It is a Matter of Choice: Chronic Absenteeism in California Charter and Traditional Public Schools

Chronic absenteeism remains a persistent national concern, yet little research addresses how it relates to school choice. We provide a comprehensive analysis using nearly all California schools over a seven year period spanning the COVID-19 pandemic. We compare California’s 1,300 charter schools to traditional public schools. Nonclassroom-based charters have lower absenteeism rates than their traditional public counterparts in the lower grades but higher rates in the upper grades. Classroom-based charters serving high proportions of low-income students at all grade levels have lower chronic absenteeism rates than traditional public schools when controlling for key student and school characteristics.