Students in foster care are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent and more than four times as likely to be suspended as non-foster students¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2022 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · recheck by 2027: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

Reading the evidence codes

q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.

This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.

q2 i? Nearly 28% of students in foster care were chronically absent in 2018–19 versus 12% of non-foster students, averaging 15 versus 10 days absent. → Burns 2022 q2 i? The suspension rate for students in foster care was 15%, more than 4 times the 3.4% rate for non-foster students, and 22% among African American students in foster care. → Burns 2022 (2)

Evidence¶

Burns 2022¶

Burns, D., Espinoza, D., Adams, J., & Ondrasek, N. (2022). California students in foster care: Challenges and promising practices. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/118.471

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive analysis of publicly available 2018–19 California DataQuest data on absenteeism. Students in foster care averaged 15 days absent versus 10 for others; high school students in foster care averaged nearly 23 days, missing "1 out of every 8 school days."

"In total, nearly 28% of students in foster care were chronically absent, while for non-foster students, this was just 12%."

Burns 2022 (2)¶

Burns, D., Espinoza, D., Adams, J., & Ondrasek, N. (2022). California students in foster care: Challenges and promising practices. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/118.471

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive analysis of 2018–19 suspension data. The report states the 15% foster-care rate "was more than 4 times the rate for non-foster students (3.4%)" and was especially high among African American students in foster care (22%), more than half of whom were suspended multiple times.

"The suspension rate (in school and out of school) for students in foster care in 2018–19 was 15%, about the same rate as for the previous 2 years."

Discussion¶

Chronic absence among students in foster care peaked after the pandemic, with nearly half chronically absent in 2021–22 — related
Students in foster care were consistently about three times more likely to be suspended than all other student groups, with rates reverting to pre-pandemic levels by 2022–23 — related
Chronically absent students show worse reading, test, suspension, dropout, and postsecondary outcomes — related
Chronic absenteeism roughly doubled nationwide to about 16 million students after the pandemic — related
More students were very chronically absent (missing 20% or more of days) and fewer students had strong attendance (under 5%) after the pandemic — related

Page metadata

Field	Value
`type`	`claim`
`id`	`foster-care-absenteeism-suspension-rates`
`title`	`Students in foster care are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent and more than four times as likely to be suspended as non-foster students`
`description`	`Students in foster care are more than twice as likely to be chronically absent and more than four times as likely to be suspended as non-foster students`
`status`	`review`
`evidence_strength`	`moderate`
`newest_evidence`	`2022`
`recheck_by`	`2027`
`generated`	by `process:wiki-ingest` on `2026-10-10`
`trust`	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
`sources`	2 — `burns-2022`, `burns-2022-2`

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