Chronic Absence Rate
This indicator reports the rate of chronic absenteeism (students absent 10% or more school days during the school year 2022-2023).
Note: Since the data are protected by adding or subtracting one student for cell sizes less than or equal to four and random data swapping for cell sizes less than or equal to three, the instances of zero to five might indicate true values or recoded data. Interpret with caution.
Source
Source Description
Ed Data Express is a comprehensive platform developed by the U.S. Department of Education to provide easy access to educational data for policymakers, researchers, educators, and the public. The site compiles a wide range of information on student performance, school characteristics, and demographic trends, sourced from key federal data collections like the Common Core of Data (CCD) and the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC). Designed to support data-driven decision-making, the platform offers tools for visualizing, analyzing, and comparing data across states, school districts, and subgroups. Ed Data Express aims to promote transparency and equity in education by making critical data readily available to advance the educational outcomes of all students.
Methodology
Data for this indicator are obtained from the U.S. Department of Education ED Data Express, 2022-2023.
According to the data source, chronic absenteeism is defined as the unduplicated number of students absent 10% or more school days during the school year. A student is absent if he or she is not physically on school grounds and is not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for at least half the school day. Each day that a student is absent for 50 percent or more of the school day should be counted. Any day that a student is absent for less than 50 percent of the school day should not be counted. The number of absences is based on the total number of school days absent. Chronically absent students include students who areabsent for any reason (e.g., illness, suspension, the need to care for a family member), regardless of whether absences are excused or unexcused.
School-district data are aggreagted from school-level records.
Chronic absenteeism are measured as the percentage of absent students of all enrolled students using the following formula:
The denominator is public school student membership, which comes from the NCES school-level Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey Data (ccd_sch_052 table), while the numerator, total absent, comes from the ED Data Express FS195 DG814 table.
Calculated percentages only reflect chronic absenteeism among schools within the district with valid (unsupressed) data.
The calculated percentage values (total or by race/gender) are suppressed when exceeding 100. The total percentage values are also suppressed when total enrollment is less than 10 students or no valid data are reported.
For more information on survey, data, and report of the latest and previous versions, please visit the Chronic Absenteeism Files.
Data Breakouts Available
- Chronic Absence Rate by School Year, 2020-21 through 2022-23
- Chronic Absence Rate by Race and Hispanic Ethnicity
This indicator is available at the following subscription levels:
- Premium (currently viewing this indicator and report combination)