Chronic absenteeism is generally defined as missing 10% or more of days during the school year (approximately 18 days) for any reason including suspensions, changing schools, and excused absences due to illness. Missing just two days of school each month in a traditional school year can result in a student being considered chronically absent.
Students who dropout of high school are also at an increased risk of
experiencing health and social problems into adulthood, negatively
impacting a student’s life-long success.
Analysis by Live Well San Diego shows that trends of steadily increasing chronic absenteeism rates for students from lower socioeconomic status , minority groups , and other under-resourced student populations .
Chronic absenteeism is a complex and challenging issue. Supporting
student health to improve attendance requires an interdisciplinary and
collaborative approach that includes students, families, schools, and community
partners.
Identifying the reasons for student absences from a regional
perspective to a student-level view is a key step towards
understanding the type of
needed to improve student attendance and academic success. So…
Live Well Schools’ 2019 Partnerships for Healthy Schools report cumulates the recent data and trends to start the discussion about how a strong wellness policy and effective budgeting investments in student physical and mental health and wellness can lead to better attendance.
Click to view a sample Healthy Schools report and Live Well School's Healthy Schools infographic: