Connection, Trust, and Learning: Student Attendance in the Middle and High School Grades Following the COVID-19 Pandemic

This brief summarizes findings from the first year of a multi-year study examining the causes, consequences, and impacts of absenteeism in Chicago in post-pandemic years relative to pre-pandemic years among students in grades 6-11. We focus on the middle and high school grades because these are years when many students show a rise in absences, relative to their attendance in the elementary grades.

Key Findings

• Absenteeism increased considerably in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic:
  • More students had very high absence rates, and fewer students had low absence rates.
• Students’ academic achievement is still strongly related to their attendance.
  • Attendance matters as much as ever: students with lower attendance rates have lower grades and test scores.
• Schools’ absence rates varied considerably, including among schools serving similar students from similar neighborhoods.
• School climate is strongly associated with attendance—and the connection is even stronger today than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Student and teacher survey measures most strongly connected with attendance included relationships with peers and teachers; finding value and meaning in classes; sense of safety; and teacher-parent relationships.

Key Takeaways

• Attendance is still important for students’ learning. Both grades and standardized test scores go up with higher attendance, and down with lower attendance.
• School climate and culture is connected to attendance—even more so today than pre-pandemic—which shows that schools can and do influence students’ attendance.