Nearly 15 million children were chronically absent in the 2021-22 school year, doubling pre-pandemic numbers, and millions have lived through at least one traumatic experience, such as parent death or abuse. The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2024 Kids Count Data Book examines the causes driving the “astonishing” rates, resulting in bleak educational outcomes and disproportionately […]
New Mexico saw a 119% increase in chronic absenteeism between 2019 and 2023 – the largest increase in the country (Photo by Shelby Wyatt for Source NM) Public school students in New Mexico experienced the highest increase in chronic absenteeism between 2019 and 2023 in the country, according to a recent Legislative Finance Committee report. […]
This article was originally published in Stateline. When outreach worker Leah Marks shows up at homes in Sanford, Maine — a small manufacturing city 18 miles inland and a world away from tony Kennebunkport — the kids know it’s time to walk with her to the school bus. Her walks often involve snow and ice […]
There has been plenty of reporting over the last several months about the surge in absences among America’s schoolchildren since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent national data shows that roughly 26% of public school students were chronically absent from school in 2023 — a substantial increase from 15% prior to the […]
Getty Images Michigan continues to fall behind when it comes to the well-being of its children, edging into the bottom third of states. That’s the main takeaway from the 2024 Kids Count Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation. Now in its 35th year, the 50-state report of recent household data analyzes 16 indicators […]
This article was originally published in El Paso Matters. Pint-sized hall monitors in yellow neon vests greet their fellow students first thing in the morning at the Tornillo PreK-8 School as part of a program meant to encourage them to come to class every day. As children shuffle into their classrooms, teachers begin taking counts […]
As early voting is underway in the Republican primary, a Texas Supreme Court justice seeking reelection to a third term finds himself dogged by ethical concerns, chronic absenteeism and a self-admitted history of arrests for protests at abortion clinics. Justice John Devine, 65, the fourth-most senior justice, having joined the high court in 2012 after […]
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Attendance rates are down in Kansas schools since the pandemic began, but one school district is bucking that trend. More students are missing 16 or more days of school every year, making them chronically absent. The Haysville Unified School District 261 had more than half students chronically absent in 2022. Now […]
This article was originally published in Ohio Capital Journal. The bipartisan sponsors of a new bill to target chronic absenteeism want to model a piece of advice from novelist Jean Shepherd: “In God we trust, all others pay cash.” In a proposed two-year pilot program, Republican state Rep. Bill Seitz and Democratic Rep. Dani Isaacsohn, […]
The rate of students chronically missing school got so bad during the pandemic that it will likely be 2030 before classrooms return to pre-COVID norms, a new report says. But even that prediction rests on optimistic assumptions about continued improvement in the coming years. For some states, it could take longer. In Louisiana, Oregon and […]
Jan. 17—Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham may be fighting an uphill battle in her controversial quest to mandate a 180-day school year across the state. But her goal fits right into the educational agenda of a powerful potential ally: the Biden administration. Fresh off Tuesday’s State of the State address, where she outlined a number of […]
This article was originally published in South Dakota Searchlight. Student absenteeism is one of the biggest problems facing South Dakota public education, said state Secretary of Education Joseph Graves. Chronic absenteeism among South Dakota students jumped from 14% during the 2018-2019 school year to 21% during the 2022-2023 school year. That increase is more pronounced […]