Strategies for Addressing Chronic Absenteeism through edTech Product Design

As the pandemic’s impacts on education become clearer, our user experience research uncovered a challenge plaguing educators and students across the country: chronic absenteeism. 

EdTech product owners can do more to design strategies for chronic absenteeism that empower schools, teachers, and families.

After all, reducing chronic absenteeism isn’t just good for students—it’s essential for the longterm success of your EdTech products and the communities they serve.

What is chronic absenteeism?

According to the American Federation of Teachers, chronic absenteeism is “defined as missing at least 10 percent of days in a school year for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences.” 

Chronic absenteeism has a negative impact on both absent students and their peers.

Chronically absent students struggle academically, drop out of school at higher rates, and experience decreased feelings of connection with their teachers and peers. 

When students are frequently absent, their peers also make slower academic progress, disengage academically, and are more likely to be absent themselves. 

In order for EdTech companies to support student learning, we first have to find ways to get students in school and ready to learn.

How chronic absenteeism impacts EdTech products

When students miss school frequently, they are less likely to use learning tools consistently. This leads to incomplete learning paths and lower active user metrics. 

Sporadic usage makes it challenging for responsive EdTech products to track student progress accurately, distorting analytics and affecting the product’s ability to deliver personalized learning experiences.

Gaps in attendance also create learning disparities, making it harder for the platform to meet students’ needs and leaving teachers struggling to bridge these gaps.

The result? 

An underutilized EdTech product at risk of churning users and upsetting buyers. 

When they look at product usage data, school administrators won’t just see a low return on investment. They’ll see an ineffective learning tool—even if the root cause of low engagement or efficacy is absenteeism. 

Download the report and design recommendations

Download our report and design recommendations, and get our best strategies for mitigating chronic absenteeism.

By thoughtfully addressing this challenge through product design, you’ll strengthen your overall educational experience, improve student outcomes, and unlock new potential for your products.

You’ll get:

• 7 pages of digestible research about chronic absenteeism and how it impacts the EdTech industry, so you can make more informed product decisions
• 5 common challenges chronic absenteeism poses in the classroom
• 5 design strategies you can use to support students and teachers

Whether your team decides to leverage data analytics to identify at-risk students, build communication platforms to strengthen school-family connections, or create innovative attendance-tracking and incentive systems, the possibilities for helping educators combat chronic absenteeism are vast.

EdTech leaders who rise to this challenge will be rewarded not only with loyal customers and growing market share, but you’ll also play a vital role in transforming the lives and communities of students and educators who need your support.