Mississippi aims to reduce chronic absenteeism

Desmond Milligan · August 18

JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – September is Attendance Awareness Month, and the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is looking to promote the benefits of students maintaining regular attendance at school and reducing chronic absenteeism.

MDE defines chronic absenteeism as missing 10% of the school year for any reason, or two days of school per month. This includes excused and unexcused absences and suspensions. Research shows that students who are absent two to four days in September go on to miss nearly a month of school.

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“We all have a role in combatting chronic absenteeism in schools and preventing students from dropping out,” said Dr. Lance Evans, state superintendent of education. “MDE offers professional training and resources to districts, but we ask that local communities and service organizations join in as well. Regular attendance is essential for a student’s success in school.”

MDE began reporting chronic absence data in 2016. The lowest rate of 13% was in 2018-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is believed to be the major factor that led to higher state and national rates in 2021-22 when Mississippi’s was 28%. The state’s 2023-24 rate was 24.4%. MDE will soon release the 2024-25 Chronic Absenteeism Report.

MDE has their Office of Compulsory School Attendance Enforcement and Dropout Prevention to combat chronic absenteeism and to ensure all Mississippi public school students attend school. School attendance officers work in this department to connect with families and help them eliminate barriers to school attendance.

MDE reports this office collaborated with the North Mississippi Education Consortium earlier this year to offer Attendance Improvement Institutes for school districts from February 24 to May 16 across the state. The professional development event helped school teams create research-based and effective attendance improvement strategies to increase attendance rates.

Anyone interested in raising awareness about the importance of regular school attendance may utilize MDE’s online Attendance Awareness Toolkit, which includes resources from the agency’s Every School Day Counts – Attend to Achieve campaign. MDE will also host the Statewide Chronic Absenteeism and Dropout Prevention Conference September 8–9 at the Hilton Jackson.

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