An AP analysis of government data shows the problem of students habitually missing school varies widely from state to state, with about one-third of students in the nation’s capital absent 15 days or more in a single school year
The problem of students habitually missing school varies widely from state to state, with about one-third of students in the nation’s capital absent 15 days or more in a single school year, according to an Associated Press analysis of government statistics.
At the other end of the spectrum, Florida had the lowest rate of chronic absenteeism, 4.5 percent in the 2013-14 school year.
Overall, the national average of chronic absenteeism was 13 percent, or about 6.5 million students, the Education Department said.
“Chronic absenteeism is a national problem,” Secretary of Education John B. King Jr. said in a statement Wednesday. “Frequent absences from school can be devastating to a child’s education.”
Bob Balfanz, a research professor at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Everyone Graduates Center, called the numbers disturbing.
“If you’re not there, you don’t learn, and then you fall behind. You don’t pass your classes. You don’t get the credits in high school and that’s what leads to dropping out,” Balfanz said in an interview.
The report was the first release of chronic absentee figures from the department.