There are 11 article(s) tagged chronic absenteeism:
MSCS enrollment has suffered in the past decade. But the district doesn’t just struggle to get students in the door, it also has trouble keeping them in their seats day after day.
MSCS leaders ramped up chronic absenteeism interventions this past year, aiming to reduce chronic absenteeism rates for the first time since 2017.
That means around 12,000 high schoolers would miss more than 10% or 18 school days in a year. That’s significantly higher than the statewide average.
If the district hits this year’s chronic absenteeism goal, it would mark the first reduction in the rate of chronically absent students since the pandemic, according to state data and district estimates.
Schools across the U.S. and in Memphis experienced skyrocketing rates of students missing a significant portion of the school year.
A high school in Olive Branch reported the highest rate of chronic absenteeism countywide at 46.88%.
The national trend of chronic absenteeism trickles down to the Shelby County suburbs. District-wide numbers are up post-pandemic.
For the 2022-23 school year, 28.52% of DeSoto County students were chronically absent.
The percentage of students who are chronically absent from schools jumped dramatically in Memphis from the 2018-19 school year to the 2022-23 school year. It’s a national trend that’s also seen in the area’s suburban schools. Chronic absenteeism: Myriad of issues keep MSCS students homeRelated story:
Memphis-Shelby County Schools saw the percentage of its students considered “chronically absent” jump from 18.4% in the school year before the COVID-19 pandemic to 28.9% in the school year after the pandemic.
Research has shown that when students have more “familiar faces” around them in class, they’re less likely to be chronically absent, so nonprofits like Communities in Schools are sending staff members into local schools to combat absenteeism.
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