School attendance nationwide is suffering from ‘long COVID,’ report finds

The CDC will soon drop the last vestiges of COVID-19 guidelines, but the problems of the pandemic are not so easily undone in public schools.

A report from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) suggests public schools nationwide are suffering from “long COVID” when it comes to attendance and chronic absenteeism.

AEI’s report, by Nat Malkus, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director for Education Policy Studies, found the current rates of chronic absenteeism in almost every state are substantially worse than pre-pandemic levels.

Between 2020 and 2022, chronic absenteeism more than doubled across the nation.  

Rates among Hispanic students increased the most – 139% – while white, Asian, and black students all experienced a 112-114% increase.  

And while all types of school districts were affected, low-achieving, high-poverty, high-minority, and single-parent dominated districts saw even steeper increases.  

Chronic absenteeism – missing 10% or more of school days – is associated with lower test scores and higher rates of failing classes and ultimately not finishing high school. 

Students who frequently miss school also tend to have worse social emotional outcomes. 

Many educators and policy makers hoped these trends would automatically reverse themselves after pandemic-related guidelines disappeared.  

But AEI’s analysis indicates a much tougher road to recovery. 

“While chronic absenteeism did decline in 33 of the 39 states with available 2023 data, those declines are far too small,” the report explained. “Even if rates were to fall at the same pace for the foreseeable future, public schools would not return to pre-pandemic rates – rates that were already problematic – until roughly 2030.” 

“Surging chronic absenteeism is not a pandemic problem,” the report continued, “but a post-pandemic problem, one that educators will need to grapple with in the coming years.”  

Administrators are already trying to address the situation, but there isn’t a clear one-size-fits-all solution.  

One Oregon district tried installing laundry machines at schools to address hygiene disparities while a Georgia school board was criticized for suggesting that a mother should be criminally charged for her child’s repeated absences.  

According to AEI, chronic absenteeism is a serious problem, and educators and policymakers should use both “carrots and sticks” to address it.  

“Surely that means adding supports targeting student belonging, transportation challenges, communication efforts, and positive reinforcements,” it concluded, “but those inducements should be supported with expectations and appropriate consequences for both truant students and parents who prove unwilling to fulfill their moral and legal obligations to make sure their child attends school regularly.”