Study: Students more likely to attend school if they're eligible for the bus
Vulnerable students show up to school more often if they have access to a bus that will drop them off and pick them up, according to a new study of Michigan data.
The study was released Tuesday and comes from the National Center for Research on Education Access and Choice, based in New Orleans.
Researchers found that students from low income homes are about 25% less likely to be deemed chronically absent — missing more than 10% of the school year — if they're eligible to ride the school bus. Students from low-income homes were also more likely to show up one additional day in a school year if they're eligible to ride a school bus.
They used data from a sample of Michigan districts, not including Detroit because the city school district has unique transportation rules.
Danielle Edwards, the study's author and a researcher at Brown University, said the findings point to an obvious problem plaguing Michigan students.
"If you can't get to school, you're probably not going to go to school," she said.
The findings are relevant for districts like Detroit, she said, which has a high population of chronically absent and low income students. More than 30% of Detroit Public Schools students were chronically absent in the 2020-21 school year, a metric that increased through the pandemic, according to state data.
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Schools don't have to provide transportation to students under Michigan law, with the exception of students with disabilities. Schools that do provide transportation don't have provide buses to students who live within a mile and a half from their school. Detroit offers transportation to students who live within three-quarters of a mile of their neighborhood school.
Transportation isn't required in Detroit if students don't attend their neighborhood schools, which is common, Edwards said.
She said there needs to be more research around school transportation, which is often costly and difficult to arrange. Michigan is also in the midst of a bus driver shortage, which has led to a crush of routes cut and schools scrambling to find bus drivers, to the chagrin of parents.
"Schools are spending a substantial amount of budget on transportation that could be going into classrooms," she said.
Contact Lily Altavena: laltavena@freepress.com or follow her on Twitter @LilyAlta.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Study: Bus helps some Michigan students not be chronically absent
