New Mexico student absenteeism highest in the US

Students across the country continue to miss school “at an alarming rate,” the New York Times reports, based on a chronic absenteeism data analysis released Friday by the nonprofit Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at Johns Hopkins University. And while preliminary data from the 2022 to 2023 school year shows some schools bouncing back after the COVID-19 pandemic, New Mexico’s chronic absenteeism barely budged from 40% to 39%—compared to 16% in the 2019-2020 school year, according to a presentation delivered to state lawmakers last week.

Additional analysis from FutureEd of national data notes New Mexico’s chronic absenteeism rate—defined as “students missing 10 percent or more of the school year”—is the highest in the country. “Chronic absenteeism often signals that students are experiencing untreated health needs, transportation problems, mental health issues, or other significant challenges,” FutureEd writes. A report prepared by New Mexico’s Legislative Education Study Committee analyzes attendance and chronic absentee data by demographic groups and finds chronic absence rates for fiscal year 2023 are the highest for Native American students at 48.3%. A statewide attendance dashboard from the Public Education Department indicates Santa Fe Public Schools 2022-2023 chronic absentee rate is nearly 51%.

https://www.sfreporter.com/news/morningword/2023/11/20/nm-student-absenteeism-highest-in-the-us/
(short article)