Shillong, September 3: As the new school year kicks off, American public schools grapple with a shared concern: a growing rate of student absenteeism exacerbated by the pandemic.
As per IANS, local news outlets report that some schools are adopting innovative measures to address chronic absenteeism.
Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing 10 percent or more of a school year, equates to approximately one month of missed classes for students following a typical 180-day school calendar.
A recent nationwide analysis, drawing data from 40 states and Washington, D.C., reveals that since the onset of the pandemic, the number of chronically absent students has nearly doubled, reaching approximately 13.6 million.
According to a study conducted by Thomas Dee, an education professor at Stanford University, there has been a notable 91-percent increase, equivalent to 6.5 million additional students, in the proportion of students who are chronically absent between the 2018-19 and 2021-22 school years.
Dee’s study did not pinpoint exact causes for this sharp rise in absenteeism. Notably, there was no discernible connection to illness, enrollment declines, or COVID-related policies such as mask mandates.
This suggests that the surge in chronic absenteeism is likely linked to other significant obstacles to learning, such as deteriorating youth mental health and academic disengagement, which warrant further investigation and policy responses.
