State education leaders are committing to reducing chronic absence
Fourteen states have committed to cutting their chronic absenteeism rates in half in five years, accepting the challenge to do so from a group of education advocates.
Attendance Works, EdTrust, and Nat Malkus with the American Enterprise Institute have publicly called on state education leaders to commit to urgently addressing student engagement and attendance issues that are “dragging down student well-being and achievement nationwide” and, “if not fixed, could have long-term detrimental effects for our nation’s students.”
Governors, education agencies, and policymakers interested in reducing chronic absenteeism (defined as missing more than 10 percent of school days for any reason) are, according to Attendance Works, “uniquely positioned to take action to reverse the attendance crisis,” which was exacerbated during school closures.
They can ensure everyone is aware of the dire nature of their attendance challenge and mobilize resources so everyone has the tools and support they need to take action. States can offer guidance and provide technical assistance and peer learning opportunities to build the capacity of districts and schools, along with community partners, to adopt effective strategies for improving attendance.
Resources will be available to assist state leaders’ commitment to reducing chronic absenteeism by 50 percent, with this toolkit being the first in development. Upon completion, the toolkit will help states identify and prioritize possible routes (strategies) for sustained attendance improvement, including family engagement, student connectedness, relevant and engaging learning, health, well-being and safety, and access to learning. According to Attendance Works:
These routes reflect the growing understanding that reducing chronic absence requires a tiered approach that begins with prevention and early intervention, including a deep investment in the positive conditions for learning that motivate students and families to show up to school every day. Research shows that the key to improving attendance is not punitive action but partnering with students and their families to identify what causes them to miss school and develop meaningful solutions to overcoming those challenges.
As of Sept. 4, here are the state education leaders who have signed on to taking meaningful action on chronic absenteeism:
- Alabama Superintendent Eric Mackey
- Arkansas Commissioner Jacob Oliva
- Colorado Commissioner Susana Córdova
- Connecticut Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker
- Iowa Director McKenzie Snow
- Maryland Superintendent Carey Wright
- Nebraska Commissioner Brian Maher
- Nevada Superintendent Jhone Ebert
- New Mexico Deputy Cabinet Secretary Candice Castillo
- Ohio Director Stephen Dackin
- Rhode Island Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green
- Virginia Superintendent Lisa Coons
- Washington Superintendent Chris Reykdal
- West Virginia Superintendent Michele Blatt
While Minnesota’s education leaders didn’t sign on to this particular call to action, districts are working at the local level to identify and reach out to missing students through intervention programs, marketing campaigns about the importance of regular attendance, and dedicated staff positions, according to the Star Tribune. The Minnesota Legislature also created a working group to identify solutions to absenteeism and truancy, and “a dozen school districts across Minnesota are meeting monthly as part of a [three-year] pilot program aimed at improving attendance,” continues the Star Tribune.
Minnesota’s chronic absenteeism rate more than doubled from 2018 to 2022, increasing from 14 percent to 30 percent. As of 2023 data, the most recently available, the rate dropped slightly, down to 25 percent. While the decline is an encouraging development, there were still one in four Minnesota students missing 10 percent or more of the 2022-23 school year, or more than three and a half weeks of learning.
Despite the statewide drop in the percentage of students marked chronically absent, a handful of school districts saw their chronic absenteeism rates continue to increase.
In the Brooklyn Center school district, 58 percent of students were chronically absent for the 2022-23 school year, up from 43 percent in 2022. Compare that to 2017, where 12 percent of students were chronically absent. St. Cloud school district’s chronic absenteeism rate ticked up from 30 percent in 2022 to 35 percent in 2023. Warroad school district went from 39 percent of its students chronically absent in 2022 to 46 percent in 2023. Over a five-year period, the district’s chronic absenteeism rate has increased 32 percentage points. In the Mahnomen school district, more than half (51 percent) of students were chronically absent during the 2022-23 school year, a slight increase from the 2021-22 school year where the rate was 50 percent.
Even more affluent school districts have experienced post-COVID spikes in the number of students ditching class — Edina’s chronic absenteeism rate jumped from nine percent in 2019 to 21 percent in 2023, up from 17 percent in 2022; Minnetonka went from 16 percent of its students chronically absent in 2019 to 33 percent in 2023; Wayzata from eight percent to 22 percent.
Hopefully the 2023-24 rate of absenteeism continues to decline in districts where it previously has and starts declining in districts where it hasn’t. Spring 2024 statewide assessment results show for the second year in a row that majorities of students are not meeting grade-level reading or math standards.