During the COVID-19 pandemic, students and parents faced a lot of disruptions in their education experience, but student attendance has been a longstanding issue, especially in some urban areas. Factors like poverty, housing instability, and transportation issues contribute to high absenteeism rates. Professor Sarah Winchell Lenhoff discusses some of the reasons why some students miss so much school, the ways in which the pandemic has intensified these challenges, and shares some innovative strategies that are being implemented to address them.

For more on this topic:

• Read Lenhoff’s SSN memo: Attendance Incentives 

• Read her policy report, co-written by Jeremy Singer, Walter Cook, and Ben Pogodzinski: Detroit’s Uniquely Challenging Context for Student Attendance