COLUMBIA, S.C. — More students across the country and in South Carolina are missing school now than in the years before the COVID-19 pandemic.

The latest data, from the 2022-2023 school year, shows one in four students in the Palmetto State were considered chronically absent from school, just below the national average of 26%.

That state figure is nearly double from the 2018-2019 school year, when South Carolina’s rate was 13.1%.

A student is considered chronically absent when they miss at least 10% of the school year, so 18 days in a standard 180-day calendar.

Some education researchers call chronic absenteeism the greatest challenge facing American public schools post-pandemic, and South Carolina will soon put more focus on combatting it.

“Chronic absenteeism can really impact student achievement and student success academically,” Tenell Felder, communications manager for the South Carolina Education Oversight Committee, said.

The Education Oversight Committee oversees the accountability system for the state’s public schools.

It will soon launch a study and focus groups with South Carolina students to try to get to the heart of this issue and then develop recommendations later this fall.

“That could assist schools, teachers, principals, and parents in making sure that students are indeed present in school and ready to learn,” Felder said.

Studies have shown the negative impacts of chronic absenteeism include students being more likely to read below their grade level as well as later dropping out of school.

South Carolina School Report Cards indicate all districts grapple with chronic absenteeism but in varying degrees, ranging from a statewide low two years ago of 7.3% in Fort Mill to a high of more than half of all students, 51.9%, in Lexington School District Four.

On the higher end was Laurens County School District 56, where nearly one in three students were considered chronically absent.

“It’s just old-fashioned hard work and consistency and persistency, and not giving up,” Assistant Superintendent David Pitts said.

Pitts said the district has taken a hands-on approach to addressing absenteeism that includes making phone calls, not robocalls, for every absence, home visits, and even court orders if it rises to the level of truancy.

In one year, Laurens 56 cut its chronic absentee rate from 31.2% percent to 20.7%, which Pitts attributes to the work of school staff and principals.

“They just would not give up on a kid,” he said. “They would not accept, ‘I’m just not coming to school.’”

You can see the chronic absentee rates for all school districts across South Carolina for the 2022-2023 school year below.

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Nick Pringle had the chance to finish his career anywhere after Alabama’s run to the Final Four this past season. He chose to come home, especially after South Carolina completed its own rags-to-riches season in the second year of coach Lamont Paris.

“I’m home, I’m home. I can’t stop saying that,” said the 6-foot-10 Pringle, who started 16 games with the Crimson Tide last season and played a critical role in the team’s first-ever time in the national semifinals.

It was not long after that Pringle, who’s from Seabrook near South Carolina’s coast, knew he needed a change and the Gamecocks gave him logical place to look. South Carolina, which lost 21 games in Paris’ first season, turned things around by going 26-8 and reaching the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017.

“Alabama, it wasn’t bad,” Pringle said Tuesday. “But I feel there was more room for me to grow and these coaches, they’re allowing me to do that.”

Pringle is not the only new face for a team picked last in the Southeastern Conference in the preseason, yet tied the school mark for most wins in a season.

Cam Scott, twice the Gatorade Player of the Year in South Carolina, had originally signed with Texas, but was released from his national letter of intent in April and came back to his home state.

Scott, a 6-6 guard, is fast and a strong shooter, which the Gamecocks will need after losing three of their top four scorers from a year ago.

Scott was recruited by Paris and felt a good connection to the program. But the team’s struggles two years ago had Scott looking elsewhere. Scott said he saw things blossom last season and when he did not want to stay with the Longhorns, he knew where he wanted to go.

“(Paris) had a great foundation for this team,” Scott said. “But it wasn’t set yet. So once you got to see that set, it was honestly unbelievable. And I think we’re in for good things this year.”

Pringle, Scott and two other newcomers in 7-footer Jordan Butler and guard Jamarii Thomas worked out for more than an hour on court with their new teammates. Paris, who received a hefty raise to $3.75 million this season this past March, ran the session with the team still more than three months from the season’s start.

Paris has liked the effort and intensity early on, although the team is nowhere near a finished product. He’s grateful for the leadership of Pringle, who played 70 games at Alabama after transferring in from Dodge City Community College after the 2021-22 season.

“He’s an incredible talker,” Paris said of Pringle. “I find myself constantly saying something to him about how he’s communicating with his teammates. He’s unselfish. He’s been around this league.”

And he’s not alone in SEC knowledge. Butler was a freshman at Missouri last season. Like Pringle and Scott, he decided home — he’s from Greenville — was an enticing opportunity.

Thomas was the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference player of the year at Norfolk State and is eager to show what the power schools missed in recruiting. “This is going to be fun,” he said.

Pringle is ready for the season’s start, encouraging teammates that’s he’s known only a few weeks to go harder, faster and crisper with each drill they do. He’s prepared to give South Carolina a chance to once more compete for an SEC title and advance in the NCAAs.

There are only a small percentage of players in college basketball who’ve played in the Final Four. He believes he can instill that ethic on the Gamecocks this winter.

“Me knowing what winning means, I can come and bring that home,” he said. “I just want us to be the best.”