As schools shift away from punitive attendance methods they acknowledge how a supportive system contributes more to the well being of students. Though when attempting to enforce this structure and needing extra support, specifically from truancy courts, secondary schools are often left to fend for themselves, as these supportive systems are prioritized in elementary schools.
Distinguishing how administrators hope to proceed with attendance matters, as it is able to benefit the students, creates an encouraging approach. Attendance can come as irrelevant, but it actually holds importance. Chronic absenteeism can ultimately set students back academically.
When you miss a day, you still have to catch up with what you missed. Ms. Swartz, an administrator at Wilde Lake who oversees attendance confirms that “we typically see a very strong correlation between grades and attendance.”
The connection between academics and attendance is strong. Chronic absenteeism suppresses students’ learning. The mental energy needed is doubled when you have to teach yourself, rather than simply listening.
Although it might not seem like a critical situation at first, this does evolve into something more dire, putting students at a disadvantage. Rather than punishing students, administrators should always follow a more supportive pathway, promoting equality.
Punitive policies disproportionately affect students from low-income families, students with disabilities, and students dealing with trauma. Supportive attendance models acknowledge unequal circumstances and aim to provide fair solutions.
Supportive models include building trust and motivation with students, recognizing how punishments create resentment. When students feel understood and supported, they are more likely to engage and communicate their issues.
Punitive measures such as detentions, suspensions, and grade penalties, often make students feel targeted or discouraged, which can actually push them further away from school and increase absenteeism. Supportive systems keep students in school and learning. Punishments often remove students from class time, which worsens academic gaps and makes returning to school more stressful.
When students are in this position, administrators avoid penalizing students, and try to recognize why students are missing school. This includes looking at mental health, family responsibility, transportation issues, or illness.
By using documents and files on students’ medical past, administrators are able to determine what would best support students. Yet, sometimes when extra support is needed that help isn’t always available.
Administrators can’t always do everything by themselves, and depend on family courts. According to The Peoples Law Library of Maryland, “Maryland circuit courts have truancy reduction courts to assist with reducing truancy as well as keeping Maryland students in school.” These truancy courts are meant to improve school attendance, but truancy courts aren’t necessarily equal towards all school levels.
Although the intentions of these courts are genuine, their decisions in response aren’t always consistent. Truancy courts tend to be more helpful at the elementary level than at the high school level.
When it comes to courts intervening early, they believe it helps with habits that are still forming. When looking at high school absenteeism, the pattern is harder to reverse. According to The Grade-Level and Cumulative Outcomes of Absenteeism, “Students who were more frequently absent in any year of elementary school demonstrated lower academic, executive function, and socioemotional outcomes.” When students display chronic absenteeism in kindergarten, lower reading levels are seen by the third grade.
As shown from The Every1 Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University, “the earlier a struggling student is identified, . . . the better the chances in shifting the odds for success in school,” (Everyone Graduates Center). Even though elementary school is where habits form, high school habits affect graduation and future opportunities. By high school, truancy is often part of a larger pattern of disengagement, making court involvement less effective compared to early prevention.
Effective policy must combine early prevention with targeted adolescent support to create a continuous system of accountability and assistance. Overall, supportive attendance systems work better because they address root causes, strengthen relationships, improve engagement, and help students succeed.
