Schools make slow progress on absenteeism, millions still skip class

MEDFORD, Massachusetts: According to data from The Associated Press and a Stanford University educational economist, Thomas Dee, nearly every state struggles with attendance years after COVID-19 upended American schooling.

Roughly one in four students in the 2022-23 school year remained absent, missing at least 10 percent of the school year. That is about 12 million children in the 42 states and Washington, D.C.