1. How have students’ absence rates changed in post-pandemic years, compared to pre-pandemic years?
2. Do absences still matter for student achievement as much as they did before the pandemic?
3. To what extent are there systematic differences in students’ absence rates by school?
- How large are school differences after taking into account differences in their students’ neighborhoods, demographic backgrounds, test scores, and attendance in prior years?
4. What is the influence of school climate on absenteeism, and has its influence changed since the pandemic?
- Which aspects of school climate are most influential in supporting students’ attendance?
This brief summarizes findings from the first year of a multi-year study examining the causes, consequences, and impacts of absenteeism in Chicago in post-pandemic years relative to pre-pandemic years among students in grades 6-11. We focus on the middle and high school grades because these are years when many students show a rise in absences, relative to their attendance in the elementary grades.
Key Findings
- Absenteeism increased considerably in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic:
- More students had very high absence rates, and fewer students had low absence rates.
- Students’ academic achievement is still strongly related to their attendance.
- Attendance matters as much as ever: students with lower attendance rates have lower grades and test scores.
- Schools’ absence rates varied considerably, including among schools serving similar students from similar neighborhoods.
- School climate is strongly associated with attendance—and the connection is even stronger today than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Student and teacher survey measures most strongly connected with attendance included relationships with peers and teachers; finding value and meaning in classes; sense of safety; and teacher-parent relationships.
Key Takeaways
- Attendance is still important for students’ learning. Both grades and standardized test scores go up with higher attendance, and down with lower attendance.
- School climate and culture is connected to attendance—even more so today than pre-pandemic—which shows that schools can and do influence students’ attendance.
