Richmond schools' chronic absenteeism declines
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Virginia is leading the nation in recovering from chronic absenteeism, according to Attendance Works, a nonprofit dedicated to improving school attendance.
Why it matters: Unsurprisingly, students who regularly miss school tend to perform worse than their peers academically, per the Virginia Department of Education.
- They're also more likely to drop out of high school.
The big picture: Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing 10% or more of the school year, or roughly two days a month.
- Chronic absenteeism in Virginia, like the rest of the nation, soared during the pandemic, going from roughly 10.6% in the 2018–19 school year to around 20% in 2021–22 and 2022–23, per Attendance Works and VDOE.
- In response, in 2023 Gov. Youngkin launched a Chronic Absenteeism Task Force as part of his ALL In initiative aimed at providing education and resources for local school districts to improve attendance.
- The state's absenteeism rate has been improving ever since, dropping to 15.7% in 2023–24 and 14.8% for last school year, per VDOE stats out this month.
Zoom in: Every Richmond-area school district's chronic absenteeism rate has improved since the 2022–23 school year, though some saw slight increases the year after, per a review of VDOE data.
- Richmond's chronic absenteeism rate was 20.5% in 2024–25, ⬇️ from 22.3% in 2023–24 and 25.3% in 2022–23.
- Chesterfield: 16.1% last year, ⬆️ from 15.6% in 2023–24 and way ⬇️ from 20.8% in 2022–23.
- Hanover: 14.2% in 2024–25, ⬇️ from 14.4% in 2023–24 and 17.3% in 2022–23.
- Henrico: 14.1% in 2024–25, ⬆️ from 13.6% in 2023–24, ⬇️ from 16.3% in 2022–23.
Between the lines: Research suggests that economically disadvantaged students have higher rates of chronic absenteeism than ones from more affluent families.
- Unstable housing, transportation issues and lack of health care and healthy food access can contribute to students missing school more often, per experts.
- So it's not surprising that Richmond — where 66% of students are economically disadvantaged, per VDOE — has the highest chronic absenteeism rate in the region.
- Henrico and Chesterfield's economically disadvantaged student populations are around 41%. Hanover's is 27%.
The intrigue: Some districts have been trying to tackle chronic absenteeism through online attendance dashboards.
- Henrico's and Chesterfield's are available via parent portals. Richmond's is public.
What we're watching: Whether Hispanic student attendance will fall significantly next year because of immigration enforcement.
- Some Richmond teachers say they've seen "pockets of times" following ICE raids when Hispanic students miss school, The Richmonder reported.