Connecticut’s chronic absenteeism rates dropped during the 2023-2024 school year.
New data from the state Department of Education shows that the percentage of kids missing more than 18 school days per year was down to 17%. That’s down 2% from the previous year, and the lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventeen percent amounts to more than 87,000 students.
State Education Commissioner Charlene Russell-Tucker said the department wants to continue that downward trend.
“Attendance lays the foundation for effective learning, impacting student growth and achievement and the continued recovery and acceleration efforts that we're also determined to achieve,” Russell-Tucker said.
According to the department’s Chief Performance Officer Ajit Gopalakrishnan, some academic scores also improved.
“We're also seeing improvements in mathematics in almost all grades and all student groups, which is also encouraging to see,” Gopalakrishnan said. “English language arts, ELA, has remained stable; we see some improvements in some grades and some student groups, which is also a good thing. We're not moving backward.”
Those scores are based on standardized tests. To see how each municipality scored, click here.
