Chronic absenteeism at 20 percent last school year

Twenty percent of K-12 students were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year according to recently released data from the Connecticut State Department of Education. That number is a decrease from the chronic absentee rate for the previous school year but still above pre-pandemic levels.

In total, 99,071 students were chronically absent during the 2022-2023 school year. Chronic absenteeism is defined as a student being absent from school for any reason for at least 10 percent of school days.

In 2022-2021, 23.7 percent of students were chronically absent, the highest rate in the past five years.

Chronic absenteeism over the past five years was lowest during the 2018-2019 school year, at 10.4 percent. It climbed higher in 2019-2020, at 12.2 percent, and 2020-2021, at 19 percent, before peaking in 2021-2022.

The chronic absentee rate for the 2023-2024 school year to-date as of February was highest among students experiencing homelessness. 5,093 students, or one percent of the total student body, experienced homelessness during the 2022-2023 school year. To-date for the current school year, 2,784 students have experienced homelessness. Student homelessness is highest for the current school year in the New Haven School District, at 2.6 percent.

Forty-nine percent of students who fell into this group were chronically absent. Many other student groups had chronic absentee rates of around 25 percent. Students who were eligible for free or reduced-price meals had the second-highest chronic absenteeism rate, at 28.4 percent. Students with disabilities had a similar rate, at 28.6 percent.

Across all students, the chronic absenteeism rate for 2023-2024 school year through February was 19.2 percent, down slightly from the previous year.

Over the past five school years, students’ average daily attendance rate has been decreasing. For the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, average daily attendance was 94.8 percent. This declined to 93.1 percent in 2020-2021 and to 92.1 percent in 2021-2022. The average daily attendance rate increased slightly to 92.6 percent during the previous school year.

The truancy rate across all students has also decreased between the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years. In 2021-2022, the truancy rate was 25.9 percent. The following year it was 22.5 percent. Truancy is defined as a student who has four unexcused absences in a month or ten unexcused absences across a school year.

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