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U.S. News & World Report
Roll Call: 15 Percent
of K-12 Students Chronically Absent from School
A new report shows that more than 8 million students missing 15 or more
days of school.
By Lauren Camera, Education Reporter
Sept. 6, 2018
MORE THAN 8 MILLION children – or about 15 percent of all K-12 students
– were chronically absent from school during the 2015-16 academic year,
the latest federal data show.
The phenomenon, as defined by missing 15 or more days of the school
year, is worse in some parts of the country than others: In eight
states and the District of Columbia, for example, more than 20 percent
of all students were chronically absent. The biggest offenders included
D.C. and Maryland, where 31 percent and 29 percent of students,
respectively, were truant.
North Dakota was the only state where less than 10 percent of students
are considered chronically absent.
"Chronic absence data casts a spotlight on where we as a country have
failed to provide all students with an equal opportunity to receive a
quality education," Hedy Chang, executive director of Attendance Works
and a co-author of the report, said in a statement.
Researchers at Attendance Works, a San Francisco-based nonprofit,
collaborated with others from the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns
Hopkins University and the Brookings Institution's Hamilton Project to
publish this week a sweeping look at chronic absence in every state in
the U.S.
The data, culled from the most recent federal collection, comes at a
critical time for schools, which, for the first time beginning this
academic year, will be required to include in their annual report card
how many students are chronically absent. That requirement is part of
the federal K-12 law, the Every Student Succeeds Act, which Congress
passed in 2015 but whose mandates do not go into effect until this
academic year.
In addition, chronic absenteeism is a metric that 36 states and the
District plan to use as part of their newly adopted accountability
systems.
"We must all use this new educational metric of chronic absence to
interrupt patterns of inequity and improve outcomes for all children,
particularly our most vulnerable students who deserve an equal
opportunity to learn and thrive," Chang said.
Indeed, the researchers found that chronic absence disproportionately
affects students of color, including African-American, Hispanic,
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander and Native American students. In
addition, "extreme levels" of chronic absenteeism were present more
often in schools with higher levels of poverty, those serving children
with disabilities, as well as alternative education and vocational
schools. Researchers defined "extreme levels" as schools where more
than 30 percent of students were chronically absent.
While chronic absenteeism has been on the rise – the number of schools
with at least 20 percent or more students chronically absent increased
between the 2013-14 and 2015-16 school years – it's not necessarily the
case that more students are truant. Rather, it's that more schools,
districts and states are beginning to pay close attention and better
track attendance.
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