Students are led to their classroom by a teacher at Yung Wing School P.S. 124 on March 7, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
The rate of Louisiana K-12 students missing school without an excuse has remained higher than average since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report from the nonpartisan Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana.
Over the past 11 years, the statewide truancy rate has averaged 36%. But since the 2020-21 school year, it has been consistently over 40%, according to the report.
Louisiana defines truancy as having unexcused absences for five or more school days per semester.
The state may have a lower chronic absenteeism rate than other states, however, when using the U.S. Department of Education definition. The federal government defines chronic absenteeism as enrolled students who miss 10% of their school days with unexcused absences.
Chronic absenteeism nationwide is at 23%, but in Louisiana, it stands at just 22.5%, according to data from FutureEd.
Chronic truancy varies greatly from parish to parish as calculated by the state. The highest rates for 2023-24 were in Tensas (67.5%), Point Coupee (66%), St. Bernard (61.8%) and St. Landry (61.1%). The lowest were Ascension (20.6%), Red River (23.6%), East Carroll (24.1%) and St. James (24.5%).
High rates of unexcused absences put students more at risk of becoming a school dropout and substance abuse, according to the report.
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