Over 1.8M CA students chronically absent due to COVID-19.
Alarming Rise in Chronic Absenteeism Threatens Academic Recovery in California
According to a recent report, more than 1.8 million students in California have become chronically absent since the COVID-19 pandemic. This growing rate of chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10 percent or more of classes in a semester, poses a significant challenge to academic recovery.
Stanford University professor Thomas S. Dee, who published a report on the issue, warns that the situation is dire. The study reveals a staggering jump in chronically absent students from 744,000 in 2018–19 to 1.8 million in the 2021–22 school year. With 5.8 million K–12 students enrolled in California during that same year, the statewide rate of chronic absenteeism more than doubled from 12.1 percent to 30 percent.
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Collaborating with Mr. Dee, education news website EdSource provided California chronic absenteeism data. Their interactive breakdown of the data reveals that chronic absenteeism has increased in nearly every district in the state.
While the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, such as mask and vaccine mandates, were considered, Mr. Dee’s analysis dismissed them as potential reasons for the spike in chronic absenteeism. He believes that other enduring factors are at play, such as transportation access, academic engagement, and declines in youth mental health. These factors may vary from district to district based on demographics.
Despite significant investments in state and federal aid to support academic recovery, Mr. Dee emphasizes that the most crucial factor is keeping kids in school. He states in the report, “The effectiveness of these investments relies in part on the expectation that students—particularly those that are most educationally vulnerable—can access these supports through consistent school attendance.”
However, the San Diego Unified School District, which experienced a threefold spike in chronically absent students, attributes most of their absences to COVID-19 or other illnesses. The district also acknowledges that poor mental health, housing and food insecurities, unmet transportation needs, and inflation contribute to some absences.
San Diego Unified’s chronic absentee number nearly tripled to 33.7 percent in 2022 from 12.4 percent in 2019. To address this issue, the district has created new positions dedicated to reaching out to families, conducting home visits, and providing support and resources to get students back in school.
Similarly, Los Angeles Unified, the state’s largest district, faced a chronic absenteeism rate of 40 percent in the 2021–22 school year. Superintendent Alberto Carvalho has launched an outreach campaign, personally visiting chronically absent students and their families, along with trustees, administrators, counselors, and staff, to encourage regular school attendance.
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