Monitoring Who Is Missing Too Much School: A Review of State Policy and Practice in School Year 2021-22, by Attendance Works, June 2022. 

This brief examines how state policies and practices continue to evolve in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. It is based on data provided by 45 states plus the District of Columbia as of early May 2022. The brief updates our 2021 report, Are Students Present and Accounted For? An Examination of State Attendance Policies During the Covid-19 Pandemic.

The findings reveal several positive developments. Most states now offer multiple modes of learning: in-person, long-term distance and short-term distance during quarantine. Nearly all require taking attendance daily across all instructional modes, a substantial increase from last year, when daily attendance was required in just 31 states and the District of Columbia. A substantial number of states collect data by learning mode.  

The majority of states are publishing chronic absence data for the 2020-21 school year. And disaggregated chronic absence data is more publicly available than ever before. On the downside, what defines a day of attendance continues to vary. As a result, comparing data within and across states can be challenging. This brief also explores promising emerging practices in state attendance policy and practice.

Every state in the country has schools and districts experiencing significant chronic absenteeism. Making this data publicly available is an invaluable tool, not only for identifying which student groups need additional support, but also to help detect when improvements in collection are needed to make sure the data is consistent and meaningful.    

Read our blog post about the brief, Public Reporting of Chronic Absence Needed for Action and Solutions.