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JACKSON, Miss. – The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) has released the 2023-24 Chronic Absenteeism Report and reminds education stakeholders across the state to help recognize September as Attendance Awareness Month.
The new report shows the 2023-24 state chronic absenteeism rate is 24.4%, which is a slight increase compared to 23.9% in 2022-23.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% (18 days) of the school year for any reason, which includes excused and unexcused absences and suspensions. Chronic absence differs from Average Daily Attendance (ADA), which is the average number of enrolled students who attend school each day. A school’s ADA often masks issues surrounding the number of students who are chronically absent.
“MDE remains committed to providing support and training for schools and districts to combat chronic absenteeism and prevent students from dropping out,” said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education. “We also implore families and community leaders to join in these efforts.”
MDE began reporting chronic absence data in 2016. The lowest rate of 13% was in 2018-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the major factor that led to higher state and national rates in 2021-22 when Mississippi’s was 28%. Attendance Works reports that a December 2023 update from the U.S. Department of Education showed 14.7 million students were chronically absent in 2021-22.
September is recognized nationally as Attendance Awareness Month. MDE launched its Every School Day Counts – Attend to Achieve campaign in September 2023 to highlight the benefits of regular school attendance and emphasize ways to prevent students from being chronically absent.
MDE distributed chronic absenteeism posters to districts to share with schools and local organizations, and all entities were encouraged to utilize MDE’s Attendance Awareness Toolkit containing resources and downloadable materials to promote regular school attendance. The toolkit is still available.
MDE’s Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement and Dropout Prevention is tasked with ensuring all Mississippi public school students attend school. School attendance officers work out of this office to connect with families and help them eliminate barriers to school attendance.
Through this office, MDE partnered with the National Dropout Prevention Center in January 2024 to address chronic absenteeism in the state. Through the partnership, MDE held 12 regional two-day training sessions across the state from February through April to guide district and school teams to develop impactful local plans to improve attendance. In May, MDE held a statewide Chronic Absenteeism and Dropout Prevention Conference during which experts shared innovative strategies and practical approaches on this issue.
View the complete 2023-24 Chronic Absenteeism Report at mdek12.org/OPR/Reporting/Reports.
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