DC Policy Center identifies alarming trends in student attendance
WASHINGTON - D.C. schools are facing an attendance crisis – an issue some link directly to juvenile crime rates.
In the District, six out of ten high schoolers missed more than 10% of school days in the 2023-2024 academic year.
According to the D.C. Policy Center, 44% of students were considered chronically absent.
"It's highest for students who are economically disadvantaged and in a similar category to students who are at risk in high school with 59% of students who are economically disadvantaged being chronically absent and also higher for high school students at 60% being chronically absent," said Chelsea Coffin, the Director of the Education Policy Initiative at the D.C. Policy Center.
4-year-old leaves after-school program, walks home alone from DC elementary school
A D.C. mother is frustrated and looking for answers after her 4-year-old daughter left an after-school program and walked home by herself from Hendley Elementary School.
The center says absenteeism is the "greatest impediment" to recovery after the pandemic.
Truancy is a risk factor for delinquency, drug use, and adult criminality, according to the Coalition for Juvenile Justice.
Students are referred to the D.C. Attorney General after 15 unexcused absences. The Deputy Mayor for Education states that schools referred 288 cases to the AG last year and zero were prosecuted. That tracks precisely with D.C.'s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group's recommendation that the District should not arrest or prosecute kids for repeatedly skipping school.
Parents can face criminal fines or imprisonment for kids missing school, but it's questionable whether a fine would improve compliance when a majority of chronically absent students come from economically disadvantaged homes.
In a statement, the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education said, "Keeping children in school is a top District priority. The District spends over $75 million per year in the Education-Cluster on attendance-orientated programs, in addition to additional efforts across D.C. government."
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser cut the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants' Truancy Reduction program by 57% this year.