The kids are not alright. Here’s how philanthropy can help

In the 2021-22 school year, only one in three fourth graders in the United States was reading at grade level, only one in four eighth graders was proficient in math, and rates of chronic absence had skyrocketed. These trends, highlighted in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book, are alarming: Too few children are graduating from high school ready to earn because many aren’t arriving ready to learn—or not regularly attending school at all.

Chronic absence—missing at least 10% of school days in one academic year—is a significant driver of the low literacy and numeracy skills reflected in the KIDS COUNT data. The number of chronically absent students nearly doubled from 16% in the 2018–19 school year to 30% in 2021–22. Nationally, 30% of all students, or nearly 15 million kids, were chronically absent during the 2021–22 school year, when in-person learning largely resumed. And two-thirds of all students attended schools where at least 20% of students were chronically absent, often resulting in slower progress for whole classrooms. 
 
Though the problem of chronic absence predates COVID-19, the pandemic further disrupted the daily routine of families and exacerbated existing causes such as housing insecurity, unmet basic needs, and student disengagement. Evolving school rules about illness as well as anxiety and other mental health issues stemming from the pandemic have also kept children home. 

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Source: Candid, written by Lisa Hamilton, President and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foudnation and MPN member