Exploring an Unexamined Source of Racial Disparities in Juvenile Court Involvement: Unexcused Absenteeism Policies in U.S. Schools

Abstract

This two-part study explored whether discrimination encoded into U.S. school absenteeism policies leads to racially minoritized students being overrepresented in the juvenile court system. First, we examined unexcused absenteeism policies in a nationally representative school district sample ( n = 97). All districts excused absences for reasons White students often miss school but not necessarily for reasons racially minoritized students do. Next, in three school districts we documented large racial disparities in both the proportion of absences designated unexcused (Whites 13%, Asians 18%, Hispanics 21%, Blacks 24%, and American Indians 24%) and risk of court petition for truancy, even after accounting for the total number of absences: Whites hazard ratio (HR) = 1.0; Asians HR = 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.98, 1.36]; Hispanics HR = 1.60, 95% CI [1.34, 1.92]; Blacks HR = 2.17, 95% CI [1.88, 2.50]; and American Indians HR = 3.94, 95% CI [3.12, 4.97]. Disproportionality in unexcused absenteeism fully explained the Hispanic/White and partially explained the Black/White and American Indian/White court petition disparities.

School attendance and school absenteeism: A primer for the past, present, and theory of change for the future

“…The first aspect of reframing involves focusing on attendance more so than on absenteeism. Contemporary school and policy approaches often emphasize punitive measures for absenteeism such as exclusionary discipline (arrest, suspension, and expulsion) and referral to juvenile and criminal justice systems (McNeely et al, 2021). In addition, as mentioned, absenteeism policies are often used to perniciously exclude students with behavioral and academic problems from the educational process (Mireles-Rios et al, 2020).…”

Unlearning school attendance and its problems: Moving from historical categories to postmodern dimensions

“…This applies to 10.3389/feduc.2022.977672 the use of the term "unexcused absences" as well, which can erroneously and disparagingly signal deviance and which is not always indicative of student achievement problems (Donat et al, 2018;Klein et al, 2022). Unexcused absences also tend to be disproportionately and unfairly assigned to vulnerable student groups (McNeely et al, 2021). Traditional categories of school attendance problems also convey little nuanced information and often fail to provide information about the complex root causes of school absenteeism in a given community (Patnode et al, 2018;Childs and Lofton, 2021).…”

Functional impairment guidelines for school attendance problems in youth: Recommendations for caseness in the modern era.

“…Fourth , health care, school-based, and other professionals must recognize that SAPs are often defined and categorized by entities external to a family such as school officials or a judicial court (McNeely et al, 2021). These entities often define caseness only technically such as crossing a threshold for illicit absenteeism (see also later school domain section; Conry & Richards, 2018).…”