The California Education Code defines a “chronic absentee” as a student who is absent on 10 percent or more of the school days that they are enrolled in for a school year. Chronic absenteeism is typically not just a measure of students skipping school. Any number of reasons could cause a student to be chronically absent including housing insecurity, unreliable transportation, and lack of access to health care. Data analysis from the National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) shows that chronic absence is associated with lower academic performance, even after controlling for ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status. The correlation was especially strong for Latina/o children, who scored significantly lower on reading proficiency tests. Based on the impact of attendance on educational outcomes , the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires every state to share data on chronic absentees. 

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, chronic absenteeism in K-12 education has undergone a significant structural shift rather than a short-term disruption. National data indicate that chronic absence rates nearly doubled after the pandemic, rising from roughly 15 percent of students in the 2018–19 school year to a peak of nearly 30 percent in 2021–22. Although rates have declined modestly since, they remain substantially above pre-pandemic levels. 

In Los Angeles, California, these trends were compounded by uneven reopening timelines and significant disruptions to family stability, including job loss, housing insecurity, and health-related concerns. Even after the return to in-person instruction, absenteeism has remained elevated, suggesting persistent barriers such as unmet mental health needs, transportation challenges, and reduced trust in school systems. In addition, improvements in attendance data reporting through systems such as CALPADS after 2022 have increased the visibility of chronic absenteeism, contributing to apparent year-to-year shifts. Thus, the post-pandemic data of chronic absenteeism highlights both real challenges in student engagement and systemic barriers to regular attendance, reinforcing that recovery efforts must address underlying social and educational conditions.

Written by Katherine Ding