@techreport{ai26-1574,
  title = {{The Post-Pandemic “Attendance Crisis” in Historical Perspective}},
  author = {Jeremy Singer},
  institution = {Annenberg Institute at Brown University},
  type = {EdWorkingPaper},
  number = {26-1574},
  year = {2026},
  month = {September},
  doi = {10.26300/qrp6-m331},
  url = {https://edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1574},
  abstract = {School attendance rates in the United States are lower now than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. This rise in absenteeism has often been characterized as a crisis; but whether it amounts to a broader breakdown in norms depends on the historical baseline against which it is judged. The recent decline in attendance rates represents a small setback within a much longer trajectory of increasing school participation. This perspective helps distinguish a modest national shift in attendance from the deeper and more concentrated barriers to improving attendance that long predate the pandemic.},
}