“Chronic absenteeism more often affects disadvantaged students, but the increase in chronic absenteeism was an unhappy tide where all boats have increased,” said Nat Malkus, deputy director of studies on educational policies at AEI.
Data show surprisingly important differences by breed and ethnicity, with 36% of black students, 33% of Hispanic students, 22% of white students and 15% of Asian students absent chronically. But the researchers said that once they controlled income, racial differences were not so important. In other words, chronic absenteeism rates among black and white students of the same income are not so disparate.
3. Moderate absenteeism increases.
Everyone is missing more school, not just students who are often absent. Jacob Kirksey, Associate Professor of Education Policy at Tech University, followed 8 million students in three states (Texas, North Carolina and Virginia) from 2017 to 2023. Half had “very good” rates absent from less than 4% in 2019. In 2023, only a third of students were still going to school so regularly. Two -thirds were not.
“Many students who lacked the absence of a school are now missing a few days,” said Ethan Hutt, an associate professor at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, who noticed the same phenomenon in the Data of North Carolina he studied. “It just became the norm.”
4. Many students say they jump because the school is “boring”.
Researchers question students and families to try to understand why so many children jump school.
Kevin Gee, professor of education at the University of California in Davis, analyzed investigations with primary school, college and secondary of Rhode Island from 2016 to 2024. He found that more students report a missing school for traditionally common reasons: not having enough sleep and illness.
After the pandemic, parents are more likely to keep their children at the school home when they fall sick, but that does not explain why absenteeism is so high or why children in good physical health also lack so many schools.
GEE found two notable post-payroll differences between students from Rhode Island. Unfinished duties are less a reason to skip school today than before, while more primary students said they had jumped school because “it is boring”.
Symposium researchers have debated what to do so that school is boring. Some thought that school courses must be more engaging for students who may have a shorter duration of attention. But others disagreed. “I think it’s normal for the school to be boring,” said Liz Cohen, a researcher at Johns Hopkins Institute for Education politics. “We have to adjust the expectations that the school should be as exciting as” Dora explore it “all the time.”
5. Mental health problems contribute to absenteeism.
Morgan Polikoff, professor of education at the University of Southern California, also analyzed investigations and noticed a “strong link” between mental health struggles and chronic absenteeism. It was not clear if the increase in mental illness had been triggered or exacerbated by the pandemic, or if it reflects problems of anxiety and depression that started before the pandemic.
He interviews families and adolescents on the reasons why they are absent, and he says that he notes high levels of “disengagement” and mental illness. Parents, he said, were often very concerned about mental health and well-being of their children.
“Reading the transcriptions of these chronically absent parents and children is really difficult,” said Polikoff. “Many of these children have really serious trauma. Many very legitimate reasons for the missing school. Chronic disengagement. The school is not well used. “
6. The supply has become optional.
Several researchers suggested that there had been profound cultural changes on the importance of anything in person. Seth Gershenson, an associate economist and teacher of public affairs at the American university, suggested that the school in person may seem optional to students in the same way as going to the office feels optional for adults.
“Social standards on attendance in person have changed, whether to meet the doctor or other,” said Gershenson, stressing that even his graduate students are more likely to skip his courses. “We are going to be absent now for reasons that have not made us be absent in the past.”
At the same time, technology has allowed students to skip school more easily and compose work. They can download assignments on Google Classroom or another application, and plan a video meeting with a classmate or even their teacher to review what they missed.
“It is easier to be absent from school and compensate,” said Polikoff of the USC. In his interviews, 39 of the 40 families said it was “easy” to compensate for his absence. “People like it are available online and practical. And also, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that doing this – which is well intentioned – facilitates people a lot. ”
The figures support him. Gershenson calculated that before the pandemic, the 10 -day school jump has lost the equivalent of a month of learning. Now the loss of learning of this amount of absenteeism is approximately 10% less; Instead of losing a school month, it’s like losing 90% of a month. Gershenson said it was still great enough to get importance.
And students did not feel the most serious consequence: fail. Indeed, even if absenteeism has increased, school ratings and graduation rates have increased. Lots of blame grade inflation and an effort to avoid an epidemic dropping out of the secondary.
7. Today’s absenteeism could mean labor problems tomorrow.
Academic damage may not be the most important consequence of today’s high levels of chronic absenteeism. Indeed, the researchers calculated that the return to pre-countryic levels of chronic absenteeism would only erase 7.5% of the country’s pandemic learning losses. There are other deeper (and little understood) reasons for which students are so far behind.
More importantly, the experience of regularly attending school does not only improve school performance, according to researchers. It also sets up good habits for the future. “Employers appreciate regular attendance,” said Gershenson. He said employers spoke of reporting that they find it difficult to find reliable workers.
“There is much more than the test results here,” said Gershenson. “This is a precious personality trait. This is part of a habit that is formed early in school. And we have certainly lost part. And I hope we can bring him back. “
Next week, I will write a follow -up chronicle on how some schools resolve the puzzle of absenteeism – at least with some students – and why the old pre -countryic manuals to reduce absenteeism no longer work.
