Even years after the pandemic drove public schooling largely online, experts say more desks are empty in Arizona schools every day than there should be. Early Monday, the state Board of Education received the results of a study that shows chronic absenteeism continuing to plague Arizona schools.
Paul Perrault with the Helios Education Foundation said any student who misses around 10% of the school year is considered chronically absent.
“The gaps in chronic absence rates between vulnerable student populations and other students that increased during the pandemic have not continued to widen,” said Perrault. “But that’s not to say that we’re anywhere close to where we were before the pandemic."
Perrault said that even with a slight dip from the previous year, “One of the things that we can really say is that nearly one of three Arizona students are chronically absent when we’re looking at the data for 2022 and ‘23.”
That’s a 5% improvement, he said, from the previous school year.
Lenay Dunn, a researcher with WestEd, said it’s important to consider the potential long term effects, too.
“Fifth graders are starting at a much higher chronic absence level than they were pre-pandemic,” said Dunn. “And seeing this at different grade spans gives us a better understanding of just how much that impact is on student groups.”
Which Dunn said makes immediate action to understand and stop chronic absenteeism the essential next step.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The story has been updated to correct Lenay Dunn's job title.
