TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Yaow, Yu Hung
AU  - Gershenson, Seth
AU  - Blazar, David
AU  - Hutt, Ethan
        TI  - The Causal Effect of Student Absences Post Pandemic: Evidence from Three School Systems
        PY  - 2026/May/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 18652
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18652
        AB  - Researchers, educators, and policymakers have long worried about the consequences of student absences for educational achievement and attainment—concerns that have grown with the significant rise in absenteeism during and following the Covid-19 pandemic. Using administrative data from Maryland, North Carolina, and a large urban school district, we find that the impact of absences on test scores was modestly (about 5 to 20%) smaller in 2022-23 than in 2018-19 but still practically and statistically significant. Consistent with prior research, these harmful effects of absences are approximately linear and exhibit little heterogeneity across race and gender pre-Covid. In Maryland, the impact of tenth-grade absences on high-school graduation and 2-year college enrollment was much (about 40%) smaller after the pandemic than before, but the impact of absences on any (2- or 4-year) college enrollment increased slightly. Post-Covid reductions in the harmful effects were larger for white students on test scores and larger for Black students on graduation.
        KW  - chronic absence
KW  - attendance
KW  - learning loss
        ER  -