Pittsburgh Public Schools sets sights on attendance after 30% of students were chronically absent last year

Chronic absenteeism may be the biggest problem facing Pittsburgh Public Schools and other urban districts. Last year in Pittsburgh, 32% of students were chronically absent, missing 18 or more days of school. 

The start of school is just a few weeks away, and the organization A+ Schools is making sure kids in the Arlington neighborhood make it to class. They're trying to remove any hurdles, bringing backpacks with school supplies to the parents of incoming kindergartners and going door-to-door offering assistance with transportation, food or clothing to ensure steady attendance this year. 

"Today is about bridging that gap, going and knocking on doors, letting folks know about what's available at the school to help them out," said James Fogarty with A+ Schools. 

Absenteeism is epidemic with some city high schools like Westinghouse and Perry, with more than half of their students chronically absent, missing 18 or more days of school. The academic outcomes are predictable. While district schools with high attendance rates are performing well, those with high chronically absent numbers have math and reading scores among the lowest in the state. 

"If you are not in school, you cannot be successful as a learner, and our job as a school district is to improve outcomes for young people and attendance is an outcome," said Pittsburgh Public Schools Assistant Superintendent Dr. Melissa Pearlman.

The district says it's taking the problem head-on with a multi-pronged approach. While A+ and other community partners have been engaged in getting students to school, the district is trying innovations to keep them there. In an increasing number of schools, it's trying to foster a greater sense of community and purpose by adopting a so-called house system like Hogwarts of Harry Potter fame. Students become members of one of four houses in a given school, and those houses earn points and get rewards based on things like academic achievement and attendance. 

Pearlman says the house schools are already showing results.

"We're seeing young people make better choices in their behavior, we're seeing a reduction in disciplinary incidents, we're seeing young people not engage in things that they otherwise would have because it doesn't model the house that they're in and in turn their community," Pearlman said. 

And outreach efforts are also paying off. The district has seen a 15% reduction in absenteeism since the end of the pandemic. A+ attributes some of that to a texting and email effort to the parents or guardians of chronically absent students, offering help in getting them back in class. Still, district attendance is not at pre-pandemic levels.

"There's still a long way to go to get back to where we were with the pandemic and then before, but we're seeing this as a great way to connect with people," Fogarty said.