Dive Brief:
- Students are, in total, missing over 200 million more school days annually than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an analysis released Tuesday by Bellwether. As of the 2023-24 school year, almost 1 in 4 students is chronically absent, the education nonprofit reported.
- Before 2020, 15% of students were chronically absent nationwide, Bellwether found. That rate jumped to 30% in 2021-22 and then dipped to 24% in 2023-24.
- When students miss school days, it can quickly add up throughout their 13 years of K-12 education, Bellwether said. For instance, if a student misses 10 school days every year, they will lose over half a year of instruction by the end of high school. If they are chronically absent each year, students miss up to a full instructional year.
Dive Insight:
The Bellwether analysis pointed to the Nation’s Report Card results for 2024 to demonstrate “the clearest window into what all this missing time is costing students academically.”
Reading and math scores for 4th and 8th graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed little to no progress that year in recovering from pandemic learning loss. For 8th graders, the 8-point drop in math scores between 2019 and 2024 equated to more than a half-year of lost instructional time for the average student, according to Bellwether.
Among 12th graders, Bellwether cited additional NAEP data that found 2024 math scores hit their lowest point since 2005. The NAEP data also offered notable insight on attendance, with nearly a third of 12th graders saying they missed three or more school days in the month before they took the 2024 assessment.
Overall, Bellwether’s analysis said that "absenteeism levels across all NAEP-tested grades (4th, 8th, and 12th) remained markedly higher in 2024 than before the pandemic.”
Bellwether’s findings back up other recent research on chronic absenteeism and its negative impacts on student achievement. Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing at least 10% of school days — about 18 days — in an academic year, for any reason.
NWEA, an assessment and research company, published a report in July that found school districts with persistently high chronic absenteeism following the pandemic experienced significant challenges to return to their pre-pandemic academic achievement rates. These districts were about 50% further away from math recovery versus districts that never had high absenteeism, although the differences in reading achievement were smaller.
Despite improvements in national chronic absenteeism rates, the American Enterprise Institute has also found that the level of absenteeism is not falling fast enough.
Other factors outside of a student’s control can also lead to shorter school years and less instructional time, Bellwether said. This can include teacher strikes, natural disasters or extreme weather, a growing number of holidays on school calendars, or citywide celebrations.
While Bellwether said its report does not suggest a specific solution for addressing the complex landscape of chronic absenteeism, the researchers advise school board members and district administrators consider these questions when tackling the issue:
- How does your district’s current school calendar compare to 2018-19? If the number of disrupted weeks increased, was it due to a deliberate policy decision or the result of smaller choices made without formal review?
- How many single-day school breaks or closures not adjacent to weekends or holidays are on your calendar? Have they been considered for consolidation?
- Does your district review the cumulative instructional effects of calendar decisions before they are implemented?
- Does the district publish data on calendar disruptions alongside attendance data as a way to give families and board members a full understanding of the instructional time provided?
