Navigating the Landscape of Chronic Absenteeism: Progress, Challenges, and Persistent Disparities in Post-Pandemic Education”
When the state released last year’s post-pandemic Chronic Absenteeism school data, it raised concerns. It provided the first insight into the academic standing of students after years of virtual learning, and the outlook was grim. The data revealed a significant decline in student performance on state standardized test scores, erasing years of progress in districts like San Diego Unified.
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Chronic Absenteeism
However, another interconnected and possibly more distressing issue received less attention: chronic absenteeism, defined as a student missing at least 10 percent of instructional days in a school year. The rates soared to unprecedented levels.
Just three years prior to the pandemic, countywide chronic absenteeism rates were around 11 percent. By the last year, they had nearly tripled, reaching about 28 percent. This meant that in three years, almost 80,000 new students countywide were chronically absent.
The repercussions of such high absenteeism are substantial. Schools lose funding based on attendance rates, and students miss valuable instructional time. Research indicates that lost instructional time not only hampers academic performance but also contributes to higher dropout rates, leading to negative long-term outcomes.
To address the alarming rise, local education agencies implemented various interventions, including home visits, attendance challenges with incentives, and increased parent education on the consequences of chronic absenteeism. However, assessing the effectiveness of these interventions proved challenging until the release of the latest post-pandemic school data in October.
The Good news is that chronic absenteeism has decreased between 2021 and 2022. Countywide, the rate dropped by five percentage points, from about 28 to 23 percent. This represents a decrease of about 25,000 chronically absent students in the county. Significant drops were observed among student demographics with historically higher rates, such as Black, Latino, and Pacific Islander students.
Despite these improvements, the Bad news is that the rates are still distressingly high, slightly more than double the pre-pandemic levels. Even with the modest decrease, having almost one out of every four students in San Diego County chronically absent is deemed too high.
Serious intervention is challenging due to the complex reasons behind student absences, ranging from basic needs like transportation or clean clothes to a lack of a sense of belonging. A cultural shift may also be contributing, where families reconsider the necessity of school attendance in certain situations.
The Ugly truth is that familiar disparities persist in chronic absenteeism rates. Poverty continues to correlate closely with academic performance and chronic absenteeism. Even before the pandemic, students from less affluent communities and students of color were more likely to miss class. Although there has been improvement over the past year, rates remain worryingly high.
Surprisingly, kindergarteners have consistently missed more school than other grades, and the post-pandemic increase in chronic absenteeism exacerbated this trend. While the countywide average is just over double the pre-pandemic levels, the kindergarten rate is triple what it was, posing a risk of falling behind in early grades and potentially impacting future academic success.
In conclusion, while there have been some positive developments in addressing chronic absenteeism, the challenges persist, and the need for sustained efforts to tackle root causes and disparities remains urgent.
