Sarah Lenhoff, associate professor and researcher for the College of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, spoke on WEYI, “Attendance rates in Michigan schools reach five-year low”
WEYI, 10/17
Attendance rates in Michigan schools reach five-year low
Attendance in Michigan schools fell during the 2021-22 academic year. The statewide attendance rate has fallen below 90% for the first time in five years, hitting 88% last year. Sarah Lenhoff is an associate professor of education at Wayne State University who studies attendance and the impact it has on students. She has specially looked into Detroit Public Schools Community District and says what she’s found is a community disconnect. “There was a really strong community bond between who lived in the neighborhood and who went to school In places like Detroit and Flint, that’s not the case anymore – students are traveling really far to go to a school of choice,” she said. With that comes transportation issues and other challenges. “It’s a complex array of factors, many of them having to do with poverty, with not having reliable transportation, having schedules that don’t line up with work schedules…Students who are evicted or homeless have really rates of chronic absence and low attendance.”