More Rhode Island kids attended school in the last school year, pulling the state’s chronic absenteeism rate down to 22.1% — a decrease of around 2.6 percentage points, according to new state data released Tuesday.
The rate of chronic absenteeism — defined as missing at least 18 days of school, or 10% of a school year — was 24.7% in the 2023-2024 school year.
The 2024-2025 academic year dip comprises about 142,360 fewer absences compared to the 2023-2024 school year.
“I know that these improved results are happening only because of the hard work of the students, families, educators and administrators like those here today,” Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green said at a Tuesday morning State House press conference to publicize the latest slate of initiatives tied to the ongoing Attendance Matters RI campaign.
School absenteeism rose sharply during the pandemic nationwide. In Rhode Island, chronic absenteeism rates peaked at 34.1% during the 2021-2022 school year. Statewide rates have declined for three consecutive years but have largely remained above pre-COVID 19 benchmarks of under 20%.
The state-controlled Providence Public Schools District (PPSD) saw robust improvement: Chronic absenteeism went down nearly 7 percentage points, from 36.2% to 29.3% for the 2024-2025 school year.
Overall, the state’s biggest school district has improved 27.8 percentage points since the 2021-2022 school year, when PPSD’s chronic absenteeism rate peaked at 57.1%.
Reversing chronic absenteeism trends has been a major concern of Infante-Green and Gov. Dan McKee, who emphasized Rhode Island’s recent progress while detailing the state’s continued strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism as students return to school statewide.
“We really want families and parents to know that if that child is feeling good, they need to be in school,” McKee said. “We’re going to talk about the evidence that says that if you’re in school, you’re going to do better. It’s common sense, right? If you’re in school, if you show up, you’re going to do better.”
New attendance guidance for the state’s public schools suggests flagging students who miss 10% of classes and are “significantly off-track” in their grades and studies.
School districts should notify families of such students with a “Promotion in Doubt” letter by the end of the first quarter of the school year, and provide quarterly updates after the initial letter if necessary. Schools are advised to exhaust resources like Individualized Learning Plans, tutoring, transportation assistance and social services before deciding to hold a student back.
The commissioner noted that chronically absent students have a four-year high school graduation rate of just 58.9%, compared with 96.2% for their peers — a nearly 38-point gap, Infante-Green noted.
“Every student that we’re able to recover makes a difference in their lives and the lives of the state,” Infante-Green said, adding that some of the most effective interventions have been some of the simplest.
“Last year, we sent magnetic refrigerator calendars home with every single student in the state,” the commissioner said. “It was just a little thing that we tried, but students loved it. They were a physical representation of the hard work our students were doing by showing up to school every single day.”
Infante-Green said that families have been inquiring about the calendars’ return this year, and she added that the calendars will once again be available this year to “every single household in Rhode Island.”
Also premiering this year is an attendance heat map which shows in real-time when absences spike at the school, district, and state level. Absenteeism rates tend to cluster around weekends and holiday breaks — an anecdotal argument the state now has data to back up, Infante-Green said.
Complete attendance and absenteeism data for the 2024-2025 school year is available on RIDE’s website.
Schools with the most improved absenteeism rates in 2024-2025
- Achievement First Providence Mayoral Academy
- Emma G. Whiteknact Elementary School, East Providence
- Warren A. Sherman Elementary School, Warwick
- Achievement First Promesa Mayoral Academy, Providence
- Elizabeth Baldwin Elementary School, Pawtucket
- Roger Williams Middle School, Providence
- Esek Hopkins Middle School, Providence
- West Broadway Middle School, Providence
- Governor Christopher DelSesto Middle School, Providence
- Nathan Bishop Middle School, Providence
- Beacon Charter School, Woonsocket
- E-Cubed Academy, Providence
- Juanita Sanchez Educational Complex, Providence
- Dr. Jorge Alvarez High School, Providence
- Village Green Virtual Charter School, Providence
Schools with the lowest overall absenteeism rates in 2024-2025
- Sowams Elementary School, Barrington
- Hampden Meadows Elementary School, Barrington
- Nayatt Elementary School, Barrington
- Oak Lawn Elementary School, Cranston
- Primrose Hill Elementary School, Barrington
- Jamestown School – Lawn Middle School
- Segue Institute for Learning, Central Falls
- Barrington Middle School
- Wilbur and MacMahon School, Little Compton
- Kingston Hill Academy, Kingston Hill Academy Charter
- The Greene School Charter, West Greenwich
- Segue Institute for Learning Charter and Legacy High School
- East Greenwich High School
- Barrington High School
- North Smithfield High School
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
