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Five Profiles of Youth Engagement" β the Reinvention Lab's latest research.
Absenteeism has doubled. But are we even measuring the right thing?
A new framework reveals five distinct profiles of youth engagement, and why traditional approaches are missing the majority of them.
30+ Interviewees 90+ Workshop Participants
We are deeply grateful to the many schools and organizations that made this work possible
REVISITING CHRONIC ABSENTEEISM
School leaders, organizations and governments are sounding the alarm about chronically absent young people, typically defined as those who miss 10% or more of the school year whether due to excused or unexcused absences.
Research has long demonstrated that chronic absenteeism is correlated with increased rates of high school drop out, adverse health outcomes and poverty in adulthood, and an increased likelihood of interacting with the criminal justice system.
That's important work. But it misses entire groups of young people who are disengaging in fundamentally new ways: some physically present but mentally gone, others pursuing learning outside school entirely. The old category isn't capturing what's actually happening.
"The term [chronic absenteeism] itself may be limiting our ability to look at β and address β the different causes of youth absenteeism."
- Colleen Keating-Crawford, The Reinvention Lab
2Γ
Post-COVID absence rates in many states
56%
of young people surveyed identified as Real-Life Learners - engaged in learning, just not in school.
44%
identified as Checked Out - present in class but mentally disengaged.
WHAT'S AT STAKE
"I have depression. I have anxiety and stuff. And so sometimes it's really difficult to get to school in the mornings or even sometimes stay for the whole day. It's just hard to go to school and having to do all this stuff when you don't even feel like really existing at that moment."
- High school senior, California
Most current efforts to combat absenteeism concentrate on one profile of student; those facing systemic barriers to attendance. These approaches have been tested over years and have proven value.
But the New Absenteeism - young people who are checked out, pursuing alternative paths, or in deep crisis - remains poorly understood and underserved. Without new frameworks and new research, we risk investing in interventions calibrated for yesterday's challenges while today's young people continue to disengage.
Where efforts concentrate
Where the
gap exists
gap exists
Systemically Blocked
β
Real-Life Learner
Checked Out
In Crisis
Tested over years, proven value
Still early in collective understanding
Find out more in the new report from The Reinvention Lab
WHAT'S AT STAKE
"I have depression. I have anxiety and stuff. And so sometimes it's really difficult to get to school in the mornings or even sometimes stay for the whole day. It's just hard to go to school and having to do all this stuff when you don't even feel like really existing at that moment."
- High school senior, California
Most current efforts to combat absenteeism concentrate on one profile of student; those facing systemic barriers to attendance. These approaches have been tested over years and have proven value.
But the New Absenteeism - young people who are checked out, pursuing alternative paths, or in deep crisis - remains poorly understood and underserved. Without new frameworks and new research, we risk investing in interventions calibrated for yesterday's challenges while today's young people continue to disengage.
Where efforts concentrate
Systemically Blocked
Tested over years, proven value
Where the gap exists
Real-Life Learner
Checked Out
In Crisis
Still early in collective understanding
Find out more in the new report from The Reinvention Lab
THE RESEARCH
We went to the source
In the autumn of 2024, the Lab interviewed more than 30 young people, principals, teachers, entrepreneurs, policy analysts and researchers across the country. The goal wasn't to confirm what we already knew. It was to listen for what we'd been missing.
Since then, another 90+ people have reviewed these findings and tested the ideas through interactive workshops, sharpening the framework you'll find in this report.
30+
Interviewees across the country
Young people, principals, teachers, researchers, entrepreneurs
90+
Workshop and review participants
Testing and refining the findings since September 2024
TFA
Backed by Teach For America's national infrastructure
The Lab operates as TFA's rapid-cycle R&D function