In-person schooling is back across the country this school year, but fewer students than normal are regularly attending class, according to data emerging from states and school districts.

Statewide daily attendance in Illinois, for instance, is 92.5% so far this year, compared to 93.9% in 2018-19, the last year unaffected by the pandemic. In Connecticut, 93.5% of students have been present on a typical day, compared to 94.8% pre-pandemic.

Many districts have also reported a spike in the share of students on track to be “chronically absent.” In Portland, Maine, that figure is currently 20.4%, compared to 13.4% in 2019-20. In Detroit it jumped from an already-high 45% to 59%. And in Oakland, nearly a third of students are on track to be chronically absent, up from 17% two years ago.

The attendance declines likely reflect COVID-related quarantines, new pressure to keep children home at the first sign of illness, and a slew of other challenges unique to this school year. Regardless of the cause, and even though the data only reflects a period of a few months, the rise means more students are missing out on instruction after many fell behind last year.

“When you miss school at the beginning of the year, it has consequences for learning,” said Hedy Chang, executive director of the nonprofit Attendance Works. “But also the beginning of the school year is when you’re building relationships to peers and building relationships to teachers.”

This school year started with a flurry of quarantines as the delta variant spread across the country. Quarantine policies vary, and some schools have relaxed their rules as the year has gone on, but it’s clear that many students have missed school for this reason.

Lengthy quarantines could be particularly likely to contribute to increases in students at risk of being chronically absent, typically defined as missing 10% of the school year. (Where data has been reported on chronic absenteeism this year, it refers to students who are on pace to be chronically absent, by missing, for instance, at least four of the first 40 school days.)

Districts vary in how they’re calculating attendance for students who are quarantined, with some marking students present if they do school work while at home.

Read the full article about COVID quarantines by Matt Barnum at Chalkbeat.