Chronic absenteeism still high
- Multiple reports show chronic absenteeism remains elevated across U.S. districts, undermining instruction recovery. - Roughly one-quarter of Ohio students were chronically absent in the 2023–24 and 2024–25 school years, per local reporting. - High absence rates make pacing advanced courses like AP Calculus and AP Stats harder, pushing teachers toward more remediation and varied skill levels. ( )
Chronic absenteeism is still running far above pre-pandemic levels in many U.S. schools, leaving teachers to reteach lessons instead of moving ahead. (ed.gov, future-ed.org) Schools count a student as chronically absent when that student misses 10% of the school year, or about 18 days in a 180-day calendar, for any reason, including excused absences and suspensions. The U.S. Education Department said the national rate hit about 31% in 2021-22 and eased to 28% in 2022-23. (ed.gov, eddataexpress.ed.gov) Ohio’s new state attendance dashboard says more than 25% of students were chronically absent in both 2023-24 and 2024-25, and it updates weekly with district and school data. The state says the tool is meant to work as an early warning system for schools and communities. (attendance.ohio.gov, vindy.com) In Norfolk, Virginia, school board data presented in April showed about 19% of the district’s roughly 27,000 students were chronically absent this school year. Norfolk Public Schools has set a goal of cutting chronic absenteeism from 24.3% in 2021-22 to 14% by 2026-27. (msn.com, npsk12.com) Michigan remains one of the hardest-hit states. Bridge Michigan reported this month that Michigan has the highest chronic absenteeism rate in the Midwest, and earlier Bridge reporting put the statewide figure at nearly 28% of K-12 students. (bridgemi.com, bridgedetroit.com) The classroom effect is cumulative: when large numbers of students miss class, teachers spend more time reviewing missed material and less time on new instruction. RAND reported that about one in ten districts said 30% or more of students were chronically absent in 2023-24, and nearly all districts said they had tried at least one anti-absenteeism strategy. (rand.org) One-quarter of districts told RAND that none of the attendance strategies they had tried had been particularly effective. In interviews, 11 of 12 district leaders told researchers they believed families had shifted toward seeing school as more optional than before 2020. (rand.org) State officials are tying attendance directly to academic recovery. Virginia said chronically absent students in 2023-24 scored 19 percentage points below peers in reading and 26 points below in math, even after the state’s chronic absenteeism rate fell from 19.3% to 16.1%. (doe.virginia.gov) Districts are responding with dashboards, family outreach, transportation help, breakfast programs, attendance teams and prize-based campaigns. The numbers are improving in some places, but state trackers in Ohio, Virginia and Michigan reporting all show attendance has not returned to where it stood before the pandemic. (attendance.ohio.gov, doe.virginia.gov, bridgemi.com, future-ed.org)
