Unabated Chronic Absenteeism Is Costing Students Academically

If a student is chronically absent every year, they miss up to a full instructional year by the time they graduate high school, according to a Bellwether analysis cited in a K-12 Dive article.

Students are missing over 200 million more school days annually than before the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the analysis. Almost one in four students was chronically absent in the 2023-24 school year, the education nonprofit reported. 

Missed school days can quickly add up throughout 13 years of K-12 education, Bellwether said. If a student misses ten school days every year, they will lose more than 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. 

Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student missing at least 10% of school days — about 18 days — in an academic year, for any reason. 

The Nation’s Report Card results for 2024 demonstrate “the clearest window into what all this missing time is costing students academically,” according to the Bellwether analysis.

Reading and math scores for 4th and 8th graders on the National Assessment of Educational Progress showed little to no progress in 2024 in recovering from pandemic learning loss. For 8th graders, the eight-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, additional NAEP data found 2024 math scores hit their lowest point since 2005. NAEP data also offered insight on attendance. Nearly a third of 12th graders said they missed three or more school days in the month before they took the 2024 assessment.

 “Absenteeism levels across all NAEP-tested grades (4th, 8th, and 12th) remained markedly higher in 2024 than before the pandemic,” the analysis reported.

Other recent research on chronic absenteeism and its negative impacts on student achievement supports the Bellwether analysis.

NWEA, an assessment and research company, found school districts with persistently high chronic absenteeism after the pandemic experienced significant challenges to return to pre-pandemic academic achievement rates. These districts were about 50% further away from math recovery versus districts that never had high absenteeism. The differences in reading achievement were smaller.

Factors beyond a student’s control can 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.

Bellwether researchers advise school board members and district administrators to ask these questions when trying to reduce chronic absenteeism:

• How does your district’s current school calendar compare to 2018-19? If the number of disrupted weeks increased, was it due to a policy decision or smaller informal choices?
• 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 calendar decisions for their cumulative instructional effects before they are implemented? 
• Does the district publish data on calendar disruptions with attendance data so families and board members have a complete understanding of the instructional time provided? 

K-12 Dive