COLUMBUS, Ohio – One in three charter school students was chronically absent last school year, according to data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
Chronic absence is when a student misses at least 10% of classroom instruction, or about two days a month. Excused and unexcused absences, as well as suspensions, all count to the overall rate. Research shows students who are not chronically absent are three times more likely to be proficient in reading and 3.9 times more likely to be proficient in math.
Related: Ohio schools plagued with chronic absenteeism with 1 in 4 students missing too much class – cleveland.com
For charter schools, the overall rate was 34.6%, higher than the statewide average of 25.1% – about one in four students. Both rates are above Ohio’s goal for 2029 of 12.8%.
The charter school rate decreased from the 2023-2024 school year, when it was 35.4%. The state’s rate in 2023-2024 was 25.6%.
Some charter schools are located in urban areas, where students enrolled traditional public schools were also absent at levels above the statewide average.
Overall – when counting both traditional public schools and charter schools – high school seniors had the highest rate of absenteeism at 35.9%, followed by juniors at 35%. Among younger students, 24.9% of kindergarteners were chronically absent.
“It’s a big goal (to get to 12.8%) and it’s going to take a lot of work,” said Jessica Horowitz-Moore, chief of student and academic supports at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
Special education students had a 34% chronic absence rate, with students identified as having emotional disturbance reaching 53.9%. Nearly half of students in Ohio’s eight major urban districts were chronically absent at 48.6%.
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Chad Aldis, vice president for Ohio policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, said the state may need stronger measures beyond current incentive programs.
“We’re doing a lot of the right things, yet our numbers are not changing appreciably,” Aldis said.
A new state law requires schools to create attendance plans for struggling students instead of sending letters home after a student missed a certain number of days.
The Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, supported by professional sports teams including the Cleveland Browns and Columbus Crew, works with 219 districts educating about 575,000 students to improve attendance through data-informed strategies.