Kentucky Department of Education officials have set a goal to reduce the chronic absenteeism rate in Kentucky to 15 percent by the end of the 2028-29 school year. This comes as last year’s rate was 28 percent. Missing two days a month can make a student chronically absent.
Ashley Gates, with the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Continuous Improvement and Support, said chronic absenteeism is a form of disengagement and disconnection between schools, their students and their parents.
“Essentially it is missing ten percent or more of your school day. And here in Kentucky, we decide that, determine that, by instructional minutes. So instead of the amount of days it is how much learning is actually being lost,” Gates said. “It includes everything missed, your excused, unexcused, doctor’s notes, all of those things.”
Officials said truancy only takes unexcused days accounted and holds legal ramifications while chronic absenteeism and more of an engagement metric and will not bring a punitive response.
Lisa Henry, also with the Kentucky Department of Education’s Office of Continuous Improvement and Support, said the biggest growth in chronic absenteeism has come in the youngest group of students.
“We are talking to administrators and districts and K through 2 is your highest gap, right? Because a lot of families will say, ‘it is not important to come to school’, ‘you are not really testing yet’, ‘you are not really, quote unquote, ‘learning anything’. And it sets that mindset kind of early on,” Henry said.
More information on absenteeism and how parents can help avoid it is available at education.ky.gov.