A New White House Report Says “Chronic” Student Absences Have Nearly Doubled in Recent Years

About 30% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-2022 school year.

Photo of empty desk with quote about chronic absenteeism

We all saw the slow creep of chronic absenteeism during the pandemic. Between studentsā€™ physical illnesses, changes in mental health, and distance, absenteeism was hard to address during virtual learning.

But unfortunately, this problem has only gotten worse since weā€™ve been back in school. Recent data from a White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) report reveals that around 30% of students in the United States were chronically absent in 2021, highlighting the urgent need for a comprehensive and collaborative effort to address this issue.

What is chronic absenteeism?

Teachers know students need to be absent from time to time. Chronic absenteeism is a persistent pattern of missing school, defined by the CEA study as ā€œmissing 10 percent or more of the school year, or about 18 days of school for a typical 180-day academic year.ā€

Regularly missing school can have serious consequences for students and their communities, affecting not only short-term academic outcomes but also their futures.

The impact of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the education system, disrupting the traditional modes of learning.

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First, it made everyone question the usefulness of a seven- or eight-hour school day. Elmer Roldan, who runsĀ a dropout prevention group, pointed out to the Los Angeles Times how COVID exacerbated the issue of chronic absenteeism. ā€œFor almost two years, we told families that school can look different and that schoolwork could be accomplished in times outside of the traditional 8-to-3 day,ā€ Roldan said. ā€œFamilies got used to that.ā€

Second, it made parents more receptive and tuned in to childrenā€™s mental health. While this shift in focus clearly has its benefits, it has a flip side too. According to Lisa Damour, author of The Emotional Lives of Teenagers, allowing anxious or stressed students to miss school has a cost. Damour told the New York Times, ā€œWhen any of us are fearful, our instinct is to avoid. But the problem with giving in to that anxiety is that avoidance is highly reinforcing.ā€

How does being absent hurt kids?

The implications of chronic absenteeism reach far beyond a single school year. As any teacher knows, frequent absences affect skill development and retention.

What teachers might not know is that students who canā€™t read on grade level in third grade are four times more likely than their peers to drop out of high school. Even a single year of frequent absences between 8th and 12th grades means a student is seven times more likely to drop out. And dropping out is linked to all kinds of negative outcomes, from poverty to diminished health to crime.

Whatā€™s more is that according to ed.gov, chronic absenteeism disproportionately affects students from under-resourced areas, amplifying existing achievement gaps.

The CEAā€™s analysis emphasizes the need for urgent action, pointing out that absenteeism has not returned to pre-pandemic levels even as schools have reopened.

What teachers are saying about chronic absenteeism

What teachers are saying boils down to a few key points:

1. The problem is real.

Teachers confirm that the problem is very real and widespread. Hereā€™s what one Reddit teacher has to say about this school year so far:

ā€œIā€™ve been a high school teacher for 12 years, and before COVID, I only had a handful of students in my entire career who missed school regularly. Since COVID hit, itā€™s been rampant. Weā€™ve only been in session for 20 school days this year and I already have several students who have missed 8-10 of those days.ā€

Another teacher says, ā€œWeā€™ve been in school for 5 weeks as a 4-day-week district and there are students Iā€™ve maybe seen twice. Some Iā€™ve never seen at all.ā€

2. Some schools lack policies aggressive enough to change attendance.

This teacher asks, ā€œHow are we as a staff supposed to help improve student attendance and reduce chronic absenteeism when our district does not have any policies in place to enforce real consequences?ā€

One teacher brought up a case of chronic absences in which the districtā€™s response set a surprising precedent:

ā€œWeā€™re dealing with a situation where a parent filed a complaint with the board when her daughter missed 34 days. The mom was a teacher in a different district and stated that it is illegal to fail a student due to absences as long as they pass their classes, which her daughter did. Now we walk a fine line of ā€˜Donā€™t miss too much school or elseā€™ and hoping kids donā€™t realize what they can get away with.ā€

3. Other schoolsā€™ policies have been too aggressive.

In the case of schools coming down too hard on attendance policies, parents are left understandably frustrated. But some schools are requiring doctorā€™s notes for any absence due to illness, leaving parents asking, ā€œHave you tried to get a same-day doctorā€™s appointment in 2023?ā€

How do we fix this?

Alleviating the problem of chronic absenteeism comes down to the same things we need to fix our other education problems: funding.

Schools facing chronic absenteeism need funding for:

  • Personnel to keep and analyze data on student attendance patterns
  • Additional staffing to identify chronically absent students and provide targeted intervention earlier
  • Smaller class sizes and more individualized attention and connection
  • More community liaison roles
  • Mental health counselors and mental health resources
  • Flexible learning options for severe cases

Though itā€™s true that we need a holistic, all-hands-on-deck approach to improve chronic absenteeism, we can do very little if the hands with the money remain tightfisted.

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Chronic absenteeism increased dramatically during the pandemic, but numbers have continued surging, and the impact is stark.