Schools across the country are struggling to ensure student attendance.
The best estimates suggest that more than one in four American students are chronically absent. This is double the rate in 2019, when absenteeism was already a serious problem.
School superintendents implored families on Facebook Live, sent field trips to students and even knocked on doors to encourage parents to bring their children to school each day.
The waste of these efforts would be comical if so much was at stake. School closures due to COVID-19 have unraveled more than 20 years of educational progress.
However, the situation is not hopeless. Most education commentators and school administrators preoccupied with the chronic absenteeism crisis are missing an important remedy: educational freedom.
>>> Expansion of school choice is slow
Unless a school model is tailored to the needs of each family, learning experiences that engage students beyond scrolling on a cell phone, and a strong school culture where attendance is not optional, students will not consistently come to school. Sho.
These can only be achieved if all families have the ability to choose the learning options that are best for their children.
When schools closed early in the pandemic and then reopened with a limp, they sent a message to parents that schools were no longer essential.
Is your child feeling a little unwell? Do they want to take a mental health day? Are they feeling a little slow this morning? Please stay home and try again tomorrow.
This cultural shift extends beyond schools. Church attendance remains below pre-pandemic levels. Companies are still struggling to get employees back to the office.
In the years since the pandemic, EdChoice research has consistently shown that about half of parents want to send their kids home from school at least one day a week.
But if schools cut back on their schedules to accommodate the wishes of these families, they still wouldn't be able to meet the needs of other schools that want a full week of in-person instruction.
Educational freedom is the only answer. Educators can design a mix of high-quality online, hybrid, and in-person learning options and let families choose the model that works best for them.
>>> The school choice revolution can help homeschoolers too
A new EdChoice survey found that nearly two-thirds of American teens think school is boring. More than one in five reported missing school due to lack of interest.
We can do better.
I lead an organization that uses virtual reality to provide immersive learning experiences. Students look forward to their history and science lessons when they can tour the Egyptian pyramids and learn about whale anatomy in 3D.
OptimaEd is expanding the states in which it offers education savings accounts. These accounts allow families to direct public education funds toward the option of their choice.
When a family makes a positive decision to send their child to a particular school and a teacher makes a positive decision to work there, they are entering into a shared vision of how that school should operate. I agree. When leaders set expectations for students to attend, they can be confident that families will follow suit.
State leaders and superintendents can no longer force students to attend a one-size-fits-all system.
American schooling will never return to its pre-pandemic normal. Students and their families want more options. Let's put public education funding directly in the hands of parents and support the entrepreneurs who create great schools that parents trust and students actually want.