English language learners in four major school districts in California are now more likely to be chronically absent than their peers, a troubling pendulum swing from before the pandemic when this population typically had average — or lower — rates of absenteeism, according to a new study from researchers at UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania.

The researchers found that in 2016 there was no discernable difference between non-English language learners and English language learners' chronic absenteeism rates. But around 2021, there was a marked shift: suddenly English learners were absent more frequently than their peers, both in the raw data and when controlling for other variables like socioeconomic status.

This trend was particularly acute for older students and those who had been classified as English learners for six or more years.

The magnitude of this shift is small but “troubling,” according to the study, especially because previous research has shown a disproportionate effect of absences on English learners’ achievement in reading and math.

And these results seem to match statewide trends: the most recent data from California (2022–2023) show that the chronic absenteeism rate among English learners was close to 28%, four percentage points above the rate for non-English learners.

Across the nation, chronic absenteeism — students missing more than 10% of school days a year — surged during the pandemic, from 13% in 2017 to 28% in 2022, and remained high in 2023. While most acute among students of color and those in poorer districts, the spike cut across districts regardless of size, racial breakdown or income.

“I think our findings really highlight this as an issue that should be looked at with a sense of urgency,” lead researcher Lucrecia Santibañez told The 74. She noted that missing a significant amount of classroom time has a negative impact on both test scores and social emotional learning, effects that can compound over time. “Clearly this population has struggled to recover to where they were before. So if we were already worried about them before the pandemic … these higher absenteeism rates are probably going to make that worse.”

Read the full article about English learners' absenteeism by Amanda Geduld at The 74.