How to Navigate Student Absences During PBL Units

“How do I implement PBL in classes where there are students who have chronic long-term absences?”

I got this question during a recent project-based learning (PBL) workshop in Virginia, and it wasn’t the first time. Or the second. Or the third. In fact, the question about doing PBL in the face of high rates of chronic absenteeism is perhaps the most common question I get asked in workshops, and it’s born out of very legitimate concerns.

Many of us know how group projects can be derailed when one member’s absences impact those who are present and ready to work. We also know that absences could mean additional adaptation work for us that eats at prep time or distracts from life outside of school. Students who are absent for prolonged periods of time are sometimes reluctant to return—knowing that they may have to face unhappy classmates who demand accountability or mountains of make-up work—even when the reasons for their absences might be legitimate or involve unseen struggles regarding family or mental health.

Challenges like these, as well as the importance of not adding to what might be a very stressful personal struggle, make it seem that the rise in absenteeism signals the end of PBL, but the opposite might actually be true. The testimony of school leaders illustrates how PBL helps reverse the absenteeism rates that schools currently experience.

If you’re like me, and you believe that PBL is the best method for providing all students with access to learning experiences that prepare them for a brighter future, here are five strategies to keep in mind as you structure projects that help address absenteeism.

1. Minimize How Absences Affect Those Who Are Present

PBL depends on a strong classroom culture where learners collaborate and depend on one another, and this rests on a foundation of trust with their peers. Prolonged absences, especially during key moments of a project, can break down this crucial trust. It’s important that the absence of one student doesn’t affect another student’s learning or grade.

Make sure that your projects include an individual product that is more heavily weighted than group products. Seriously consider finding alternative methods of assessing student work that don’t involve group grades. Research into group grades also shows that students dislike them, especially in inquiry-based projects, so avoid them for the sake of those in class and out of class.

2. Provide What Students Need To Rejoin Class Up Front

When creating student norms and agreements, set the expectation that even if a student isn’t present, they’re expected to keep up with the work as best they can, but make sure to provide the means for that to happen. Encourage those who are confused about how to keep up from home to reach out to you, and be willing to help them adjust missed lessons to ensure that they get the core knowledge needed to progress.

Chances are that even when absent, students communicate with their classmates via text and social media. Encourage group members to send reminders or ask their absent friends to help support them in keeping up. A project calendar or project information sheet with deadlines provided at the start of a project helps to clarify what’s going on even while a student is away. Creating a project website or loading work into your learning management system also makes it more likely that a student will come back from their absence ready to hit the ground running.

3. Have A Clear and Low-Stress Runway For Reentry

Some students are reluctant to return because they don’t know what will happen when they come back and assume the worst. You can preempt this issue by constructing a clear and consistent reentry plan. When a student comes back, begin with a one-on-one debrief or facilitate a meeting with their group mates where you can discuss what they missed and what they need to agree to do in order to rejoin.

It can be as simple as students contributing to some of the group research or completing readings or practice problems so that they have the knowledge needed to participate in the group work. Many of the teachers I’ve worked with shared that they’ve seen the most success when they explain to students that the first day back from an absence will always be an “on your own” day. That gives the student a chance to catch up. Maybe their team has already delegated a task for them to complete.

If you aren’t sure where to begin, my colleague and school director Joe Grit has developed a fantastic example that you might consider modeling yours after.

4. Consider Individualizing The Project Experience

PBL projects are often individualized to ensure adherence to IEP/504 plans or meet other special needs. While it’s always ideal to try to reintegrate absent students back into the planned project path, it isn’t always possible.

Therefore, you might want to provide a “pull the ripcord” option where students with a certain number of days away can elect to forgo the group experience altogether and produce a less involved version of the team product by themselves. While this is a less-desirable outcome, especially since it involves much more work for a student who might already be feeling overwhelmed, some teachers have reported that students have felt “social relief” knowing that their absences won’t become a friends problem and they can work at their own pace.

5. Use Grouping Strategies Alongside an Individual Product

One way to eliminate issues around group products is to remove the source of the stress and design PBL without a team product. In some cases, a group product might be inappropriate—especially if the piece is personal to the individual experience—like a memoir or artistic expression of a student’s life or lived experience.

Even with individual PBL, students can still develop collaboration and cooperation skills by replacing the static groups used in team projects with temporary grouping strategies. You can take whoever is in class that day and form pairs, trios, or any other size group for tasks like think-pair-shares, collaborative research, or small group discussions without disrupting project flow and still build those critical collaborative competencies.