Chronic Absenteeism

Beginning with the 2017-18 school year, a new definition of “absent” will be used to identify students who are chronically absent. As part of the implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, districts and schools are required to report to the South Carolina Department of Education the number of students who are chronically absent each year. According to the United States Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR)/EdFacts, an absent student is one who misses 50 percent of the instructional day for any reason and regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused. In other words, students must attend class for at least half of the instructional day to be considered present for that day.

Using this new definition, the EdFacts requires states to report the number of students in each district and school who are absent at least 10% of the time during which they are enrolled in a particular school or district. More specifically, students who are enrolled in the same school for an entire academic year and miss 18 or more days (10 percent) will be considered chronically absent. The total number of chronically absent students will be included on district and school report cards and reported to the EdFacts.

Chronically absent: Any student in grade K-12 who misses 50 percent or more of the instructional day for any reason for 10 percent (or more) of the enrollment period.

• All types of absences contribute to chronic absenteeism:
  • Excused Absences
  • Unexcused Absences
  • Suspensions
• A student is absent if he or she is not physically on school grounds and is not participating in instruction or instruction-related activities at an approved off-grounds location for the school day.

Truant: A student between the ages 6– 17 who has accumulated unexcused absences on three consecutive days or has accumulated a total of five or more unexcused absences during the academic year.

• Only full-day unexcused absences contribute to truancy.
• Excused absences and suspensions do not affect truancy

 Habitual Truant:  A “habitual” truant is a child age 12 to 17 years who fails to comply with the intervention plan developed by the school, the child, and the parent(s) or guardian(s) and who accumulates two or more additional unlawful absences. This child may need court intervention and an initial truancy petition may be filed. The written intervention plan, and documentation of non-compliance, must be attached to the truancy petition asking for court intervention.

Chronic Truant: A “chronic” truant is a child ages 12 to 17 years who has been through the school intervention process, has reached the level of a “habitual” truant, has been referred to Family Court and placed on an order to attend school, and continues to accumulate unlawful absences. Should other community alternatives and referrals fail to remedy the attendance problem, the “chronic” truant may be referred to the Family Court for violation of a previous court order. All school intervention plans existing to this point for this child and family must accompany the Contempt of Court petition as well as a written recommendation from the school to the court on action the court should take.

Chronic Absenteeism Webinars/Trainings

• National Student, Attendance, Engagement, and Success Center

• Teaching Attendance Curriculum

Chronic Absenteeism Interventions

• Tiered Interventions

• A Community Toolkit to Address and Eliminate Chronic Absenteeism

• Examples of Tiered Practices for Distance or Hybrid Learning-Attendance Works

• Attendance Works Parent Toolkit

Chronic Absenteeism Resources

• Attendance Works
   
• Everyone Graduates Center
   
• SC Handbook on Attendance

Chronic Absenteeism Data

• Chronic Absenteeism in the Nation’s Schools

•  Data Matters Using Chronic Absence to Accelerate Action for Student Success

• Chronic Absence across the United States, 2015-16 School Year

School Districts Training Resource