Student-athletes are less likely to skip school than other students, even in the offseason, new research finds, supporting an emerging consensus that connections to activities, teachers and peers are critical to combating the absenteeism crisis.
Sports may have a particularly strong effect, as coaches often require students to attend classes to participate in practices and games. Varsity athletes had higher attendance rates than other students, even when their sports were not in-season, according to research released Wednesday by the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative-leaning think tank.
Researchers also have found that fostering a positive school climate and nurturing relationships is associated with attendance.
“Kids show up to school when they feel connected to adults, peers and are engaged in something meaningful,” said Hedy Chang, chief executive of Attendance Works, a nonprofit that works with states and school districts to improve school attendance.
A rise in chronic absenteeism has been one of the most persistent and damaging educational legacies of the pandemic, and many schools and states have worked hard to find ways to get missing students back into school.
During the two years before the pandemic, about 15 percent of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10 percent of school days, according to tracking by Nat Malkus of the American Enterprise Institute. Chronic absenteeism peaked at 28.6 percent in 2022 and then began falling, but it remains well above pre-pandemic levels. In the 2024-2025 school year, 22.7 percent of students were chronically absent.
Experts blame a variety of factors. Among them: a perception that attending school is not essential and that schoolwork can be easily made up online; more parents working from home, making it easier to keep children at home; and a lingering sense that even mild illness necessitates staying home.
The research released Wednesday found that participation in varsity athletics is a powerful influence. Malkus and a colleague looked at sports participation and attendance data from Indiana during the 2023-2024 school year, when about 23 percent of students in the state participated in varsity sports. They found athletes were more likely to attend, even after adjusting for factors such as poverty, race and test scores. Athletes had 20 percent fewer absences, and their likelihood of being chronically absent was about a third lower than nonathletes.
The difference was largest when a student’s sport was in season, but athletes missed fewer days in the offseason, too. Researchers found athletes in season were absent 5 percent of the time, on average, and offseason athletes were absent 5.9 percent of the time. Both rates were lower than nonathletes, who missed 6.9 percent of school days on average.
Researchers concluded that attendance rates, particularly when athletes are in-season, are probably caused by the sports participation, not simply correlated with it. They pointed to rules that make attendance mandatory to practice and play, athletes’ status in schools and positive social pressures that derive from being on a team.
“It is difficult to explain these effects except by attributing some portion of them to varsity sports participation itself,” the paper concludes.
The findings dovetail with research on attendancein the Chicago Public Schools released earlier this year by the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research. Among other findings, the researchconcluded school climate was strongly associated with attendance, even more than it was pre-pandemic.
Analyzing results of student and teacher surveys, the research team found that attendance was strongly connected to relationships between peers and teachers, students finding value and meaning in classes, a sense of safety and teacher-parent relationships.
Elaine Allensworth, director of the Consortium on School Research, said her research, like the findings on sports, suggests that factors inside schools influence attendance rates.
“There are a lot of ways the schools can promote an environment where students develop relationships, where they feel connected, where they feel it’s worthwhile to come to school,” she said. “One of those ways for a lot of students is sports.”
It’s critical for schools to provide a reason for students to try hard to get to class, she said, adding this is far more effective than punishing them for failing to attend. Her research found variation in attendance rates among schools serving similar students from similar neighborhoods, suggesting that schools have some control over this problem.
Allensworth said the key is to provide an environment where school is “something you are looking forward to and you’ll feel like you are missing out if you aren’t there.”
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