Why Were You Absent? Students' Reasons for Missing School before and after the Pandemic
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| Title: | Why Were You Absent? Students' Reasons for Missing School before and after the Pandemic |
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| Language: | English |
| Authors: | Kevin A. Gee, Peter Yu, Arya Ansari, 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: | 29 |
| Publication Date: | 2025 |
| Document Type: | Reports - Research |
| Education Level: | Elementary Secondary Education Elementary Education Junior High Schools Middle Schools Secondary Education High Schools |
| Descriptors: | Attendance, COVID-19, Pandemics, Student Characteristics, Gender Differences, Racial Differences, Ethnicity, Academic Achievement, Socioeconomic Status, Poverty, Minority Group Students, Barriers, Diseases, Sleep, Safety, Well Being, Child Health, Institutional Characteristics, Psychological Patterns, Bullying, Responsibility, Substance Abuse, Homework, Elementary School Students, Middle School Students, High School Students |
| Geographic Terms: | Rhode Island |
| Abstract: | In the United States, chronic absenteeism--defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year--dramatically increased during the pandemic and remains stubbornly high, affecting nearly a quarter of K-12 students. Several states have pledged to reduce chronic absenteeism, which requires tackling the underlying causes by analyzing the reasons students themselves report. This report leverages data from Rhode Island to analyze the percentage of students in grades three through 12 who have reported particular reasons for their absences and evaluates how that percentage has changed over time. It focuses particularly on changes that occurred between the pre-pandemic (2019-20) and post-pandemic (2023-24) school years. Also examined is how the prevalence of reasons differed across students by gender and race and ethnicity and across schools by achievement levels and proportions of students in poverty, minority students, and chronically absent students. The findings from this report point to both continuity and change in the reasons for students missing school from pre- to post-COVID, with illness and lack of sleep remaining the most common challenges reported by students. Although post-pandemic increases in many of the reported reasons are small relative to their initial pre-pandemic levels (increasing by less than a percentage point), some increases, like reports of being absent due to illness, point to a potential pattern in the drivers of absences that schools should closely monitor to ensure they do not continue to increase. Further, rising rates of disengagement, particularly among elementary and middle school students, and growing safety concerns among both groups suggest deeper and more systemic challenges that should be addressed. |
| Abstractor: | ERIC |
| Entry Date: | 2026 |
| Accession Number: | ED677948 |
| Database: | ERIC |
| Abstract: | In the United States, chronic absenteeism--defined as missing 10 percent or more of the school year--dramatically increased during the pandemic and remains stubbornly high, affecting nearly a quarter of K-12 students. Several states have pledged to reduce chronic absenteeism, which requires tackling the underlying causes by analyzing the reasons students themselves report. This report leverages data from Rhode Island to analyze the percentage of students in grades three through 12 who have reported particular reasons for their absences and evaluates how that percentage has changed over time. It focuses particularly on changes that occurred between the pre-pandemic (2019-20) and post-pandemic (2023-24) school years. Also examined is how the prevalence of reasons differed across students by gender and race and ethnicity and across schools by achievement levels and proportions of students in poverty, minority students, and chronically absent students. The findings from this report point to both continuity and change in the reasons for students missing school from pre- to post-COVID, with illness and lack of sleep remaining the most common challenges reported by students. Although post-pandemic increases in many of the reported reasons are small relative to their initial pre-pandemic levels (increasing by less than a percentage point), some increases, like reports of being absent due to illness, point to a potential pattern in the drivers of absences that schools should closely monitor to ensure they do not continue to increase. Further, rising rates of disengagement, particularly among elementary and middle school students, and growing safety concerns among both groups suggest deeper and more systemic challenges that should be addressed. |
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