Louisiana has made strides in reducing the state’s chronic absenteeism rate among public school students. Chronic absenteeism rose following the COVID pandemic to a high of nearly 25% for the 2023-24 school year; but last year, the rate dropped 2%. Misty Davis, the executive director of attendance strategies at the department of education, says a task force was formed to address absences.
“Talking about ‘Okay, if students do have barriers, what are specific strategies that we can put in place to help them be in school?’” Davis asked.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as students who miss 10% or more of a school year. Davis says education leaders are concerned poor attendance by a large percentage of students will reserve some of the gains the state has made in testing. She says their plan in reducing chronic absenteeism is to focus on prevention and improving school culture, instead of punishment.
“We really wanted to highlight that just two or three days a month adds up and can have a compounding impact on students’ ability to get the learning and instruction that they need,” Davis said.
Davis says local school systems are also making it more of a priority to make sure students are not missing school days regularly.
“We’re so proud. We’ve seen the importance of this local messaging on social media, in back-to-school announcements and packets,” Davis said.
The pre-pandemic rate was about 18%.
