The day education leaders, researchers and advocates have feared is here: It is now clear that student attendance will not return to pre-pandemic rates on its own. The number of students missing more than 10% of the school year skyrocketed in the COVID years from 15% in 2019 to 28% in 2022. Five years after the pandemic, attendance still hasn’t returned to normal, with 23% of K-12 students chronically absent.
