By: Giulianna Larson
Since the pandemic, student-absence rates in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) soared to record-breaking highs. Compared to 24 percent in 2019, absenteeism in Chicago schools nearly doubled to 49 percent in 2022.
Experts dub chronic absenteeism as the student missing at least 10 percent, approximately 18 days, of the school year. However, refugee students face chronic absenteeism at a higher rate than their peers.
A study published by IZA Institute of Labor Economics in 2021 reported the rate of absenteeism for refugee students is more than double compared to native-born children.
Children may miss school for a plethora of reasons ranging from illness and bullying to a disinterest in a school environment. However, refugee youth often miss school as a result of a system unable to support them.
Overcrowding
The Urban Refugee Education Advocacy Priorities for Policies and Programs said 86 percent of refugees surveyed deemed overcrowded schools is one barrier impacting them from attending schools.
For Chicago, overcrowding has been and remains an issue on the table as the Chicago Teachers Union estimated over 41,000 students were learning in overcrowded classrooms in 2019. But the issue has only grown as buses continue dropping off migrant families from Texas.
Unlike their peers, refugee students have “likely missed several years of schooling, been forced to move many times and might have experienced hardship and trauma on their journeys,” and need individualized attention to support their academic, social and emotional needs, according to a report by the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development.
But overcrowded classrooms mean refugee children are unable to receive the individualized attention they need to succeed like their native-born classmates.
Overcrowding does increase the spread of illness, which causes students to stay home. For refugee students, overcrowding may cause feelings of isolation and increase risks of depression.
Lack of Programs for SLIFE Students
As a result of what FORA Chief Education Officer, Kathleen O’Connor, calls negligent previous classroom experience, many refugee students need special programming in addition to schooling to offset previously limited access to formal education.
However, 72 percent survey respondents indicated “lack of trained teachers” prevents refugee students from successful classroom experiences and increases absenteeism.
A report by XXX said refugee students with limited literacy abilities in their native language struggle to rapidly master English writing, they must obtain a sense of cultural competence and they miss out on opportunities to learn when instructions are clear. But many educators “rarely have the skills and training to develop and implement oral language teaching strategies” which many refugee students use to learn.
CPS does provide services to English learning students, but these programs aren’t tailored towards students with limited literacy in their native language.
When the classroom cannot meet the learning needs of refugee students, their attachment to school weakens and they fall into habits of absenteeism.
But Refugee Students Persist
Although many refugee students face challenges in formal classrooms, after-school programs and high-intensity tutoring programs suggest ways to provide Students with Limited or Interrupted Education (SLIFE) with education which is both complementary to their coursework and tailored to their needs.
A fact sheet published in Jan. 2024 by the White House encourages school systems to adopt High Dosage Tutoring programs to accelerate student learning and improve success in the classroom. Although the report suggested tutoring be integrated in the school day, FORA’s Managing Director, Michael O’Connor, said after school programs fit refugee students’ learning and living needs.
“Many studies show HIT intervention efforts worked better when they occurred in school,” he said. “However, these studies do not diagram refugees who are desperately looking for after school placements and who often live in a tight community where after school support can be done in a supportive culturally sensitive environment without stigma for kids who are often years and years behind in school.”
According to Bridging Refugee Youth and Children’s Services, after school tutoring programs provide “supervised place for children and youth to participate in constructive activities and form positive relationships with peers and adults.”
In addition to effective instruction, after school programs give refugees a place to learn about U.S culture through their mentors and peers and feel more welcomed.
Individualized, high-quality after-school programs have proven successful.
Just four years after FORA opened, students jumped from the third percentile to the 16th percentile in reading and from the 17th percentile to the 49th percentile in math from June 2021 to June 2022.
In addition to improving academics, 93 percent of FORA parents reported their child feeling happy in school.
When refugee students are properly supported, they succeed academically and emotionally.
“We at fora are very supportive of in-school HIT interventions and financial support for Public schools, but we also encourage studies regarding the benefits of after school math and reading programs for refugees and immigrants,” O’Connor said.