Okay, I admit it. I ditched school when I was a kid. Was it right? No. But in hindsight, it felt a bit like a rite of passage type of thing. My friends and I ditched, we went off and had fun—but then, most importantly, we returned.
Today, kids aren’t returning. Not in the same way.
Across the U.S., chronic absenteeism is skyrocketing. Defined as missing 10% or more of school days in a year, this trend is leaving a devastating mark—especially in the post-pandemic era. Students are disconnected. Families are overwhelmed. Traditional incentives just aren’t working anymore.
We have two choices: try to scare kids back into classrooms with threats and consequences, or inspire them with meaningful, relevant, and engaging school experiences.
Enter academic esports—a rapidly growing solution that is revolutionizing attendance, motivation, and student engagement across elementary esports, middle school esports, and high school esports programs.
Here are 5 ways an esports curriculum can help reduce chronic absenteeism in your school or district.
1. K12 Esports Creates a Sense of Belonging
Whether it’s elementary, middle, or high school esports, one thing is clear: students want to be part of something.
Traditional extracurriculars often leave students out. Not everyone makes the football team. Not everyone wants to sing in choir or act in a play. But esports in schools opens the door for a much broader group of students—gamers, coders, creatives, strategists—to find their people and plug in.
This sense of belonging—fostered in a K12 esports league—is crucial for school attendance. When students feel like they’re part of a team that counts on them, they’re much more likely to show up—both for practices and for class.
Belonging is the antidote to absenteeism.
2. It Turns School Into a ‘Game and Learn’ Experience
Let’s be honest: many students don’t see school as engaging. But with a high-quality esports curriculum, education becomes something students want to be part of.
Game and learn programs fuse the excitement of competitive gaming with real-world learning. Students practice teamwork, communication, and decision-making while also engaging with academic content—especially in areas like STEM, ELA, and digital media.
For schools, this is a golden opportunity. You’re not just offering an elective—you’re providing an immersive learning ecosystem that excites students and motivates attendance. When school becomes an extension of what students already enjoy, they’ll come willingly and consistently.
3. It Links Academic Success to Esports Eligibility
A properly run K12 esports program doesn’t just allow students to play—it makes their participation conditional on academic performance and attendance.
Want to compete? Then you have to show up, stay eligible, and do the work.
Many US esports programs implement policies that tie esports participation to GPA minimums and behavior standards. This flips the narrative. Instead of trying to punish bad attendance, we incentivize good attendance by connecting it to something students care deeply about.
This creates a natural accountability loop: school performance enables game participation, and game participation boosts school engagement.
4. It Reaches the Disconnected Students
There’s a large segment of the student population—often quiet, introverted, or struggling socially—that doesn’t feel seen. These are the students most likely to become chronically absent.
But academic esports gives them a home.
Whether it’s middle school esports tournaments or high school esports shoutcasting roles, students can contribute in ways that suit their personalities and skill sets. Esports clubs offer roles for players, analysts, streamers, coders, and even journalists. That means more students find purpose and connection—and fewer disappear.
By integrating a CTE workforce ready mindset into your esports program, you show students that their unique interests and talents have real-world value. This reduces the emotional isolation that so often precedes chronic absenteeism.
5. It Connects School to Future Careers
For many students, especially those disengaged from traditional education, the question is: Why does this matter?
Academic esports provides an answer.
Through participation in a K12 esports league, students gain experience in broadcasting, game development, IT support, digital storytelling, marketing, and entrepreneurship. These aren’t just games—they’re gateways to thriving, future-focused careers.
In fact, more schools are embedding CTE workforce ready skills directly into their esports curriculum. With esports, students are exposed to real career pathways and even college scholarship opportunities. They begin to see school as the bridge to something meaningful—and that realization can completely transform their motivation to attend.
Students don’t ditch what they see as valuable. When esports becomes part of a student’s vision for the future, showing up becomes a no-brainer.
The Bigger Picture: Esports in Schools Isn’t a Gimmick—It’s a Solution
Chronic absenteeism isn’t just about skipping class. It’s about students feeling unseen, uninspired, and disconnected. Traditional tactics—detentions, truancy letters, scolding emails—aren’t working.
But esports in schools is.
Whether through elementary esports clubs or full-blown high school esports leagues, academic gaming creates excitement, belonging, accountability, and vision. It takes what kids already love and channels it into purpose, learning, and school engagement.
That’s not just innovative—it’s transformational. After all, we need to do something to get the ditching kids back to class. Love, in my opinion (i.e. their passion for video games) is a stronger pathway than fear (i.e. you will be a loser and a failure and a worthless humanoid if you don’t get your butt back to school!)
If you build it, they will come.
