Schools Combat Chronic Absenteeism by Addressing Sleep, Family Engagement

As the school year kicks off, there’s a growing challenge that schools across the nation are tackling head-on — one that plays a critical role in student success but often flies under the radar: chronic absenteeism. With September marking Attendance Awareness Month, the spotlight is on the importance of regular attendance and the serious impact of missing too many days. Chronic absenteeism — defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year — can severely hinder student learning and development. But in Kern County, school districts are proving that innovative solutions can make a difference.

Addressing absenteeism isn’t just about boosting attendance figures over night. It’s about uncovering and resolving the underlying reasons students are staying home. In Kern County, research reveals a surprising finding. One of the main culprits behind missed school days is something as simple as lack of sleep.

Over the last two years, 27 percent of students surveyed in a countywide school connectedness survey admitted to missing school due to sleep deprivation, second only to illness. Many point to late-night screen time as the culprit.

As a result, the Children’s Cabinet of West Kern (CCWK) — comprised of leadership from six school districts and community partners in western Kern County — has declared September 2024 Student Sleep Health Month and is looking to tackle the issue head-on. 

The group convened last week to learn more about the importance of sleep and to develop strategies to encourage students and parents to prioritize sleep. They heard from Dr. Kin Yuen, a board-certified physician in sleep medicine and professor, who said that the lack of sleep in young people can lead to mental health issues.

“The less sleep we have, the more mental stress we have, and the less able we are to handle day-to-day situations and challenges,” she said.

Dr. Yuen emphasized the importance of educating parents and caregivers with empathy and reducing screen time, especially before bed. She urged schools and health partners to take sleep issues seriously. She provided detailed guidance and tips, including setting a consistent sleep schedule, gradually shifting bedtime 15 minutes earlier, creating a quiet and cool sleep environment, establishing a relaxing bedtime routine, and limiting screen time before bed.

When CCWK student representative Kal-El, a junior at Wasco High School, was asked if he and his friends ever talk about sleep, he quickly responded: “We don’t talk about sleep at all.”

CCWK aims to change that narrative, encouraging everyone—from students and school staff to community members and non-profit partners—to prioritize and discuss the importance of sleep health.

Strategies That Work

Since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, more students are returning to classrooms, but chronic absenteeism remains a serious concern. According to a recent report from the University of Southern California (USC), roughly 1 in 4 kids in public schools are chronically absent. Research shows chronic absenteeism can lead to significant academic problems, including lower grades and test scores, increased dropout rates, higher conduct problems, and lower overall student performance.

Elk Hills Elementary in West Kern is one example of how targeted efforts can reverse chronic absenteeism. In the 2022-23 school year, Elk Hills had a chronic absenteeism rate of 30 percent, but thanks to a comprehensive community school model and a partnership with the West Kern Consortium, it has managed to reduce that rate to just 9.6 percent.  

According to Elk Hills Superintendent and Principal Tiffany Touchstone, the school’s success is largely due to the Community Schools Grant. The funding allowed the school to hire a social worker and a community engagement coordinator, providing wraparound services to benefit the whole child.

“I don’t know how we would be able to do all of this without having these people in these positions. It would just be impossible for us to provide those services,” Touchstone said.  

Community Engagement Coordinator Cassandra McGowan worked with the school to identify the challenges that kept students from attending regularly. Whether it was mental health concerns, transportation issues, or other barriers, Elk Hills tackled the root causes head-on, providing families with the support they needed to ensure their kids are in school. McGowan spearheaded efforts to establish open communication with families when students are absent and set them up with independent study or other services to ensure they do not miss out on learning and get them back in class as soon as possible.

“It’s making the effort to build those relationships, not just with the students, but with their families,” she said. “If a student is gone and [the parents] do not call the absence in by the next day, I call that afternoon.”

McGowan and Touchstone agree that fostering a welcoming and engaging school environment is critical to getting and keeping students in the classroom. That includes checking in with students regularly and making them feel seen and appreciated.

“I sit at the gate every single morning and I greet each child by first name as they’re coming in,” McGowan said. “If I noticed that they were absent yesterday, I make sure to tell them welcome back, we missed you!”

Elk Hills also implemented a mentorship program that connects every child with a trusted adult at the school, from teachers to admin staff to bus drivers. These mentors meet with their students once a month to establish trust and communication and provide an added layer of support and guidance.

“If they’re having struggles in class, they feel that they can go talk to someone else about it, if needed,” Touchstone explained. “It just gives them more touch points with adults on campus.”

Meanwhile, in the small, rural Pond Union Elementary School District in northern Kern County, attendance issues were similarly tackled through community engagement and relationship-building. 

Michelle Placencia, a social worker with the district, discussed how its chronic absenteeism rate hovered around 18 percent, but with a dedicated attendance team and open communication with families, the rate has fallen to 11 percent. They didn’t just focus on getting kids to school —they focused on creating an environment where students felt seen and valued.

“Students are building those relationships now with each other, looking at each other as a team,” Placencia said. “It helped them feel like they matter.”

Placencia emphasized the importance of accountability and incentives. Pond’s team created class-wide challenges, encouraging healthy competition to improve attendance. Monthly awards, field trips, pizza parties, and other fun incentives motivated students to show up for themselves and for each other. Placencia says the kids now are looking forward to each new challenge.

“It’s becoming exciting for them,” she said. “A lot of kids were asking me when the next attendance challenge was going to be.”

Placencia says a free resource from AttendanceWorks helped her illustrate to families the importance of regular school attendance. They provided information, graphics, social media posts, and other resources to promote awareness across the district. She also said Kern Integrated Data System (KiDS) helped her track real time attendance data, allowing her to see school-wide and individual progress.

“KiDS is my number one go-to. Every day I jump on and I look at that number. It tells me everyone that’s in the red,” she said.

As schools across the country participate in Attendance Awareness Month, the message is clear: consistent school attendance is critical to student success. The experiences of districts like Elk Hills and Pond show that when schools invest in relationships, engage with families, and address the root causes of absenteeism, real change is possible.

“We want them here. We want them to know that they matter and their learning is important,” Placencia said.