Author: Caitlin Peartree

Though learning loss has been a major point of discussion post-pandemic, an equally important topic is chronic absenteeism. Almost 30% of students were chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year, meaning they missed 10%, or 18 days, of the year. There were only slight improvements for 2022-23, according to preliminary data as of last fall. Based on estimates from the American Enterprise Institute, which looked at available data from 38 states and DC, 26% of students were chronically absent last year, up from 15% pre-pandemic. The trend cuts across demographics. In a “Dear Colleague” letter dated March 22, Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wrote to state education leaders asking them to “continue the hard work of re-engaging students.” 

As with learning loss, the question on the minds of researchers is how concerned — or even aware — are parents about chronic absenteeism? A recent report from The Brookings Institution, which surveyed a nationally representative sample of K-12 parents and caretakers, sheds some light while also raising more questions. Among their findings:

Parents and caretakers either underestimate or underreport their child’s absences relative to what the data show is really happening. Overall, they found about 15% of caretakers reporting their child missed 6 days or more in fall 2023 and were likely on track to be chronically absent. Within this group, about a third said their child had missed more than 10 days. “These percentages,” the researchers write, “are substantially lower than the rates found in hard data about chronic absenteeism (which in some states has been reported to be twice as high as what parents are reporting).”  

Few parents and caretakers report being concerned about their child’s absences, even those with children at risk of being chronically absent. Overall, 8% of parents and caretakers describe themselves as being concerned about their child’s absences. Among those with children at risk of being chronically absent, less than half describe themselves as concerned.

The research explored a few potential reasons parents and caretakers might report lower levels of concern, including the availability of coursework and school materials online. About a third (32%) of parents and caretakers say they “aren’t worried about their child missing school because everything the child needs to know is available online.” Among those whose children missed at least 6 days, another third (33%) “believe it is okay for students to work from home if they want.”

These findings are reminiscent of the takeaways from recent Learning Heroes research about parent perceptions of student academic success (described by Learning Heroes co-founder Cindi Williams in her recent Tedx Talk). In that research, parents also reported that their children are at grade level much more frequently than the data tells us is true. The key difference is the level of concern. From the Learning Heroes research, parents who know their children are not at grade level report being worried about their children’s academic skills. But for chronic absenteeism, even parents who report their children missing an elevated number of days are not overly concerned, and a third think it is acceptable for students to work from home if they want. 

Chronic absenteeism is also impeding learning loss recovery; students can’t recover if they aren’t in school. Studies have shown that elevated levels of chronic absenteeism can even have negative effects on students who are still going to school.

Inspired by the headlines about elite colleges bringing back their standardized testing requirements (with Brown joining the list last week) we have been focused on issues related to tests and grade inflation. This week, we look at grade inflation through a slightly different lens, analyzing the extent to which voters connect grade inflation with pandemic-related learning loss. Data from the latest survey for Winning the Issues (February 24-25) suggests that, for many voters, grade inflation and learning loss are linked. 

Overall, when voters were asked where they think students currently are in their learning, given the school closures during the pandemic, 57% say they are at least somewhat behind (30% somewhat behind, 27% significantly behind). Another 27% said students are only slightly behind, with about 1 in 10 (11%) saying they are not behind at all. 

Though there has been some fall-off in the share of voters saying students are significantly behind, the current number is not far off from where it was in April 2023 when we asked the question last (29% significantly behind, 31% somewhat behind, 22% slightly behind, 9% about where they would normally have been). 

Views about the extent to which students are behind are somewhat related to views about grade inflation. Among those who say that students are significantly behind, 72% say that grade inflation is a widespread problem. But even among those who think students are doing just fine, only 16% say grade inflation is not a problem at all (26% widespread problem, 30% an isolated problem).

Only about 1 in 5 voters (19%) say both that grade inflation is a widespread problem and that students are significantly behind because of the pandemic. 

A topic we have been keeping a close eye on in the last several months is standardized tests in college admissions.

A key reason many of the colleges chose to reinstate the testing requirement is that test scores tend to be better predictors of academic success than grades alone. It is likely that this stronger relationship for test scores than grades is at least partly due to grade inflation. 

But how big of a problem to voters think grade inflation is? Data from the latest survey for Winning the Issues (February 24-25) sheds some light. Overall, 47% of voters say that grade inflation in US high schools is “a widespread problem,” with 22% calling it “an isolated problem” and 6% saying it is not a problem at all. By party, a majority of Republicans (53%), nearly one in two independents (48%) and 40% of Democrats also call it a widespread problem. Among parents, 47% call it a widespread problem.

The shares calling it a widespread problem have grown at least slightly since we last asked the question about a year and a half ago. On the July 2022 survey, 40% of voters overall called it a widespread problem, as did 50% of Republicans and 37% of Democrats. Parents saw a larger growth in the share calling it a widespread problem, going from 39% to 47%. But the group with the largest growth was independents. In 2022, 33% called it a widespread problem, a 15-point difference from where they are presently (48%).

Clearly, voters are becoming more aware of an issue that has become an area of focus for education researchers. Our January 29 Emerging Issues newsletter looked at two recent studies showing a weakening relationship between grades and test scores since the pandemic. But grade inflation was an issue even before Covid. As the University of California faculty senate report, dated January 2020 found, “Grade inflation is part of why the predictive power of HSGPA [high school grade point average] has decreased since the last UC study.”