High Levels of Chronic Absence Affect All Kids, Not Just Those Missing School

Imagine being a student in an elementary school where one in three kids in your classroom is missing nearly a month of school during the year. Teachers repeat lessons, children struggle to keep up, and for everyone, learning slows down.

This scenario played out in 15,700 elementary schools across the nation in the 2022-23 school year, our new analysis of the latest federal data shows, up from 3,550 elementary schools before the pandemic.

The impact from so many students missing so much school has made learning more challenging not just for the students who are chronically absent (missing 10% of the school year) but also for those who attend regularly. These very high levels of chronic absence are also causing teachers to feel less satisfied with their jobs.

The disappointing results of the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) underscore that high levels of absenteeism continue to contribute to the decline in student performance. In fact, an analysis of past NAEP results show that students who missed more school scored far lower than their peers. Keep in mind that this year’s 4th grade NAEP scores are for students who were in kindergarten when the pandemic hit, causing huge disruptions to acquiring the fundamental habits and academic skills needed to lay a strong foundation for school success.

When chronic absence is pervasive, it has a profound impact on the learning experience of all students. When teachers are constantly having to reteach kids that have been absent, that limits their ability to continue making progress with the kids that are there every day.

Recent studies show that when chronic absence reaches high levels, it has spillover effects dragging down the math and reading scores of even those classmates who aren’t missing too much school. It can also increase the likelihood that regularly attending peers will become chronically absent.

The U.S. Education Department data for the 2022–23 school year shows that 61% of schools had chronic absenteeism rate of at least 20% – the level at which it affects all students, not just those who are chronically absent. That’s down from the previous year’s 65% levels but still more than twice the 28% of schools with these levels in 2017-18. This meant that for the average-sized school in 2022-23 that reached the 20% mark, there were at least 88 chronically absent students in each elementary school, 113 in each middle school and 139 students in each high school.

The federal data also reflect that 30% or more of students are chronically absent at 36% of all schools, compared to 43% in 2021-22 and 14 percent 2017-18. This kind of absenteeism can overwhelm a school and certainly is too much for just one attendance monitor, social worker, or counselor to address.

Overall, the federal data found that the share of students who were chronically absent slightly decreased from its high of 30% of students in the 2021-22 school year to 28% in 2022-23. State data for 2023-24 shows some improvement but still not a return to pre-pandemic levels.

The improvements reflected in the federal data were uneven – some places didn’t improve and some places even found it getting worse – but overall there were small improvements. This means that chronic absence remained highly elevated during the second year of in-person schooling for students, even though during the 2022-23 school year, attendance was not affected by widespread Covid-19 outbreaks.

While chronic absence was decreasing for all student groups, sizable gaps remained. We see that historically marginalized groups – Native American, Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic students, students with disabilities and English language learners – continued to experience much higher absenteeism. At the same time, there were encouraging attendance improvements for Black and Hispanic students overall.

The years following the pandemic have, for many families, resulted in a shift in parents’ views around education. High levels of schoolwide absenteeism can exacerbate the mindset that showing up to school in person is optional. It harms teachers’ perceptions as well. Research shows that significant chronic absence leads teachers to view students who are missing 18 days more negatively, and also leads teachers to feel worse about their jobs.

Given the persistence of chronic absence, we can all agree that focusing on student engagement and attendance must be a top priority for every state, district, school and community. States and districts must set ambitious but achievable goals like reducing chronic absence by 50% in five years and implementing a systematic road map for change.

It’s true that in many cases elevated levels of chronic absence will not be eliminated overnight. The good news is that we have seen substantially improved student engagement and attendance in states including Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, Rhode Island and New Mexico as well as in many districts across the nation.

How did these improvements happen? Each involves an investment in a comprehensive, data-informed, prevention-oriented, all-hands-on-deck approach to improve engagement and attendance.

Source: https://www.the74million.org/article/high-levels-of-chronic-absence-affect-all-kids-not-just-those-missing-school/