Attendance & School Engagement

Attendance has been increasingly the focus of attention among school divisions and educators. Regular attendance is a significant factor in a student’s success:

• Chronic absenteeism correlates to low academic achievement;
• Absenteeism is a powerful predictor of dropout rates;
• Absenteeism has been linked to poor outcomes later in life.

Chronic absenteeism is defined as missing ten percent or more of the academic year for any reason, including excused absences, unexcused absences, and suspensions. Based on a 180-day school year, that means approximately 18 days per year or 2 to 3 days per month. 

Chronic absenteeism decreased from 20% in 2022-2023 to 14.8% in 2024-2025, which is a 26% reduction to date. All K-12 students had 2,098,669 fewer absent days which led to an additional 14,690,683 hours of instruction for Virginia students.

Truancy is the act of accruing one or more unexcused absences, where the parent is unaware of or does not support the student’s absence, or where the parent’s provided reason for the absence is not acceptable to the school administration.

Missed instruction, regardless of the reason, can have significant academic consequences. Therefore, the broader emphasis is on improving attendance for every student.