Education officials and activists are concerned about an increase in the number of American students who are absent for many days during the school year. Education policy experts call the problem “chronic absenteeism.” Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing more than 10 percent, or about a total of 18 days, out of the school year. The 18 days do not need to be missed at one time and can be missed for any reason. Joshua Childs is a professor of education policy at the University of Texas, Austin. He said in an interview with the American Association for the Advancement of Science that, on average, 7.5 to 8 million students each year are chronically absent from school in the United States. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, that number has increased to at least 10 million a year.