The Mississippi Department of Education has released the most recent school- and district-level chronic absence data, which shows that 18.48% of Webster County students were absent 10% or more of the 2018-19 school year.
That represents a decrease of nearly2% from the previous school year, when the district’s chronic absenteeism rate was 20.47%..
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, which is the average number of enrolled students who attend school each day. A school’s ADA often mask issues surrounding the number of students who are chronically absent.
During the 2018-19 school year, 351 Webster County students were chronically absent, which is a decrease of 47 students from the previous school year.
The 2018-19 chronic absenteeism rate for each school in the district, followed by the previous school year’s rate in parentheses, was:
• East Webster Elementary School: 16.08% (18.68%).
• East Webster High School: 16.41% (16.06%).
• Eupora Elementary School: 17.02% (22.4%).
• Eupora High School: 24.59% (25.35%).
During the 2018-19 school year, 63,226 Mississippi students, or 13.05%, were chronically absent, which is a decrease of 19,746 students from the previous school year. Absentee rates for school districts statewide ranged from less than 5% to nearly 26%.
“Our declining chronic absenteeism rate is encouraging, and it corresponds to rising student achievement statewide,” Dr. Carey Wright, state superintendent of education, said in a Sept. 27 release. “Students who attend school regularly perform better academically.”
Similar to national trends, Mississippi kindergarteners have the highest chronic absenteeism rate among the elementary school grades at 13.29%, then rates decrease steadily throughout grades 1 through 5. The rates increase steadily throughout middle and high school. The rate peaks in grade 12 at 26.20%, which is a significant decrease from 34.52% in 2017-18.
The MDE launched a statewide attendance awareness campaign in 2018 to encourage regular school attendance. The Strive for Less than Five campaign challenges students and school districts to reduce individual absences to no more than five absences over the course of the entire school year. Mississippi’s campaign is part of a national movement to reduce chronic absenteeism.
“Schools, parents and communities need to work together to make sure all children are attending school regularly,” Wright said. “Chronic absenteeism has a negative impact on student achievement because students who are not in school are not learning.”
Starting as early as preschool and kindergarten, chronic absence can leave third-graders unable to read proficiently, sixth-graders struggling with coursework and high school students off track for graduation.
