🛝 Schools Can't Get Kids to Show Up. And It Might Be Permanent.

Welcome to Playground Post, a bi-weekly newsletter that keeps education innovators ahead of what's next.

This week's reality check: Chronic absenteeism progress has flatlined at 50% above pre-pandemic levels, and even kids who weren't in school during COVID are missing more days than their predecessors. Meanwhile, teachers say nobody is taking care of their mental health while they absorb their students' crises every day.

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💎 Data Gem

70% of teachers worry AI might weaken critical thinking and research skills, and more than half of students say they feel less connected to teachers when using AI tools, according to a CDT national poll.

Progress on Absenteeism Is Stalling. The "Easy" Gains Are Over.

After reaching a peak of 29% in 2021-22, the national chronic absenteeism rate fell by 2.6 percentage points the following year, then 2.2 the year after that.

Last school year? Just over 1 percentage point.

With data now available from 39 states and Washington D.C., the average chronic absenteeism rate sits at 23%, roughly 50% higher than the pre-pandemic baseline of about 15%. 

Nat Malkus, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who leads the Return to Learn Tracker, calls it "public education's own case of long COVID."

The research shows that even regular attendees are missing more days compared to before the pandemic. The relationship between days absent and student achievement is roughly linear: every missed day costs learning, regardless of whether a student hits the chronic threshold of 18 days per year.

Here's what's most troubling: across eight states where Malkus examined grade-level data, last year's kindergartners and first graders, who weren't even in school during the pandemic, have higher absenteeism rates than children their age did before COVID.

Research has failed to identify a single culprit. 

Post-pandemic absenteeism looks much like pre-pandemic absenteeism in terms of subgroup differences, reasons given, and daily patterns. It's just far more prevalent. 

Some states are bucking the trend. Iowa cut chronic absenteeism by 6 percentage points last year. Delaware, Nevada, and Kentucky each dropped more than 3 points. But over half the states that released 2025 data saw rates fall by less than 1 percentage point, and six states actually saw rates increase.

Without intervention, the nation could stabilize at a new normal of around 20%, meaning 2.5 million more chronically absent students each year compared to pre-pandemic levels.

For education innovators, the data signals that the easy awareness-driven gains are over, and what's needed now are tools that drive sustained behavior change at scale. Family engagement and behavioral nudge platforms that help districts maintain consistent pressure around attendance expectations could find ready demand, especially if they help schools communicate the concrete academic cost of individual missed days to families in real time. There's also a clear opening for predictive analytics systems that flag at-risk students before they cross the chronic threshold, since the research shows every missed day matters regardless of where a student falls on the spectrum.

Teachers Are Absorbing a Mental Health Crisis. Nobody's Taking Care of Them.

In a national survey of over 1,400 teachers, 60% reported symptoms of burnout, a rate nearly twice that of comparable adults in the general workforce (33%), according to RAND's State of the American Teacher survey. 

Nearly 30% of teachers leave the profession within their first five years. Teaching has been identified as one of the most stressful occupations in the country.

Those national numbers come to life in a new qualitative study published in Contemporary School Psychology. 

Researchers interviewed 15 secondary-level staff members at two schools in a small, rural Midwestern district to understand how educators experience the intersection of student and staff mental health. 

One school mental health professional put the scope plainly: "I think we see it all: anxiety, depression, suicidal ideation. We do regular risk assessments."

Educators described student mental health needs as "varied and vast," ranging from anxiety and depression to cyberbullying, social media harm, and trauma from home. 

One teacher estimated that cases of student anxiety and depression have "doubled" since COVID. Another noted that before the pandemic, maybe five students across all their classes needed regular mental health support. Now "I just feel it's an epidemic of its own."

Here's the gap the study reveals: student mental health drags down teacher mental health, and declining teacher mental health then undermines teaching quality. 

Research confirms this bidirectional relationship. One teacher described how their stress level escalated during a difficult lesson until, by sixth period, "I was not in the right frame of mind to be teaching the next two periods of the day. And I knew that."

What do teachers actually want? 

Several participants asked for a dedicated mental health professional for staff, separate from student services. One suggested having structured time for us to be able to lean on each other and constructively vent.

The bitter irony was not lost on them. 

One educator observed: "We preach this stuff to the kids about making sure that your cup is filled. And [administration] could not care less when it comes to the teachers."

For education entrepreneurs, this research highlights an underserved market: teacher mental health. Schools invest in student-facing mental health screening, counseling, and intervention tools, but almost nothing exists for the adults absorbing the daily emotional weight. 

There's clear demand for confidential, on-demand mental wellness platforms designed specifically for educators, as well as mental health literacy training that helps teachers identify student needs without becoming de facto counselors.

Survey: 46% of Girls Feel Pressure to Be Online

Nearly all girls surveyed by the Girl Scouts of the USA said they spend time online.

About 60% of girls ages 5 to 7 are logging on daily. 

Among girls ages 8 to 13, 43% said they're online three or more hours per day.

The Girl Scouts commissioned a survey of 1,000 Black and Hispanic girls last summer to understand how girls feel about and use digital platforms. 

The results arrive as schools across the country roll out cellphone bans and federal lawmakers debate banning children under 13 from social media entirely. While the sample focused on Black and Hispanic girls specifically, the patterns around device attachment and social pressure echo broader concerns about Gen Alpha's relationship with screens.

46% of girls surveyed said they felt pressure to be online even when they didn't feel like it, driven by fear of missing out on what friends were talking about. 

The study used a creative question to gauge device attachment: how would you feel going on vacation to a place with no internet? 

About 40% of girls across all age groups said they'd rather skip vacation than go somewhere without online access.

Nearly 80% of girls ages 11 to 13 said they understand that what they post online can affect them later in life. That figure drops to 52% and below for younger age groups, the survey found. 

And roughly half of girls reported having trouble getting their parents' attention because the adults in the house are distracted by their own phones.

For education innovators, this study points to demand for age-appropriate digital literacy curricula that start far younger than most current offerings. The data shows the gap begins at age 5, not 13. 

There's also a clear opening for family-centered tools that help parents manage their own screen habits alongside their children's, since the study shows parental phone distraction is part of the problem. And with cellphone bans rolling out nationally, schools need practical programs that teach digital citizenship rather than simply removing devices.

⚡️More Quick Hits

This week in education:

•• Private school choice enrollment and spending surging across states — Republican-led states collectively investing billions in vouchers and education savings accounts, with Texas launching the largest new program in the country

• Congress passes $79B education budget, rejecting Trump's proposed cuts — Spending bill preserves funding for key programs despite the administration's push for significant reductions

• NJ Governor's pick to lead education department focuses on literacy — New commissioner Lily Laux signals structured literacy as a top priority for the state

• NCAN report shows 1.5 million more students eligible for maximum Pell Grant — A 27% jump in maximum Pell eligibility over two years suggests FAFSA simplification is paying off despite its rocky launchTo stay up-to-date on all things education innovation, visit us at playgroundpost.com.