https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/29/us/chronic-absences.html

In Anchorage, affluent families set off on ski trips and other lengthy
vacations, with the assumption that their children can keep up with
schoolwork online.

In a working-class pocket of Michigan, school administrators have tried
almost everything, including pajama day, to boost student attendance.

And across the country, students with heightened anxiety are opting to
stay home rather than face the classroom.

In the four years since the pandemic closed schools, U.S. education has
struggled to recover on a number of fronts, from learning loss, to
enrollment, to student behavior.

But perhaps no issue has been as stubborn and pervasive as a sharp
increase in student absenteeism, a problem that cuts across demographics
and has continued long after schools reopened.

Nationally, an estimated 26 percent of public school students were
considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before
the pandemic, according to the most recent data, from 40 states and
Washington, D.C., compiled by the conservative-leaning American Enterprise
Institute. Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10
percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason.

Increase in chronic absenteeism, 2019�23
All students
10%
20%
30%
2019
2023
15%
26%

By local child poverty rates
districts
Richest
Avg.
Poorest
10%
20%
30%
10%
19%
15%
26%
19%
32%

By length of school closures
Most remote
Middle
Most in-person
10%
20%
30%
16%
28%
15%
25%
16%
25%

By school district size
Smallest
Middle
Largest
10%
20%
30%
15%
23%
13%
22%
15%
27%

By district racial makeup
Majority nonwhite
Majority white
10%
20%
30%
17%
30%
13%
22%

Source: Upshot analysis of data from Nat Malkus, American Enterprise
Institute. Districts are grouped into highest, middle and lowest third.
The increases have occurred in districts big and small, and across income
and race. For districts in wealthier areas, chronic absenteeism rates have
about doubled, to 19 percent in the 2022-23 school year from 10 percent
before the pandemic, a New York Times analysis of the data found.

Poor communities, which started with elevated rates of student
absenteeism, are facing an even bigger crisis: Around 32 percent of
students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23
school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic.

Even districts that reopened quickly during the pandemic, in fall 2020,
have seen vast increases.

�The problem got worse for everybody in the same proportional way,� said
Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, who
collected and studied the data.

The trends suggest that something fundamental has shifted in American
childhood and the culture of school, in ways that may be long lasting.
What was once a deeply ingrained habit � wake up, catch the bus, report to
class � is now something far more tenuous.

�Our relationship with school became optional,� said Katie Rosanbalm, a
psychologist and associate research professor with the Center for Child
and Family Policy at Duke University.

The habit of daily attendance � and many families� trust � was severed
when schools shuttered in spring 2020. Even after schools reopened, things
hardly snapped back to normal. Districts offered remote options, required
Covid-19 quarantines and relaxed policies around attendance and grading.

Look up a district:
Type here to highlight a district.
Lookup includes medium and large public school districts. Data not
available for Arizona, Arkansas, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont and Wyoming.
This district
10%
20%
30%
10%
20%
30%

U.S. avg.
10%
20%
30%
15%
26%

Source: Nat Malkus, American Enterprise Institute. Includes districts with
at least 1,500 students in 2019. Numbers are rounded. U.S. average is
estimated.
Today, student absenteeism is a leading factor hindering the nation�s
recovery from pandemic learning losses, educational experts say. Students
can�t learn if they aren�t in school. And a rotating cast of absent
classmates can negatively affect the achievement of even students who do
show up, because teachers must slow down and adjust their approach to keep
everyone on track.

�If we don�t address the absenteeism, then all is naught,� said Adam
Clark, the superintendent of Mt. Diablo Unified, a socioeconomically and
racially diverse district of 29,000 students in Northern California, where
he said absenteeism has �exploded� to about 25 percent of students. That�s
up from 12 percent before the pandemic.

Why Students Are Missing School
Schools everywhere are scrambling to improve attendance, but the new
calculus among families is complex and multifaceted.

At South Anchorage High School in Anchorage, where students are largely
white and middle-to-upper income, some families now go on ski trips during
the school year, or take advantage of off-peak travel deals to vacation
for two weeks in Hawaii, said Sara Miller, a counselor at the school.

For a smaller number of students at the school who qualify for free or
reduced-price lunch, the reasons are different, and more intractable. They
often have to stay home to care for younger siblings, Ms. Miller said. On
days they miss the bus, their parents are busy working or do not have a
car to take them to school.

And because teachers are still expected to post class work online, often
nothing more than a skeleton version of an assignment, families
incorrectly think students are keeping up, Ms. Miller said.

Across the country, students are staying home when sick, not only with
Covid-19, but also with more routine colds and viruses.

And more students are struggling with their mental health, one reason for
increased absenteeism in Mason, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Cincinnati,
said Tracey Carson, a district spokeswoman. Because many parents can work
remotely, their children can also stay home.

For Ashley Cooper, 31, of San Marcos, Texas, the pandemic fractured her
trust in an education system that she said left her daughter to learn
online, with little support, and then expected her to perform on grade
level upon her return. Her daughter, who fell behind in math, has
struggled with anxiety ever since, she said.

�There have been days where she�s been absolutely in tears � �Can�t do it.
Mom, I don�t want to go,�� said Ms. Cooper, who has worked with the
nonprofit Communities in Schools to improve her children�s school
attendance. But she added, �as a mom, I feel like it�s OK to have a mental
health day, to say, �I hear you and I listen. You are important.��

Experts say missing school is both a symptom of pandemic-related
challenges, and also a cause. Students who are behind academically may not
want to attend, but being absent sets them further back. Anxious students
may avoid school, but hiding out can fuel their anxiety.

And schools have also seen a rise in discipline problems since the
pandemic, an issue intertwined with absenteeism.

Dr. Rosanbalm, the Duke psychologist, said both absenteeism and behavioral
outbursts are examples of the human stress response, now playing out en
masse in schools: fight (verbal or physical aggression) or flight
(absenteeism).

Quintin Shepherd, the superintendent in Victoria, Texas, first put his
focus on student behavior, which he described as a �fire in the kitchen�
after schools reopened in August 2020.

The district, which serves a mostly low-income and Hispanic student body
of around 13,000, found success with a one-on-one coaching program that
teaches coping strategies to the most disruptive students. In some cases,
students went from having 20 classroom outbursts per year to fewer than
five, Dr. Shepherd said.

But chronic absenteeism is yet to be conquered. About 30 percent of
students are chronically absent this year, roughly double the rate before
the pandemic.

Dr. Shepherd, who originally hoped student absenteeism would improve
naturally with time, has begun to think that it is, in fact, at the root
of many issues.

�If kids are not here, they are not forming relationships,� he said. �If
they are not forming relationships, we should expect there will be
behavior and discipline issues. If they are not here, they will not be
academically learning and they will struggle. If they struggle with their
coursework, you can expect violent behaviors.�

Teacher absences have also increased since the pandemic, and student
absences mean less certainty about which friends and classmates will be
there. That can lead to more absenteeism, said Michael A. Gottfried, a
professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.
His research has found that when 10 percent of a student�s classmates are
absent on a given day, that student is more likely to be absent the
following day.