With schools fully reopened, millions of students were missing school during the 2021-22 school year at a much higher level than before the pandemic.
In California the percentage of chronically absent students zoomed from the pre-pandemic rate of 12.1% in 2018-19 to 30% in 2021-22.
Nationally, the number of students who were chronically absent since the pandemic nearly doubled to about 13.6 million, with 1.8 million of them in California, according to national data compiled by Stanford University education professor Thomas S. Dee in partnership with The Associated Press. EdSource collaborated in the effort with an analysis of California data showing increases in nearly every district in the number of students missing what amounts to weeks of school. Chronic absence is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year. For students on a typical 180-day school calendar, this totals to about one month of missed school.
The pandemic also triggered a bigger-than-normal drop in enrollment in public schools, especially in kindergarten. Some parents chose to keep their children in preschool another year, or enroll their children in private schools, others began to homeschool for the first time. Some families moved out of state. Some of those children are returning to public school, while others have chosen to stay in other programs.
Some students not enrolling in public school
New data sheds light on chronic absences
Roundtable
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