Student truancy is a serious concern in our public education system. The number of students who miss a class or classes during a school day has grown dramatically within the past 10 years. Student attendance plays a major role in student achievement and has a direct correlation with a child’s academic success. Who is responsible for a lack of attendance in our schools? Is it the schools, the parents, the students, the businesses, or the community’s responsibility for our children to attend school?

The answer is that we are all responsible and affected by a student’s attendance. Below is a breakdown on the responsibility and the roles we all need to have in order to take a proactive stance to improve student attendance.

Students: The number-one person who is responsible for the lack of attendance is the student. Increased student attendance and achievement occurs as each student understands the importance of a quality education. Students need to learn that in order to be successful and play an active role in society attendance is critical.

Parents: Increased student attendance and achievement occurs as parents are actively involved with their student’s education. Parents need to stress the importance of an education.

Learning Environment: Increased student attendance and achievement occurs in an environment that is conducive to learning. It has to be a positive and safe place that challenges the student to work. A support team of teachers, administrators and other school staff can help produce this environment.

Businesses: The businesses that hire students need to be aware of their employees’ school schedule. They need to make sure that the hours they have the students working do not affect the students’ ability to attend and perform in the classroom. A high number of students who work late at night miss at least the first period the next day. One suggestion that businesses could do to support the efforts of improved attendance is to contact the school (with the parents’ permission) and find out if their employee is attending school on a regular basis. If the student is not attending then the business could reduce the student’s hours of work or suspend him from the job until he begins to attend again.