Giving Compass' Take:

• Johns Hopkins University researchers found that students in Baltimore who rely on public transit to get to school have higher rates of absenteeism. 

• Complicated commutes are one reason for the absenteeism. What education innovations are necessary to help these students?

• Here are eight steps to prevent chronic absenteeism. 

As more metropolitan school districts cut back on student transportation to save money, a recent study focusing on Baltimore City Public Schools — an open enrollment district — shows that relying on public transportation to get to school is associated with increases in absenteeism.

In a sample of 2,801 students who kept the same address as they moved from 8th grade to 9th grade —and used public transit to get to school — the Johns Hopkins University researchers find the average student missed 11.3 more days in high school than in the previous year. And each 10 minutes added to a student’s commute was associated with missing an additional third of a school day.

Little research on absenteeism, the researchers write, has “examined the association between how students get to school and whether they get to school.” But in Baltimore, the study says, 90% of high school students attend a school that is more than 1.5 miles from where they live, which qualifies them to receive a bus pass for the Maryland Transit Administration system.

They refer to the complex commutes that some students now take to get to school — which can be delayed by traffic, a vehicle breakdown, missed transfers and other unforeseen issues — as a “hidden cost of public school choice for students.” In addition, urban districts already serve students that are more likely to be chronically absent.

“Just as attendance interventions for well-established reasons (e.g., health issues) require specific strategies,” the researchers write, “interventions for less-recognized influences such as commuting difficulty will require novel approaches that may be quite different from existing strategies.”

Read the full article about using public transit is linked to absenteeism by Linda Jacobson at Education Dive