Five-year-olds can be chronically absent or truant, too

Chronic absenteeism has become a much-publicized national crisis since the pandemic. The face of it is teenagers who are rebellious, bored by school (often for good reason), and beyond parent control.

But we overlook at great cost the chronic absenteeism of much younger students. It begins with absent kindergartners, and there an alarming number of them: about 35% nationally. Happily, Maryland’s rate is much lower, as discussed later, but still not nearly low enough.

The grade with the worst attendance record before high school is kindergarten. And no surprise; children in poverty suffer the most.

In Maryland, chronic absenteeism is when a student is absent for 10% or more school days, including excused absences.

This absenteeism puts them on the perilous path to school failure in later grades. Research shows that starting in pre-K and kindergarten, “chronic absence is associated with lower levels of proficiency in reading and math as well as social-emotional development.”

Why are so many of our youngest students chronically absent? There are multiple causes. Younger children are more susceptible to illnesses like colds, flu, ear infections and strep throats. Some parents think of kindergarten as playtime; they don’t recognize its academic importance. Some don’t want to let “my baby” go. And some neglect their responsibility, often because of problems associated with poverty and addictive behaviors.

Chronic absence and habitual truancy are different. Habitual truancy means absences of more than 8 days in any single quarter, 15 days in any single semester, and 20 days in a school year. It can force parents to appear in Juvenile Court and face possible fines or jail. But punitive practices should be avoided, and in Maryland only about one-tenth to one-fifth of chronically absent students are considered habitual truants.

Of paramount importance, the burden to reduce chronic absenteeism shouldn’t be all on parents. Schools in Maryland and elsewhere are going all out to combat it.

It’s paid off in Maryland: The overall chronic absenteeism rate is 22.8 percent, down from 30.9 percent in 2021-22. But for children in kindergarten, it’s 26.9%, significantly higher than the overall K-12 rate.

In 2025, the General Assembly authorized a Task Force to Improve Attendance and Reduce Chronic Absenteeism in Schools. The state is committed to the goal of reducing chronic absenteeism by 50% and reaching a chronic absenteeism rate of no higher than 15%.

To that end, the Maryland State Department of Education established an early warning system to trigger early action and offers local school districts various toolkits. Many local school districts have developed impressive attendance initiatives.

There are no secrets about the tools. They include friendly outreach to parents and interventions as soon as possible. Health providers in schools, as well as teachers, should be specially trained on when a child should stay home or show up because of health-related conditions.

Maryland has two strong legs up in the battle against absenteeism. The first is a remarkable resource under the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future known as “wraparound” services. Wraparound services provide or connect parents to social work case management, health, mental, dental, food and shelter services.

Annual funding for them has skyrocketed from nearly nothing to well over $400 million (no other state comes close). So why not prioritize wraparound services for 5-year-olds who show signs of chronic absenteeism?

To do otherwise is a mistake. The earlier the intervention services and other tools the better. Kindergarten should come first, followed closely by grades 1-3.

A second advantage is that Maryland is one of only 17 states and the District of Columbia that mandate attendance in kindergarten; 16 of them, including Maryland, require full day.

As the saying goes, children can’t learn if they’re not in school. That’s as true for our teeniest students as for teens.

So, as school systems struggle to combat chronic absenteeism, they should double down on efforts in kindergarten and other early grades — before it’s too late and too difficult to remediate the learning loss students have suffered.