Optimizing Mesosystem Influences: An Ecological Approach to Addressing Chronic Absenteeism

• In Event: Thinking Ecologically in Education Policy and Research

Abstract

Students who are chronically absent (i.e., those missing 10% or more of the school year for any reason) tend to have a variety of ecological circumstances that prevent them from attending school regularly. Family situations (Maxwell, 2016), housing and neighborhood instability (Patnode et al., 2018), mental and physical health conditions (Jacobsen et al., 2016), and school-based organizational constraints have all been associated with chronic absenteeism (Lenhoff & Pogodzinski, 2018). Traditionally, approaches to chronic absenteeism have focused on the role of individual actors who positively influence students’ school attendance. Interpersonal and service-oriented approaches to improving school attendance, such as mentoring and text-messaging nudges (Smythe-Leistico & Page, 2018; Weinberger & Forbush, 2018), rely on organizational actors to have relational or close proximity to students. Recent research has identified a multitude of contributing factors behind chronic absenteeism (Gottfried & Gee, 2017), finding that many of these factors occur across the various ecological systems affecting the child. That is, chronic absenteeism is a product of a multitude of environmental and interpersonal circumstances that extend beyond the confines of the school. As such, researchers have begun to explore more ecological approaches to supporting chronically absent youth.

According to Bronfenbrenner’s (1977) bioecological model, development occurs via proximal processes across various spheres of influence that couch the child in the center of their own ecological system. Entities and environments with whom youth interact frequently (i.e., microsystem influences) are critically important to youth’s development; hence, they are often the target of interventions addressing chronic absenteeism. However, some contend that this approach is limited in scope, advocating for a more coordinated, cohesive method of addressing the problem by strengthening relationships between microsystem influences. Microsystem actors are said to be the have the potential to interact within the mesosystem; yet, the processes by which to encourage these interactions across systems and services are less well understood due to the complexities of coordinating school and district policies, the influence of state and federal level agencies on school governance, and the intricate relationships that exist between schools and community-level stakeholders.

To support this evolving work, this qualitative inquiry aims to better illuminate the proximal processes that bridge the coordination of services between agencies targeting chronic absenteeism in schools. Ecological theory provides a mode to examine the approaches to support students, mitigate barriers, and leverage resources to ensure students are able attend school regularly. Expanding on previous studies that have highlighted the influence of ecological theory on understanding student attendance (Gottfried & Gee, 2017; Sugrue et al., 2016; Singer et al., 2021), we use qualitative interviews to gain perspectives on how non-school actors specifically support individual students as it relates to attendance interventions and improvements. Our article offers insight on how non-school personnel support school-level interventions around attendance and help to focus efforts on specific students who are chronically absent. Also, our findings help to explain the role of non-school personnel in school improvement efforts, specifically as it relates to chronic absenteeism.

Authors

• Joshua Childs, University of Texas at Austin

• Christina Scanlon, University of Pittsburgh