Report on Absenteeism in the Nation’s Public Schools

Posted by on June 04, 2012

Chronically overlooked

A new report from the Everyone Graduates Center examines the issue of chronic absenteeism — in which a student misses 10 percent of a school year for any reason — and which differs from truancy or average daily attendance rates used for state and federal accountability. Very few state education departments, school districts, or principals can give chronic absenteeism numbers. Only Georgia, Florida, Maryland, Nebraska, Oregon, and Rhode Island track these data, and use varying metrics. These states reported chronic absentee rates from 6 to 23 percent, with high-poverty urban areas reporting up to one-third of students chronically absent, and in poor rural areas, one in four students missing at least a month’s worth of school. Youngest and oldest students have the highest rates of chronic absenteeism, with third through fifth grades being most regularly attended. Chronic absenteeism rises in middle school and climbs through 12th grade, with seniors having the highest rate of all. The data also suggest that chronic absenteeism is concentrated in relatively few schools. Because students in poverty benefit the most from being in school, a key strategy to forge pathways out of poverty is to have students in school every day. This alone, even without improvements in the American education system, will drive up achievement, high school graduation, and college attainment rates.

See the report: http://new.every1graduates.org/the-importance-of-being-in-school/

Related: http://newamericamedia.org/2012/05/underfunded-continuation-schools-struggle-to-serve-students.php