A new analysis of data from three states 鈥� North Carolina, Texas and Virginia 鈥� shows that prior to COVID, 17% of students were chronically absent, meaning they missed at least 10% of the school year. By 2023, long after schools had to cope with new variants and hybrid schedules, that figure hit 37%.

鈥淎bsences are both more common for everybody, but they are also more extreme,鈥� said Jacob Kirksey, an associate professor of education policy at Texas Tech University.

Additional new research shows that while post-pandemic chronic absenteeism lingers across the board, rates were substantially higher for low-income students. In North Carolina, for example, the chronic absenteeism rate for students in poverty before the pandemic was 9.2 percentage points higher than for non-poor students. By 2023, the gap increased to 14.6 percentage points.

鈥淭he income gap really was the main driver that showed up over and over again,鈥� said Morgan Polikoff, an education researcher at the University of Southern California. But it鈥檚 hard for schools to make a dent in the problem, he said, if they aren鈥檛 investigating the reasons for chronic absenteeism. 鈥淭here’s a big difference between the kid [who] has an illness and is chronically sick versus the kid [who] is super disengaged.鈥�

Kirksey and Polikoff were among several researchers who Friday at an American Enterprise Institute event focused on facing what Kirksey called the 鈥渦nder-the-hood dynamics鈥� of chronic absenteeism in the post-COVID era. Since 2022, when the national average peaked at 28%, the rate has dropped to 23% 鈥� still much higher than the pre-COVID level of about 15%, according to the conservative think tank鈥檚 . 

鈥淚 have a question that keeps me up at night. That question is 鈥榃hat’s the new normal going to be?鈥� 鈥� said Nat Malkus, the deputy director of education policy at AEI. 鈥淲e see this rising tide, but I think that it’s incumbent on us to say that chronic absenteeism still affects disadvantaged students more.鈥�

The research project began in September with the goal of offering guidance to districts in time for students鈥� return to school this fall. The researchers stressed that those most likely to be chronically absent this school year 鈥� low-income, highly mobile and homeless students 鈥� are the same ones who will frequently miss school next year.

鈥淎bsenteeism should seldom come as a surprise,鈥� said Sam Hollon, an education data analyst at AEI. 鈥淚t’s hard to justify delaying interventions until absences have accumulated.鈥� 

Teacher absenteeism

One new finding revealed Friday contradicts a theory that gained traction following the pandemic 鈥� that students were more likely to be absent if their teachers were also out. As with students, teacher absenteeism increased during the pandemic and hasn鈥檛 returned to pre-COVID levels. 

The relationship between teacher absences and student absences, however, is 鈥減retty negligible,鈥� said Arya Ansari, an associate professor of human development and family science at The Ohio State University. 

鈥淭hese absences among teachers don’t actually contribute to the post-COVID bump that we’ve seen in student absences,鈥� he said. 鈥淭argeting teacher absences isn’t going to move the needle.鈥�

The researchers discussed how even some well-intentioned responses to the COVID emergency have allowed chronic absenteeism to persist. States, Malkus said, made it easier to graduate despite frequent absences and missing school doesn鈥檛 necessarily prevent students from turning in their work.

鈥淚n my day, you had to get a packet and do the work at home鈥� if you were absent, Polikoff said. In interviews with 40 families after the pandemic, 39 said it was easy to make up work because of Google Classroom and other online platforms. 鈥淗ow many said, 鈥楲et鈥檚 make it harder鈥�? Zero.鈥�

In another presentation, Ethan Hutt, an associate education professor at the University of North Carolina, estimated that chronic absenteeism accounts for about 7.5% of overall pandemic learning loss and about 9.2% for Black and low-income students 鈥� a 鈥渘ontrivial, but modest鈥� impact. 

He stressed that missing school also affects student engagement and relationships with teachers. While technology has made it easier for students to keep up, 鈥渢here may be other harms that we want to think about and grapple with,鈥� he said. 

From one to 49

The new research comes as states are mounting new efforts to more closely track chronic absenteeism data and share it with the public. In 2010, only one state 鈥� Maryland 鈥� published absenteeism data on its state education agency website. Now, 49 states 鈥� all but New Hampshire 鈥� report rates on an annual, monthly or even daily basis, according to a released Tuesday by Attendance Works, an advocacy and research organization.聽

The systems allow educators and the public to more quickly identify which students are most affected and when spikes occur. Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Washington D.C. post rates even before the end of the school year. Rhode Island offers real-time data, while Connecticut publishes monthly reports.

The New Hampshire Department of Education doesn鈥檛 monitor chronic absenteeism, but has a statewide 92.7% attendance rate, a spokesperson said. 

The report highlights states that have taken action to reduce chronic absenteeism. In Virginia, bus drivers ensure their routes include students who might be more likely to struggle with transportation. With state funds, , west of Washington, D.C., opened a center for students on short-term suspension to minimize the when a student is removed from the classroom. 

Overall chronic absenteeism in the state declined from 19.3% in 2022-23 to 15.7% in 2023-24. To Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works, such improvement proves 鈥渨e can still get things done in our country and in education, despite all of the culture wars and binary thinking.鈥�

鈥楶riced out鈥�

Some district and school leaders have looked to their peers for ideas on how to get kids back in school. After participating in a six-month program with 16 other districts across the country organized by the nonprofit Digital Promise, Mark Brenneman, an elementary principal in New York鈥檚 Hudson City Schools, started interviewing families about their challenges. 

He learned that Hispanic parents often keep their children home when it rains because they鈥檙e worried they鈥檙e going to catch a cold. Several had transportation challenges. His school, Smith Elementary, even contributed to the problem, he said, by holding concerts, award ceremonies or other family events in the morning. Parents would come to celebrate their children鈥檚 accomplishments, then take them out for lunch and not return.

Hudson, about 40 miles south of Albany, has undergone significant change since the pandemic, added Superintendent Juliette Pennyman. Some families leaving New York City have settled in Hudson, driving up the cost of housing. 

鈥淥ur families are being priced out of the community,鈥� she said. 鈥淗ousing insecurity was 鈥� affecting families鈥� and students鈥� ability to focus on school.鈥�

As a result of the intense focus on the issue, Smith, which had a 29% chronic absenteeism rate last year, has seen an about a 15% increase in the number of students with good attendance. 

鈥淚t’s not like we’re down to like 10% chronically absent,鈥� Brenneman said. 鈥淏ut we’ve hammered away.鈥� 

鈥淭his is the biggest problem facing America,鈥� Jens Ludwig, a University of Chicago professor, said flatly. Nonetheless, he told those assembled at the Washington, D.C., event sponsored by the , a think tank, 鈥淲e do not have our hair on fire the way it needs to be.鈥�

That disconnect is the subject of a new released Monday that further explores what many have labeled an 鈥�urgency gap.鈥� To pinpoint the extent of the gap, the authors talked to parents about the signals they鈥檙e getting from teachers and schools about their children鈥檚 progress. Parents expressed little concern about lasting damage from the pandemic and typically thought their children were doing well in school 鈥� a view that researchers say is belied by dismal state and national test scores. 

The issue is 鈥済enuinely vexing,鈥� said Morgan Polikoff, an associate education professor at the University of Southern California and the paper鈥檚 lead author.  

鈥淧arents are overwhelmingly getting the message from grades and teachers that kids are doing fine-to-great,鈥� he said. He attributes that upbeat outlook to how little parents pay attention to standardized test scores 鈥� the 鈥渆xternal measures鈥� that matter most to researchers. 鈥淲e just never heard anything about standardized tests from the folks we interviewed.鈥�

The 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress showed historic declines in math and flat performance in reading. According to this year鈥檚 spring test results, pandemic recovery remains elusive for some states. Several have continued to lose ground in reading and most have not surpassed pre-COVID performance in math. Last week鈥檚 release of international scores show U.S. students dropped 13 points in math between 2018 and 2022. 

Ludwig argues that U.S. students have made such little progress that the $190 billion Congress appropriated to address the COVID crisis is insufficient and lawmakers should find to fund high-dosage tutoring.  

鈥淚f we don’t remediate this pandemic learning loss, this cohort of 50 million kids will experience reduced lifetime earnings of something like $900 billion,鈥� he said.

Those messages, however, don鈥檛 always get to parents. 

Given the gauntlet of tests schools administer, it鈥檚 easy for parents to get lost, said Meredith Dodson, executive director of San Francisco Parent Action, a group that advocated for schools to reopen and has recently pushed for improvements in the district鈥檚 reading program.

For many parents, 鈥溾�嬧�媔t’s hard to understand all the acronyms 鈥� this test versus that test, the state versus the national,鈥� she said. 鈥淧arents just really want to trust their teachers. Is my kid on grade level or not?鈥�

Even some parents who knew their children鈥檚 standardized test scores tended to put more stock in grades, Polikoff found. One parent interviewed for the study knew that a majority of students scored higher than her son on the NWEA MAP test in math. But, she said, 鈥渉is knowledge is much greater than that鈥� because he received a 3 on a scale of 1-3 on his report card, which 鈥渕eans they鈥檝e achieved the mastery or whatever.鈥� 

Researchers have documented  between grade point averages and , especially since the pandemic. from three organizations 鈥� EdNavigator, Learning Heroes and TNTP 鈥� showed an increase in B grades since the pandemic even among students who performed below grade level and were chronically absent.

鈥楰ids are not stupid鈥�

Schools have also made it easier to do well, a vestige of pandemic-era incentives to get students to complete their work. Dan Goldhaber, director of the CALDER Center at the American Institutes for Research 鈥� and the father of two school-age children 鈥� said he鈥檚 increasingly 鈥渁stounded鈥� at how many chances students get to bring up their grades.

鈥淜ids are not stupid,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey’re going to learn that, 鈥楴o, I don’t need to study real hard for this test because I can just correct it after the fact.鈥�”

It鈥檚 not a surprise, he added, that there鈥檚 been a lackluster response to some academic recovery efforts. A lot of districts have spent relief funds on less-effective remediation efforts, such as optional on-demand tutoring. And those companies typically get paid whether or not students improve or even use the service, according to . 

In response to disappointing results, some states and districts have shifted course. A few have with large online tutoring companies. Some have turned to 鈥渙utcomes-based鈥� contracts 鈥� in which tutors earn more money for better results. But others are sticking with . 

If districts are going to spend funds on tutoring, Goldhaber said, officials should 鈥渉ave some control over鈥� which students receive the help and when it鈥檚 delivered.

He and Polikoff are among the experts urging educators to make test score data a much larger focus of their conversations with parents. And there鈥檚 some evidence that hard facts about students鈥� scores can be a wake-up call.

A November showed that among parents who knew their children were below grade level in math, improving those skills became their number one concern, more important than curbing the effects of social media and protecting them from bullies.

Being honest with parents starts at the top, said Nat Malkus, deputy director of Education Policy Studies at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. 

鈥淪uperintendents should not say, 鈥榃e鈥檙e chugging along. We’re going to get there.鈥� They should say this is a huge problem,鈥� he said at the Aspen event. Teachers, he added, need 鈥減olitical cover鈥� to tell parents their children are behind. 鈥淚t’s the truth and we need to deliver it.鈥� 

But the news doesn鈥檛 always go over well. When Precious Allen, who teaches second grade at Betty Shabazz Academy, a charter school in Chicago, showed parents test results that indicated their children were a year or more behind, she said they grew 鈥渇lustered鈥� and complained about doing extra review sheets with their children after work. 

It was tough, she said, for them to 鈥渨rap their minds around鈥� the data. She shared passages from that explains where children should be for their age to help parents understand how the pandemic threw their kids off track. 鈥淚 had to bring a lot of science and research into it because sometimes the voice of a teacher is not enough.鈥�

鈥榃orst possible time鈥�

But not all educators believe assessments provide valuable or reliable information. Polikoff sees the separation between parents and the nation鈥檚 education scholars as part of a larger anti-testing movement that started brewing long . The pandemic pause on state assessments and accountability sparked a to limit the number of tests and try .

The Massachusetts Teachers Association, for example, is leading a to remove the state test as a graduation requirement, calling it 鈥渉armful.鈥� The proposal drew sharp criticism from National Parents Association President Keri Rodrigues, whose organization trains parents to advocate for quality education.

鈥淭his is the dawn of a new era, where high school diplomas now become participation trophies,鈥� she wrote in an . 

Testing critics complain that assessments take up too much instructional time and that the results rarely benefit teachers because they arrive after students have already moved on to the next grade. Others say high-stakes tests are racially biased against Black and Hispanic students. 

鈥淭here鈥檚 just very close to zero constituencies advocating for tests or that they matter,鈥� Polikoff said. Republicans, he said, 鈥渨ant only unfettered choice鈥� while the left is not defending the usefulness of tests 鈥渢o ensure educational quality or equity.鈥�

鈥橳he backlash against testing, he said, has come “at the worst possible time given the damage that鈥檚 actually been done.”