Nearly half of public school teachers in the U.S. reported at least one student during the 2020-21 school year who was enrolled but never showed up for class, according to new federal data that provides one of the first glimpses from the national level of the major challenges that sidelined student learning and the types of schools they left behind.
The report, originally published by the Government Accountability Office last month but updated with new information this week, is part of the federal government’s ongoing efforts to understand how the pandemic affected the country’s public school system. The data was pulled from a national representative survey of public school teachers that the GAO contracted Gallup to conduct about their experiences during the 2020-21 school year.
In addition, teachers in urban schools were significantly more likely to report having students who never showed up compared to those in rural and suburban schools – 65% compared to 45% and 44%, respectively – as were teachers who taught in schools where the majority of students enrolled are students of color, 56%, compared to those who taught in majority-white schools, 45%.
Economic demographics of schools made a difference, too. For example, 32% of teachers in low-poverty schools, where 20% or fewer students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, reported having students who never showed up compared to 60% of teachers in schools where 80% to 100% of students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch.
While teachers reported a range of obstacles that interfered with their students’ attendance, the challenges mostly fell into two big buckets – limited or no adult assistance or support at home and difficulty learning in or adapting to the virtual environment.
For older students especially, competing demands on time – including providing care to a family member or work commitments that interfered with school – were common reasons for their absence. Nearly half of teachers in grades three through eight and grades nine through 12 said that providing care to a family member was “somewhat” or a “significant” factor for students, compared to about one-quarter of teachers in kindergarten to grade two. And among teachers in grades nine through 12, 57% said work commitments interfered with school – though just 17% of teachers in grades three to eight named work commitments as a reason.
Though data is scarce and patchy due to the varying ways states and districts collect it, education policymakers have been warning that the long-term effect of coronavirus-related disruptions to schools over the last two years on student enrollment and attendance remains to be seen, especially for students who became entirely detached from school. The report marks the first big-picture look at the obstacles that kept students locked out – even those enrolled in schools that provided support, like internet-connected devices and free Wi-Fi – and what it might take to bring them back.
The high levels of chronic absences means positive conditions for learning are being eroded at a systemic level, says executive director and vice president of Attendance Works, a nonprofit organization that tracks absenteeism and its effect
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