Chronic student absenteeism rates could be halved within five years if schools, families, and governments work together, a panel of education leaders and policymakers said during an American Enterprise Institute (AEI) panel discussion in Washington.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, too many Americans are viewing the decline in school attendance “as the new normal,” AEI’s deputy director of education policy studies, Nat Malkus, said during the July 17 discussion titled “Coming Together on Chronic Absenteeism: School’s Top Priority this Year.” He noted the goal of decreasing the national absentee rate by 50 percent by 2029, or “50 by 5.”
In 2023, more than one in four U.S. students across K-12 missed 10 percent or more of instruction time or about a month of school, the AEI reports. That figure doesn’t include students who are homeschooled or enrolled as remote learners….
