Michigan’s chronic absenteeism rate improved last school year

The number of Michigan K-12 students who were chronically absent from school has improved, state education officials announced on Friday.

Data released by the Michigan Department of Education shows the state’s chronic absenteeism rate declined by 1.3 percentage points to 29.5% for the 2023-24 school year compared to the year prior rate of 30.8%. Chronic absenteeism is defined as when a student misses 10% or more of school days or 18 days or more in Michigan.

The statistic means that nearly 30% of Michigan’s K-12 students — or 413,081 — are chronically absent, a level that remains far above absenteeism rates experienced before the COVID-19 pandemic when about 19.7% of Michigan students were chronically absent for the 2018-19 school year.

In the 2022-23 school year, Michigan had the biggest improvement in the nation in its chronic student absenteeism rate but ranked seventh highest among states, according to a new analysis by The Associated Press and The Detroit News.

Meanwhile, the statewide attendance rate among Michigan students increased by 3/10ths of a percentage point from the year before, from 90.5% to 90.8%. State education officials said the 2023-24 school year was the second consecutive year that both the attendance and chronic absenteeism rates improved in Michigan.

The latest figures on school attendance follow a Detroit News series on chronic absenteeism in Michigan that found that students from kindergarten through high school have been avoiding school at record rates since school buildings reopened after the pandemic more than three years ago.

Students are missing school for a variety of reasons that involve their home life, the impact of poverty or physical and mental health ailments. Some students say aren’t in school because they have to watch younger siblings or care for parents with medical problems. Others need to continue working at jobs they started during the pandemic.

Some kids are overcome by anxiety and can’t leave the house, let alone spend a full day in school. Some have become homeless for part of the year or changed schools several times. In many cases, kids said they simply don’t want to go to school and parents let them stay home.

Education experts said chronic absenteeism is one of the biggest problems facing American schools right now because it undermines widespread academic recovery efforts underway to catch students up from the learning losses during the last three school years when many spent months, even years, away from classrooms, schedules, adults and peers.

State Superintendent Dr. Michael F. Rice students need to attend school regularly to maximize their school experiences.

“Despite our progress, far too many students are chronically absent. We need to work together to redouble our efforts and remove barriers to school attendance,” Rice said in a statement.

MDE officials said local school districts have focused on improving attendance rates through multiple methods including calls to parents, conferences with families, mental health interventions and door-to-door outreach to visit students’ homes to help reacclimate children to coming to school more frequently.

jchambers@detroitnews.com