A look at chronic absenteeism across U.S.

The government has come out with discouraging new figures on how many students are habitually missing school, and an Associated Press analysis finds the problem is particularly acute in the nation’s capital, where almost one-third of students were absent 15 days or more in a single school year.

The states of Washington and Alaska were not far behind, with absentee rates hovering around one-quarter of students with that level of absences.

Florida had the lowest rate of absences, with 4.5 percent of public school students chronically missing school in the 2013-14 academic year.

The national average was 13 percent, about 6.5 million students, according to the Education Department. Bob Balfanz, a research professor at Johns Hopkins University and director of the Everyone Graduates Center, called that number disturbing.

“If you’re not there, you don’t learn, and then you fall behind. You don’t pass your classes. You don’t get the credits in high school and that’s what leads to dropping out,” Balfanz said in an interview.

In 2014-15, about 16 percent of all Washington students, or 174,000 students, were chronically absent.

In Washington state, students from low-income families, students of color and students with disabilities have the highest chronic absence rates, according to the state.

In the Mid-Columbia region, Finley had the lowest chronically absent rate at 9.41 percent with Kiona-Benton City showing the highest rate at 19.56 percent.

Kennewick had 11.21 percent chronically absent, Pasco 13.17 percent and Richland at 15.16 percent.

The report was the first release of chronic absentee figures from the department.

The Obama administration began a program last fall that is working with states and local groups in 30 communities to identify mentors to help habitually absent kids get back on track.

“With millions of kids missing about a month or more of school each year, chronic absenteeism is a national crisis,” said NBA star Kevin Durant, who is working with the administration on the initiative, in a statement Wednesday. “Sometimes the reasons come down to not having what you need to be present and ready — like a book bag, school supplies, or the support of a caring adult.”

Detroit is among the new communities to sign up for the My Brother’s Keeper Success Mentors Initiative.

Of the 100 largest school districts by enrollment, the Detroit City School District had the highest rate of chronic absenteeism. Almost 58 percent of students were chronically absent in the 2013-14 school year.

According to AP’s analysis, girls were just as likely as boys to habitually miss school. Almost 22 percent of all Native American students were reported as regularly absent, followed by Native Hawaiians at 21 percent and black students at 17 percent. Hispanic and white students were close to the national average of 13 percent.

Students are regularly missing school for lots of reasons, Balfanz said. Many are poor, and could be staying home to care for a sibling or helping with elder care. Others are avoiding school because they’re being bullied or they worry it’s not safe. And then, there are some students who simply skip school.

Schools should be creating welcoming environments to make students feel wanted each day, Balfanz said. They also need to build relationships with the kids who are regularly absent to figure out what’s keeping them away, he said.

As part of its Civil Rights Data Collection, the department surveyed all public schools in the country, covering more than 95,000 schools and 50 million students. About one in seven of all K-12 public schools nationwide reported having not a single chronically absent student that year.

Chronic absenteeism is one of several topics covered in the data collection. It also looked at school discipline and high-rigor course offerings.

Other figures from the report:

▪ Black preschool children are 3.6 times as likely to get one or more out-of-school suspensions as their white counterparts.

▪ Black children represent 19 percent of preschoolers, yet they account for 47 percent of preschool kids getting suspended.

▪ White students make up 41 percent of preschoolers, and 28 percent of preschool kids with suspensions.

▪ Overall, across the country, 2.8 million K-12 students received one or more out-of-school suspensions, a nearly 20 percent drop from the number reported two years ago.

▪ Nationwide, almost half of high schools offered classes in calculus, and more than three-quarters offered Algebra II.

▪ 33 percent of high schools with substantial black and Latino enrollment offered calculus. That compares to 56 percent of high schools with low numbers of black and Latino children that offered calculus. Similar gaps were seen for physics, chemistry and Algebra II.

This story was originally published June 8, 2016 at 3:49 PM with the headline "A look at chronic absenteeism across U.S.."