Students Missing School: What the Data in Oakland County Shows about Chronic Absenteeism

(Kurt Metzger, Sept. 30, 2024)

Oakland County, MI- The reopening of the majority of Michigan public schools after Labor Day brought new attendance and test score results for the 2023-24 school year.  While I plan on developing more detailed data across the county’s public-school districts, which I know will show tremendous discrepancies across all students, as well as sub-groups, I wanted to look at public school students across the county.

While Chronic absenteeism (defined as when a student misses 10% or more of school days or 18 days or more) has been a critical education issue for decades, COVID drove the rates to critical heights and the period since its end has not brought recovery.

This is particularly problematic for black and brown children, economically disadvantaged children (many in both categories), and students with disabilities.  The chart below illustrates the percentage of K-12 children, by category, who were chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year.

Overall, more than a quarter (26.5 percent) of Oakland County public school students were chronically absent during the just completed 2023-24 school year.  This was slightly better than the 29.5 percent rate statewide.   While my focus is race/ethnicity and income, let me point out the much smaller differences that exit for English learners and Children with disabilities.  While their absentee rates are higher, the gap with their peers is much smaller than it is across race or income.

While white and Asian students had chronic absentee rates below 20 percent, Latino students exceeded 32 percent.  Almost half (47 percent) of African American students, more than twice the rate of their white and Asian peers, were chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year.

The effect of poverty, or “economic disadvantage,” is particularly clear when it comes to school attendance.

Poverty affects attendance through lack of childcare, transportation, and other resources. Older students sometimes stay home to care for their siblings.  When I researched this issue while at United Way, I found students did not attend school because they had no clean clothes.  Schools were installing washers and dryers in an effort to eliminate this as an issue.

42.6 percent of economically disadvantaged students in Oakland County public schools were judged to be chronically absent during the 2023-24 school year, versus only 16.1 percent of not economically disadvantaged – a 2.6 to 1 ratio.  How can we guarantee equal educational outcome when so many of our students are not receiving the school hours that they need?

Let me finish with words from Nat Malkus of the American Enterprise Institute: “If we are serious about overcoming learning loss, shrinking achievement gaps, and shoring up public schools, chronic absenteeism needs to be our number one priority. This means leadership at the state and national levels, decisive action from school and district leaders, and effective engagement from teachers. It also means that parents need to fulfill their moral and legal duty and make sure their children show up to school.”

For more stories about the Census and other interesting numbers, visit the Data-Base Stories Archives on Oakland County Times. Thanks to Data Expert Kurt Metzger for this work!