Are Students from Single-Parent Families More Likely to Miss School?
Over 6 million students were chronically absent (missing 15 days or more) from school in the 2013–2014 year. That’s 1 in 7 students, or 14 percent of the student population. Many factors can contribute to student absenteeism—such as a sick relative at home, bullying, mental health problems, stress at school, and a host of other issues that can sometimes be hard to pin down—but some factors remains constant: children in poverty are more likely to miss school, as are those from single-parent families.
Children from single-parent families are also more likely to be tardy than those from households with two parents. And single mothers are statistically more likely to live in poverty than single fathers.
For cities looking to establish programs that combat student absenteeism, it is helpful to find locations in the city where students struggle with attendance. There are multiple data combinations that could help decision makers understand where and why children struggle with absenteeism, but for this example, we isolated two factors: chronic student absenteeism and single mothers.
Because children in poverty are more likely to miss school, and because single mothers are more likely to be impoverished, a map showing these two demographics could be helpful to school officials and city planners. Below in this map of Kansas City, we can see that census tracts 97, 153, and 161 contain the highest percentages of student absenteeism and households headed by single mothers.
These highlighted tracts would be a good place for policymakers and school leaders to begin analyzing attendance barriers, hopefully discovering potential solutions. Once barriers are identified, policy makers and school leaders can begin implementing programs that address chronic absenteeism.
Interested in getting a map identifying areas of concentrated student absenteeism and single mothers for your city? Request one here. Or to learn more about mySidewalk, sign up for a demo here.
