Studies show that students missing three or more days of school—be they excused or illegal—tend to experience greater difficulty in catching up to their peers and learning the material which they have missed. According to this research, more than half of 7 million students who miss the first month of school fall into a trend of following suit for the remainder of their years in school. As a result of this, students with poor attendance often struggle in college, having not learned many essential skills which would otherwise have been introduced in school.

While students can typically make up the work which they have missed, they invariably lose the classroom experience offered in professional educational environments. “Kids [who] are frequently absent miss all that background experience,” says Lisa Quistorf, the assistant superintendent of the Two Rivers Public School District. “They can make it up in paper and pencil, but they can’t make up that background, those conversations, and the participation. [They] provide a layered education that chronically absent students can miss, and [such students may] not understand the lesson when they return to school.” In light of this, attendance can often show the proficiency levels of pupils, and it can help to predict whether or not a student is likely to be held back or, in more drastic scenarios, to drop out of high school.

On the contrary, students with high attendance rates are more likely to be academically successful. Missing 10% or more of the school year can have a large impact on one’s reading and math skills, especially in younger grades; as such, according to DPI. “Children who had good attendance in kindergarten through grade two were more than twice as likely to score ‘proficient’ on state math tests by the time they reached eighth grade as their peers who missed more school.”

For the preservation of quality education and social involvement, it is vital that students attend school regularly and without fail when possible.