MELISSA KAY DILIBERTI, LYDIA R. RAINEY, LISA CHU, HEATHER L. SCHWARTZ
Districts Try with Limited
Success to Reduce
Chronic Absenteeism
Selected Findings from the Spring 2024
American School District Panel Survey
and Interviews
I
n the year following the corona-
virus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
pandemic–related school closures
in March 2020, educators began
to sound the alarm about increasing
chronic absenteeism. Chronic absen-
teeism is defined as a student missing
at least 10 percent of school days (i.e.,
18 days in a typical 180-day school
year) for any reason, whether excused
or unexcused. Chronic absence can
severely hinder an individual student’s
learning (Cardona, 2024). Absences
can even hinder the learning of those
children who do attend school because
of the re-teaching and disruptions that
absences create (Gottfried, 2014).
Before the COVID-19 pandemic
began, around 13 to 15 percent of stu-
dents nationally were chronically absent
in a typical school year (Malkus, 2024).
Data suggest that chronic absentee-
ism skyrocketed in the aftermath of
KEY FINDINGS
■ About one in ten districts reported chronic absenteeism levels
of 30 percent or more and another two in ten districts reported
rates between 20 and 30 percent in the 2023–2024 school year.
Although high, these rates were lower than the pandemic peak.
■ In the 2023–2024 school year, nearly all districts (93 percent)
tried at least one approach to combat chronic absenteeism.
The most common approach was the adoption of an early
warning system to flag students who are at risk of being chroni-
cally absent.
■ One-quarter of districts reported that none of the approaches
they have tried to reduce chronic absenteeism have been par-
ticularly effective.
■ In interviews, 11 of 12 district leaders with whom we spoke
speculated that a cultural shift has occurred, whereby more
students and families see school as optional and of less
importance.
■ These district leaders hypothesized that chronic absenteeism
will not improve without new approaches to make school more
engaging.
Research Report
