PHOENIX — More than a third of high school students in Arizona have been considered chronically absent from school, according to a new report.
A student is considered chronically absent if they miss more than 10% of days in a given school year.
In the 2023-24 school year, 34% of Arizona high school students missed at least that many days, according to the new report from the Helios Education Foundation, which is based in Phoenix.
Although that’s down from 42% just two years earlier, the absence rate is still 10% above what it was before the pandemic, according to Helios.
Paul Perrault, the foundation’s senior vice president of community impact and learning, said the foundation focused on high schools this year, partnering with local schools like Chandler High School, to help find solutions to drop the rates.
Impact of grade level, economic status on chronic absence rates
“You’ll see about from third grade on, each year chronic absenteeism rates increase and that carried forward through high school,” Perrault told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “Ninth-grade chronic absenteeism was higher than eighth, tenth was higher than ninth, all the way up to through seniors. So, we have this linear increase in chronic absenteeism over time.”
The data also showed students who are economically disadvantaged had chronic absenteeism rates 18% higher than their classmates, something Perrault says needs to be a focus when trying to solve the issue.
“Start as soon as you can. … Let them know the importance of them being in school and why it’s important for them to be there,” he said. “Number two, for those students that are really missing school and that we’re seeing that tie interventions to actual chronic absenteeism. … Chronic absenteeism is not just a school problem. For us to solve this, we’re going to need community partnerships.”
Chandler High School sees drop in chronic absence rates
Chandler High School saw positive results this year after working with Helios. The school was able to drop its absence rates from 31.9% to 26.6% in a year.
Principal Greg Milbrandt explained that the results came from working with students and families to help them understand the importance of being in school consistently, along with other measures like changing the bell schedule to allow for more time between classes.
“It’s challenging for teachers too,” Milbrandt said. “If you have a student gone or several students gone on any given day, there’s always that makeup work that has to be done and … you have to work with each and every one of those students to get them caught up.”
State superintendent calls on parents to help reduce chronic absence rates
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne called the recent absence rates “catastrophic” for the state, but he disagrees with the method used in Chandler High School to reduce rates.
Horne said the most effective way to reduce chronic absenteeism is to implement a rule that any student who misses more than 18 days a year must repeat the grade, calling Chandler High’s methods “not sufficiently effective”.
“The people who have the most influence on getting their kids to school on a daily basis are parents,” Horne said “And so if they know that because of chronic absenteeism the student won’t get credit and may have to repeat a grade or won’t get to graduate on time, they’re going to be sure that their student gets to school on a daily basis.”
Horne added that the Dysart School District is an example of this rule working, with an absence rate of more than 8%. He said this rule would also assist disadvantaged students, with parents pushing their kids to graduate regardless of their economic situation.
Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.
The post More than a third of Arizona high schoolers are chronically absent appeared first on KTAR.
