School officials celebrate drop in chronic absenteeism, but are still shy of goal

Maryland school officials Tuesday celebrated a sharp drop chronic absenteeism since the pandemic, despite uneven results across school districts and not reaching their goal of cutting post-pandemic rates in half.

The Maryland Department of Education announced earlier this month that nearly 23% of students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 academic year, down from almost 32% in the 2021-22 academic year.

But data released during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting showed rates ranging from 41.4% in Baltimore City to 15.4% in Harford and Howard counties. The state considers a student who misses 10% of the school year, or 18 days of the 180-day school calendar, as chronically absent, whether the absences were excused or unexcused.

On a school-by-school basis, most saw a decline in absenteeism since the pandemic, but 14% did not.

“The most foundational part of school is showing up to school,” Board President Joshua Michael said in an interview earlier this month. “When you’re not in school, there’s also a higher likelihood that you’re engaged in things that may not be productive.”

Michael said the sharp increase in absenteeism during and after the pandemic made state officials realize it was not just a national problem, but also a Maryland problem. Chronic absenteeism was just under 20% in 2019, before the pandemic.

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The state is taking action in three different ways, Michael said: Expanding data collection on chronic absenteeism, working with staff and groups like Attendance Works, a national nonprofit, to provide resources to school districts, and running campaigns like “Maryland Shows Up!” to analyze progress and promote the cause.

“When we are able to put our eyes on children at school, we can check in with them and identify what supports they need,” Michael said. “It really makes a big difference in making sure that student is OK.”

State data from early February showed that chronic absence rates are highest in economically disadvantaged students, while those with disabilities and multilingual learners were close behind.

Attendance Works founder and CEO Hedy Chang said in an interview last week that the organization provides guidance to the education department based on their latest research findings.

The partnership is still working to improve chronic absenteeism in middle and high schools across the state. These grade groups can be tough for student attendance because of the transitions from elementary to middle school and middle to high school, Chang said.

Though chronic absenteeism in high schools across Maryland remains about 10%  to 15% higher than in elementary and middle schools, all grade groups have experienced a decline since the 2021-22 academic year, the state’s data shows.

Chang also noted that data collection has been expanding, especially in Maryland, to go beyond solely logging unexcused absences. This allows researchers to dive deeper into the root causes of absenteeism in schools at a district level.

Students are likely to reach chronic absence due to academic disengagement, social and peer challenges, anxiety and misconceptions about the effect of an absence, Chang said.

“Whether a kid shows up to school is a reflection of both what happens in the community and the school,” she said.

Kent County Superintendent Mary Boswell-McComas wrote in a statement last week that chronic absenteeism has fallen sharply in her county, to the lowest level in five years. The share of students in the county with perfect attendance also increased from 39% to 61%, or three in every five students, in the last academic year.

Boswell-McComas attributes the improvement to county board efforts to push the benefits of attending schools and the drawbacks of not doing so, while also providing more clarity to families on why even an excused absence can be harmful for a students’ learning.

State educators and Attendance Works officials on Tuesday highlighted Hall’s Cross Roads Elementary School in Aberdeen as a bright spot for declining chronic absenteeism. It went from nearly 44% absenteeism to just under 15% over a two-year period, according to data presented at Tuesday’s meeting by Principal Karen Jankowiak.

Hall’s Cross Roads is a Title I school, which receives federal funding because 90% of its 420 pre-K to fifth grade students live in poverty, Jankowiak said. Administrators and teachers have been incentivizing student attendance by holding schoolwide events and programs for those reaching a certain level of attendance.

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Jankowiak and Amanda Coyne, teacher specialist at the elementary school, both discussed the baseline that proper attendance and academic prioritization provides for a student’s future.

“You want [parents] to really understand that when your kids come to school, you will help them not be dependent on you,” Jankowiak said. “You want them to get a driver’s license. You want them to have a job.”

Family engagement and student-teacher connectedness are two strategies that have shown the most improvement in chronic absentee rates, according to Chang. But she noted it’s important for school systems to recognize what is and isn’t working and develop an initiative that works for students based on their data results.

Coyne echoed this statement, saying schools should be creative with already existing incentives and loop attendance requirements within.

On a state level, Michael said he’s confident Maryland will continue to see improvements in absentee rates and eventually hit its 15% goal, even if cutting the post-pandemic rate in half  seems like a long shot.

“[The state’s efforts] are going to help emphasize the importance of school, and that we’re going to see positive impact reverberate,” Michael said. “Because fundamentally, what we’re saying to young people and their families is, ‘We value you. We want you to be here. You matter.’”