What is Chronic Absenteeism?
Chronic absenteeism is when a student misses 10% or more of school in a year. These aren't consecutive days, but simply days missed - excused or unexcused. For us, that's about 18 days missed in a year or two days per month.
What is the impact of Chronic Absenteeism?
- Children chronically absent in kindergarten and 1st grade are much less likely to read at grade level by the end of 3rd grade.
- By 6th grade, chronic absence is a proven early warning sign for students at risk for dropping out of school.
- By 9th grade good attendance can predict graduation rates even better than 8th grade test scores.
- For 18 days missed (that's just 2 days per month), students' graduation rate drops to 63% and reading & math percentiles drop to 35% & 36%. Click here for an online tool to see how missing school can impact your student's likelihood of graduating and his/her reading & math percentiles