Behavioral Observation of Students in Schools (BOSS)
Category: Student Learning
We examine the relationship between absenteeism and achievement since the onset of COVID-19. Applying first-differences models to North Carolina administrative data, we estimate that each absence was associated with a 0.0032 standard deviation (SD) decline in math achievement in 2022-23. As students averaged 3.3 more absences in 2022-23 than 2018-19, these results imply that returning absence rates to pre-pandemic levels in 2022-23 may have increased overall achievement by 0.010 SDs. We identify a stronger relationship between absenteeism and achievement pre-pandemic. Across three pre-pandemic cohorts, each absence was associated with a 0.0055 SD decline in achievement, with some evidence of additional impacts of peer absenteeism. Results from these models imply that returning attendance to pre-pandemic levels could have improved 2022-23 achievement by 0.018–0.031 SDs. Findings highlight the important but partial role that attendance recovery may play in academic recovery and suggest potential changes in the costliness of absenteeism post-pandemic.
Keywords
COVID-19; attendance; achievement
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/t1dp-tn53
