Research Wednesday | April 16, 2025

The continued impact of chronic absenteeism:

A terrific report (January 16, 2025) from researchers at Johns Hopkins demonstrates that the lingering effects of school closures during the pandemic remain years after schools reopened. Chronic absenteeism overwhelms faculty and staff, and the negative effects are not only on those students who fail to come to school, but also on students who attend school. The negative impacts are particularly severe among socioeconomically disadvantaged students. Even after schools reopened, more than 60% of schools had high levels of chronic absenteeism. 

It is difficult for teachers to establish academic and behavioral norms when significant numbers of students fail to attend school. This normalizes bad behavior and disengagement from the teacher. The percentage of schools experiencing extreme absenteeism doubled from 2016 to 2022. 

What can we do? First, we must take a systems approach—attendance, academic achievement, and behavior are all inextricably linked. Hopkins suggests focusing on family engagement, student health, and access to attendance data so leaders can focus on the best solutions. In addition, we can avoid disincentives for attendance, such as the automatic failure policies associated with toxic grading policies. When students lose hope, there is no incentive to attend school. 

Here is the link to the report:  https://www.attendanceworks.org/continued-high-levels-of-chronic-absence-with-some-improvements-require-action/