Principal Investigator
Michael Gottfried – University of Pennsylvania
Project Description
This study uses statewide administrative data from West Virginia and South Carolina to analyze patterns and causes of student absenteeism before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The dataset includes detailed coding of over 25 distinct reasons for absences, allowing researchers to examine how different types of absences vary across student populations, including by poverty status and rural versus urban location. The study will analyze how specific absence types are distributed and how they relate to student achievement using regression and fixed effects models. The research also explores whether patterns of absenteeism and their academic consequences differ across demographic groups and geographic contexts.
Research Questions
- What are the main reasons for student absenteeism across the state, and how are they distributed?
- How do the reasons for absenteeism vary across student groups (e.g., rural vs. urban, and by poverty level)?
- How do different types of absences relate to student academic outcomes, including test scores?
