NORTH CAROLINA, USA — Chronic absenteeism is one of the biggest challenges facing American schools right now, and that’s especially evident in districts serving significant numbers of Native American or Alaska Native children.
Years after COVID-19 disrupted American schools, nearly every state is still struggling with attendance. But attendance has been worse for Indigenous students — a disparity that existed before the pandemic and has since grown, according to data collected by The Associated Press and Stanford University educational economist Thomas Dee.
Out of 34 states with disaggregated data available for the 2022-2023 school year, all but one — Oklahoma — showed Native students missing school at higher rates than the state average. In some states — Alaska, Nebraska and South Dakota — most Native children missed so much school they were considered chronically absent.
AP and ICT reporters traveled to schools in Arizona, New Mexico and Oklahoma that are working to improve Native students’ attendance, finding success with a mix of culturally responsive strategies, dedicated resources and relationship building. One Arizona school created a care center to connect families with resources, work guided by cultural success coaches. One in New Mexico started teaching the local tribe’s language. In Oklahoma, one Native elder and education liaison drives from house to house in her minivan to shuttle students to school.
The data showed that 26.73% of all students in North Carolina were considered chronically absent in 2022-23, a jump up from 15.88% in 2018-19. The number of native students who were chronically absent, however, was 42.71% in 2022-23, way up from 25.61% in 2018-19.
Native students in North Carolina did have a higher rate of chronic absenteeism in 2021-22 (48.66%). Still, the 2022-23 number for native students was 17.11 percentage points higher than the overall number in the state.
WHAT IS CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM?
Chronic absenteeism refers to students who miss at least 10% of the school year, an epidemic AP has chronicled in recent years. The term comprises both excused and unexcused absences. Kids who are chronically absent are more likely to struggle academically, drop out and get caught up in the juvenile justice system.
Many Native children miss school for the same reasons seen among other students who live in rural or poor communities — transportation issues, family illness, bullying. But other factors keep these kids out of class, too — curricula and calendars that fail to embrace their identities and accommodate their needs, as well as a deeply entrenched distrust of government-run schools.
In almost every state for which we have data, absenteeism for Native students increased more than it did for all students between 2019 and 2023. In some states — including Alaska, Arizona and South Dakota — Native absenteeism worsened even as attendance improved for other students. Oklahoma is the only state where Native students have better attendance rates than the state average.
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