MSCS says it’s on track to improve chronic absenteeism
Memphis-Shelby County Schools officials want to bring its rate of chronically absent student down by 5 percentage points to 26.5% by the end of the school year. (Brad Vest/Special to The Daily Memphian file)
Absenteeism and attendance rates are on track to improve this school year for Memphis-Shelby County Schools students, according to data recently presented by district officials.
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. That rate has ticked up every year since COVID-19 disruptions, reaching a new peak last year with 31.5% of students chronically absent, according to MSCS estimates.
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Memphis-Shelby County Schools chronic absenteeismLaura Testino
Laura Testino is an enterprise reporter on The Daily Memphian’s metro team who writes most often about how education policies shape the lives of children and families. She regularly contributes to coverage of breaking news events and actions of the Tennessee General Assembly. Testino’s journalism career in Memphis began six years ago at The Commercial Appeal, where she began chronicling learning disruptions associated with the pandemic, and continued with Chalkbeat, where she dug into education administration in Memphis. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Times-Picayune, The Tuscaloosa News and USA Today.
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