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What Stories Does Daily Attendance Tell? Student Attendance Patterns before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic

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Bibliographic Details
Title: What Stories Does Daily Attendance Tell? Student Attendance Patterns before and after the COVID-19 Pandemic
Language: English
Authors: Sam Hollon, Sarah Winchell Lenhof, Nat Malkus, Jeremy Singer, American Enterprise Institute (AEI)
Source: American Enterprise Institute. 2025.
Availability: American Enterprise Institute. 1150 Seventeenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 202-862-5800; Fax: 202-862-7177; Web site: http://www.aei.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 20
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Elementary Secondary Education
Descriptors: Attendance, COVID-19, Pandemics, School Schedules, Elementary Secondary Education, Racial Differences, Ethnicity, Holidays
Geographic Terms: Rhode Island, Indiana, United States
Abstract: Concern over student attendance has intensified since the pandemic, when chronic absenteeism rose sharply and has now only partially receded. Using daily attendance records covering all students in Rhode Island (2016-24) and Indiana (2020-24), this report examines attendance patterns beneath headline rates, specifically regarding seasonality and holidays, day-of-the-week variation, multiday absence streaks, and the acuteness or persistence of missed days. The authors find that absence rates remain well above pre-pandemic levels, but after the pandemic, the shape of attendance looks strikingly familiar to pre-pandemic patterns. Long absence streaks account for roughly one-fifth of missed days before and after the pandemic, and "weeklong vacation" patterns are modest and proportional pre- and post-pandemic. Interestingly, peak pandemic years temporarily changed several of these patterns, but by 2024, they largely reverted to pre-pandemic norms even as total absences stayed higher. These results suggest a broad shift in attendance behavior rather than a single, dominant driver, and they point to some pragmatic strategies that might improve attendance today.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: ED677930
Database: ERIC
Description
Abstract:Concern over student attendance has intensified since the pandemic, when chronic absenteeism rose sharply and has now only partially receded. Using daily attendance records covering all students in Rhode Island (2016-24) and Indiana (2020-24), this report examines attendance patterns beneath headline rates, specifically regarding seasonality and holidays, day-of-the-week variation, multiday absence streaks, and the acuteness or persistence of missed days. The authors find that absence rates remain well above pre-pandemic levels, but after the pandemic, the shape of attendance looks strikingly familiar to pre-pandemic patterns. Long absence streaks account for roughly one-fifth of missed days before and after the pandemic, and "weeklong vacation" patterns are modest and proportional pre- and post-pandemic. Interestingly, peak pandemic years temporarily changed several of these patterns, but by 2024, they largely reverted to pre-pandemic norms even as total absences stayed higher. These results suggest a broad shift in attendance behavior rather than a single, dominant driver, and they point to some pragmatic strategies that might improve attendance today.