One in five Indiana K-12 students were chronically absent from school in 2022-23, according to data from the Indiana Department of Education. The rate was down from the previous year, but only slightly.
That’s disappointing. It’s no surprise that chronic absenteeism nearly doubled in Indiana during the COVID-19 pandemic, when illness, quarantines and caution kept many students home. But the slow rebound in attendance suggests missing school has become the new normal.
Chronic absence is defined as being absent from school, either excused or unexcused, on 10% or more of school days. In Indiana, that means missing at least 18 days during the school year.
The issue is getting considerable attention across the country. An investigation by the Associated Press, assisted by Stanford University researchers, found an estimated 6.5 million U.S. students — more than one-fourth of the nation’s students – were chronically absent in 2021-22.
“The long-term consequences of disengaging from schools are devastating,” Hedy Chang, executive director of nonprofit organization Attendance Works, told the AP. “And the pandemic has absolutely made things worse and for more students.”
The chronic absenteeism rate in Indiana was lower than in most other states. For the past three years, however, it has been almost twice what it was before the pandemic.
In 2022-23, 19.3% of Hoosier students were chronically absent. The rate was 18.5% in 2020-21, the first year after the pandemic, and reached a high of 21.1% in 2021-22, according to state data.
In 2018-19, the last full year before the pandemic, Indiana’s chronic absence rate was 11.2%. (It was 10.6% in 2019-20, but that year was cut short by the onset of COVID).
Chronic absenteeism was much higher in some schools than in others. For the most part, rates were highest in high-poverty urban school districts and charter schools and lower in suburban schools.
Gary Community Schools had the highest chronic absenteeism rate among public school districts: 66%. Chronic absenteeism was over 40% in Muncie and South Bend and over 30% in Anderson, Richmond, Indianapolis Public Schools and several other districts. Some small, rural districts also had high rates: for example, 43.2% in Cannelton and 32.1% in Medora.
Rates were mostly low in affluent suburban districts: 8.4% in Carmel Clay, 8.8% in Hamilton Southeastern and 10.5% in Brownsburg. The rate in Monroe County Community Schools, where I live, was 21.4%.
Among charter schools, nearly all the approximately 100 brick-and-mortar schools had chronic absenteeism rates that were above the state average. Some were really high: over 80% for Indinapolis Metropolitan High School and Neighbors New Vista High School in Portage. The three highly regarded Purdue Polytechnic high schools had chronic absence rates of 71%, 61.1% and 48.3%.
The highest rates, over 85%, were in most of the “adult high schools,” charter schools designed to give dropouts a chance to make up missing credits and graduate.
Missing 10% of a school year doesn’t necessarily mean a student is slacking, of course. A couple of illnesses, a week-long isolation after being exposed to COVID, a mental health day or two and you’re there. What students learn in school is arguably more important than how often they are present.
But the numbers are reason for concern. Arguably, chronic absenteeism is one more symptom of the damage COVID has done. It may be a sign that students are disengaged, not just from school but from each other. The pandemic did serious harm to many young people, and recovery will take time.
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