February 20, 2025
Data
Data from the Arizona Department of Education showed that Arizona’s chronic absence rate for grades 1-8 decreased for the second consecutive year. In 2024, 24% of students were chronically absent, down from a high of 32% in 2022.
While trending in the right direction, chronic absence is still about twice as high as pre-pandemic levels, and rates remain higher among economically disadvantaged students (31% in 2024) and other student subgroups.
A student is considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more of a school’s calendar year for any reason, excused or unexcused, which equates to about 18 days in a typical school year. Too many absences can keep students from making academic progress and, in the early grades, may prevent them from developing the literacy skills they need to learn to read proficiently.
Recommendations and Resources
Further reducing chronic absence remains a high priority for Arizona. Recommendations of the Arizona Chronic Absence Task Force, convened in 2023 by Read On Arizona, include the goal to reduce chronic absence to pre-pandemic levels by 2030.
Read On Arizona has also developed the Arizona Chronic Absence Resource Guide, a comprehensive framework for school administrators to strategically plan and implement evidence-based preventions and interventions to reduce chronic absence from pre-K through grade 12.
Research Update
Helios Education Foundation, a founding partner in Read On Arizona, recently released “Still Missing Too Much School,” a follow-up analysis of Arizona chronic absence trends conducted in partnership with WestEd.
The report’s findings include that mobile students — those who change schools mid-year — have even higher rates of chronic absence. Arizona’s current definition of chronic absence doesn’t fully account for student mobility; revisiting that definition is among the Task Force’s recommendations.
A recent edition of the Arizona Capitol Times’ Morning Scoop unpacked the report’s data and research findings in a conversation featuring:
- Arizona State Rep. Matt Gress
- Paul Luna, president and CEO of Helios
- Dr. Paul Perrault, Helios’ senior vice president of community impact and learning
- Erika Mancilla, principal at William R. Sullivan Elementary School
- Lori Masseur, Read On Arizona’s director of early learning
“Learning follows a sequence and a progression, and if children aren’t present on a consistent basis, they are missing that key, critical instruction that is taking place within the classroom,” Masseur said, adding that “for every day that a student is absent, it takes a teacher approximately two days to get them caught back up.”
