Chronic Absenteeism Hasn't Gone Away After Lockdowns. Research Shows Poor Kids Are Hurt Most.

"The income gap really was the main driver that showed up over and over again," said one researcher.

Chronic absenteeism has long been cited as one of the most severe lasting impacts of COVID-era school shutdowns. New research indicates that the problem is sticking around for groups of students already facing significant disadvantages.

"The income gap really was the main driver that showed up over and over again," said University of Southern California (USC) education professor Morgan Polikoff during a presentation of his research at an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) event last week. "The fact that student-level income is the main driver here seems to be really important."

Chronic absenteeism—often defined as when a student is absent for more than 10 percent of the school year—skyrocketed during the pandemic. According to AEI's absenteeism tracker, by 2022, national chronic absenteeism increased by 89 percent when compared to three years prior. While absenteeism has declined from its 2022 peak in most states that report such data, 2024 figures show it remains higher than pre-pandemic levels. Absolute rates of absenteeism varied broadly state by state. In Alabama, students had the lowest rate, peaking at 18 percent in 2022 and falling to 15 percent in 2024. By contrast, nearly half of all students in Washington, D.C., were chronically absent in 2022, dropping to a still-staggering 40 percent in 2024. 

According to Polikoff's research, low-income students in particular are facing persistent increases in absenteeism when compared to pre-pandemic numbers. Polikoff looked at school absenteeism data from North Carolina and Virginia. He explained that, when comparing absenteeism from before and after the pandemic, the attendance gap between low-income and non-low-income students grew dramatically. Post-pandemic, Virginia low-income students were 12.1 percentage points more likely to be chronically absent than other students, and in North Carolina, these students were 14.4 percentage points more likely to be chronically absent. 

Polikoff noted that the gap between different racial groups was relatively minor after controlling for income. "When looking in absolute terms, the most disadvantaged groups are typically more likely to have seen larger increases in chronic absenteeism," he said. "Racial gaps are not overly large, controlling for income and other things.

How exactly to reverse these trends has long puzzled education professionals. School districts have tried everything from home visits to free ice cream and gift cards, yet the problem remains persistent.

"[Absenteeism is] what the corona did," a 21-year-old told ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis in a story co-published with The New Yorker last year. "They're sending the kids back to school, and they don't want to no more. They want to stay home and play on their computers."

Comments

[sarcasmic]

If this was a true libertarian publication then the article would say “Abolish public schools. The end.”

[Rossami]

Neither the article nor anything I can find in the underlying study suggests that chronic absenteeism is a problem limited to public schools.

[Stupid Government Tricks]

I suspect that a lot of the chronic absenteeism is because the kids discovered how useless school was and decided to continue treating it as useless.

It’s similar to why government bureaucrats and politicians are always looking for new ways to meddle in people’s lives. If they ever slack off and people find they don’t actually need all the government they’re paying for, they just might get a little more uppity about paying for something they don’t need.

There was one commenter on here who denied that any private parties had ever built roads. That is the kind of dependence on government that warms lefties’ toes. It’s the reason government insists on providing unemployment insurance, even though it has very little similarity to real insurance, which would be tailored to what benefits people want, their individual work history, and how much they want to pay. There is zero need for government to provide unemployment insurance.

[Moderation4ever]

I think you are right that kids have discovered that school is useless to them. If you combine this with the fact that absenteeism correlate with poverty the conclusion should be that poor kids see school is useless to them. School are funded by taxes and the middleclass pays the most and wants school geared to their expectations for their kids, likely some post secondary education. there is a real need to figure out how to make school valuable to poor kids and that maybe to focus on getting them lifeskill and a good job without a post secondary education. So skip ice cream day at school and get focused on what the kids see as needed.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

Poor kids want to stay home [foregoing their free lunch] and play on their computers…

That says volumes.

[Spiritus Mundi]

Poor kids are just as smart as white kids – Joe Biden

[Quo Usque Tandem]

That is how I remember him saying it all right. Along with “If you don’t vote Democrat you ain’t [really] Black.”

[Restoring the Dream]

I think the quote was really, “play on they computers.”

[Spiritus Mundi]

Women, children, and minorties hardest hit.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

The school system as it exists works for some, not for others. Trying to apply a one size fits all approach can only serve the AFT and NEA and provide for a degree of child care. Meanwhile those students who would prefer to “stay home and play on their computers” will skew the outcomes and derive no benefit.

[Vesicant]

Yes, but why didn’t you explain how it’s Trump’s fault? Nothing is bad unless it’s Trump’s fault.

It’s more than likely that those “low income” kids didn’t much like going to school even before COVID, their parents don’t care, and there’s nothing making the kids go back to school.

[Quo Usque Tandem]

A child’s chances in school are determined way before they arrive on the first day of class. And you can spend several thousand per child on their education [DC, NY, Chicago, Boston…] and get no return on that investment [so much for all those bumper stickers decrying military vs school expenditures…]. What is needed is a entirely different approach instead of doing whatever existing systems and teachers unions want to keep the ball rolling.

[Uncle Jay]

“Chronic Absenteeism Hasn’t Gone Away After Lockdowns. Research Shows Poor Kids Are Hurt Most.”

Research also shows poor kids are hurt the most by our failed public school system.

[bye]

Biden the Poseur says “It is time to re-open the schools for the sake of the children then Biden the Spineless gets a message from the teachers’ union. “Don’t you dare”

emails between the American Federation of Teachers and the CDC suggested the unions had significant influence on CDC guidance for when schools should reopen.

President Biden told teacher union honcho Randi Weingarten just eight days into his term that “I am not abandoning you” — opting to keep a major ally and donor onside over honoring his campaign promise to get COVID pandemic-affected kids back in school by his 100th day in office, a bombshell new book has revealed.

[AT]

They’re sending the kids back to school, and they don’t want to no more.

*facepalm*

Also, I love the direct analogy to drugs here. COVID hypochondriacs got the kids – especially the low-income ones – addicted to something they wouldn’t have otherwise had a meaningful opportunity to try, and now are surprised that they have a bunch of truancy addicts.

Ever wonder why drug peddlers love peddling in the ghetto? Same thing here.

[But SkyNet is a Private Company]

Here’s a bunker-busting truth bomb: Poor Decisions, Social Pathology, and Crime create Poverty – Poverty does not create them.

[Jerry B.]

https://babylonbee.com/news/virus-escapes-lab-in-japan-causing-millions-of-americans-to-call-in-sick-to-work

[Think It Through]

If only there were some common factor (parents) between a family in poverty (parents) and kids not going to school (parents) that we could identify (parents) so we know the real underlying problem (parents) rather than “The fact that student-level income is the main driver here seems to be really important.”