more extracurricular opportunities (52%), as well as additional efforts to reduce bullying (51%).  

Thinking back to the groups that are most likely to self-report being absent for more than 15 days of school, teens from urban areas, as well as females, feel that adding more learning activities focused on building life skills would be most effective in curbing absenteeism. Teens identifying as LGBTQ feel that better access to mental health services would be the most effective action schools could take against chronic absenteeism. 

The economy, health care, and education are the most important policy issues for teens.

Over half (56%) of teens highlight economic issues (taxes, wages, jobs, and inflation) when asked to select the public policy issues most important to them. Health care issues and education issues are also among the most important policies, selected by 50% and 49% of teens, respectively. Women’s issues (birth control, abortion, and equal pay) follow closely behind (43%). Fewer than one-third of teens select security, energy, foreign affairs, and senior issues.  

Teens feel their schools can do better handling problems like bullying, mental health, and guns.

When asked how well their school addresses such issues, only 45% of teens report their school is doing well combating issues related to guns. Teens feel their schools are doing even worse when it comes to mental health and bullying. While 38% of teens say their school manages mental health effectively, only 33% say the same about bullying. Compared to the fall 2023 survey of teens, schools have slightly improved their handling of guns (+2) but have worsened when it comes to mental health (-2) and bullying (-3). For additional context, roughly half of school parents feel their child’s schools handle these issues effectively.   

Over half of teens are given the chance to share their experiences and opinions via a school survey.

For the first time, we gauge whether students are getting the opportunity to share their experiences with their school. We used a split-sample question to do so. Half of the teens in our survey received the following question: “Thinking back to last school year, did your school ask you to fill out a survey to share your experiences and opinion about school?” The other half of teens received a different question: “Would you like your school to ask you to fill out a survey to share your experiences and opinions about school?” The results are mixed. More than 60% of teens say they were asked by their school to fill out a survey. On the other hand, when asked if they would like their school to put forth a survey, 41% of teens say yes. That said, only 30% of teens that received this question said they would not want their school to ask them to fill out a survey. A significant portion (29%) of teens indicate they were unsure or had no opinion towards the idea of being asked to fill out a survey.  

Teens want a say in where they attend school.

When asked how much of a say students should have in the type of school they attend, 24% of teens say students should make the decision themselves, while 70% said the decision should be made by both the student and the parent/guardian. Only 6% of teens feel that the decision should be made solely by the parent/guardian. 

Teens report a different story when asked how much of a say they had in the type of school they are currently attending. Only 25% of teens report that they made the decision all on their own, which is nearly identical to the share of teens in the previous question who felt that the decision should be solely up to the student. While 70% of teens feel the decision should be shared between the student and guardian, only 43% of teens report that was the case in their own process of deciding where they would attend school. Nearly one in three teens (31%) say that they had no say in where they would attend school, a reality that only 6% of teens support in the previous question.