Prior to the pandemic, the Ad Council Research Institute developed a national messaging campaign to help lower chronic student absenteeism, a serious but not yet widely recognized problem in public education. The campaign sought to convince parents that their children would lose out academically if they missed more than two days of school a month—a widely used definition of chronic absenteeism. The focus on academic backsliding resonated with parents, the institute found.
More recently, the institute and Overdeck Family Foundation sought an approach to help parents understand the importance of in-person learning and commit to sending their children to school post-pandemic. We surveyed and spoke with more than 5,000 U.S. parents of children in grades K-12 to identify the most resonant messaging. We discovered that the academically focused messages that moved parents before the Covid crisis have lost their power.
Our research revealed a major shift in parents’ views of education and attendance over the past five years. While today’s parents are very aware of and generally agree with the benefits of in-person learning, they view education as a combination of many elements, with academics only one part of their child’s growth. We also found that their views on absences have become more lenient.
These results suggest three keys to communicating to parents the importance of in-school attendance in the post-pandemic era.
Focus on the Whole Child
In a post-pandemic world, parents see the benefits of education as holistic, not merely academic. They want their children in supportive learning environments that foster positive and open communication, independence, and autonomy. Messaging that goes beyond a sole focus on academic performance to incorporate the social and emotional benefits of in-person learning is more likely to break through.
Emphasize the Benefits of In-Person Learning
Nearly all parents agree that in-person learning has benefits over virtual environments, including more personalized attention, greater levels of socialization, greater engagement with course content, and increased opportunities to collaborate with peers. Rather than focusing on the negative consequences of a child missing school, emphasize the value of attendance when communicating with families. Importantly, parents told us they would be most trusting of such messaging if it came from their child’s teachers.
Acknowledge Parents’ Concerns
Educators are likely to be most successful in their messaging on absenteeism if they recognize that some parents value virtual learning. We found, for example, that 20 percent of parents believe virtual learning is better for their child’s mental health, especially if their child is anxious in school or is experiencing bullying. Fifty-four percent of parents told us it is acceptable for students to miss school if they need a break or a “mental health day.” Others expressed concern that schools place too much emphasis on students having perfect attendance. The best strategy is to acknowledge these perspectives and counter them with reminders of the benefits of in-school learning.
These three messaging principles, embodied in an Ad Council “toolkit” for educators, form just one piece of a much larger attendance puzzle. But we believe they are an important way to shift mindsets and help get students back in classrooms.
Derrick Feldmann is managing director of the Ad Council Research Institute. Lina Eroh is senior director of communications at Overdeck Family Foundation.
Overdeck Family Foundation funded the Ad Council Research Institute’s research on absenteeism and is a FutureEd funder.