The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[Biowatch]

Opinion | The Post-Covid Truancy Epidemic
Opinion by William A. Galston
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/parenting/opinion-the-post-covid-truancy-epidemic/ar-BB1lYMbv

Skip school, skip out on education, which reduces future job prospects.

Not finishing college, which is expensive, is a lot different than not finishing high school, which is free.

The pandemic dealt a blow to school attendance. Many schools stayed closed too long, but even among those that reopened relatively quickly, student absence soared. Even now, years after resuming in-class instruction, most school systems are seeing high levels of student absences.

About 15% of students nationwide in 2019 were chronically absent, meaning they missed 10% or more of the school year, or about 18 days, according to the American Enterprise Institute. Full data aren’t yet available from the 2023-24 school year, but fragmentary statistics from local jurisdictions aren’t encouraging.

Students from poorer families are more likely to be chronically absent from school, but even in the nation’s richest districts, chronic absenteeism was nearly twice as high in 2023 as in 2019. Surprisingly, the length of time a school was closed isn’t a reliable predictor of absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism in 2023 stood at 28% of students for districts that remained closed the longest, not far ahead of 25% of students for districts that reopened the fastest.

A district’s racial makeup is a better predictor of what percentage of students miss school, but even in majority-white districts, chronic absenteeism rose significantly, from 13% in 2019 to 22% in 2023, compared with 17% to 30% in majority nonwhite districts.