Student Opinion Scale
Category: Student Learning
This study applies an intersectional lens to examine how chronic absenteeism evolved across race, sex, economic disadvantage, disability, and housing instability before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using data from Georgia. Consistent with national evidence, chronic absenteeism nearly doubled and remained elevated through 2023, but recovery followed distinct racialized trajectories. While White students recovered the largest share of their increases, Black students, particularly low-income and homeless students, experienced the largest increases and remained the most elevated. Hispanic students, despite pre-pandemic parity with White students, showed the least recovery across income levels. Associations between absenteeism and each characteristic differed by race and shifted over time, challenging aggregate recovery narratives and underscoring how inequitable structural barriers have shaped whose attendance recovers.
Keywords
chronic absenteeism; attendance; intersectionality theory; COVID-19 pandemic
Education level
Topics
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/10b5-wb77
