By MarylandReporter.com/Capital News Service, a student-powered news organization run by the University of Maryland Philip Merrill College of Journalism
A teacher instructs an attentive class in a Calvert County public school. (Capital News Service)
Baltimore City principal Yetunde Reeves makes it a priority to encourage strong attendance at her school. Reeves, principal of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School, said improving attendance is the first step in educating her students.
“We have just made it like a big deal here and it’s something that we have a campaign around,” Reeves said. “Every time I interact with a student, I always look at their attendance.”
Student absenteeism rates have proliferated across the state and the country since the COVID-19 pandemic. Thousands of Maryland students are absent from school each year.
Here’s what we know.
What causes chronic absenteeism?
Chronic absenteeism, when students miss 10% or more of school, has surged across the nation after the COVID-19 pandemic. This means many students are missing out on at least 18 days of school each academic year.
In Maryland, nearly 27% of students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year, an increase of over 7% from 2018, according to Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE) data. Chronic absenteeism in Maryland reached almost 40% in 2022.
Absenteeism can be caused by a variety of factors, according to Jing Liu, an assistant education professor at the University of Maryland.
School climate can contribute to absences, especially if students don’t feel safe or a sense of belonging to the school, Liu explained. Some students may move homes frequently or have the responsibility to take care of their siblings. Others may deal with personal health issues.
“There’s no single reason for student absenteeism,” Liu said. “It’s really complex in terms of the interplay between the individual student, their family, their school environment, and even their community.”
Having 10 absences across all subjects in 9th grade reduces both the probability of a student graduating and enrolling in college by 2%, according to a 2021 study published in the Journal of Economics. Liu, who contributed to the study, said missing school can lead to lower test scores and grades.
Which Maryland counties are facing the highest rates of chronic absenteeism?
Baltimore City had the highest chronic absenteeism rate of all 24 Maryland jurisdictions, with nearly half of all public school students chronically absent last school year.
Reeves said transportation can be a barrier to Baltimore City students, especially when some travel more than an hour and a half to attend school.
Two Baltimore City schools had chronic absenteeism rates higher than 90% last school year. Some schools with high chronic absenteeism are alternative high schools or serve students with special needs.
Rates were also especially high for high school students. Last school year, 35% of Maryland high school students were chronically absent from school, compared to about 23% of elementary school students.
Absenteeism rates are higher among Hispanic and Black students. Last school year, over 45% of Hispanic students and over 40% of Black students were chronically absent from school, according to state data. Over 24% of white students and almost 17% of Asian students were chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year.
How can chronic absenteeism be addressed at schools?
Principal Eugenia Young spends many nights worrying about the students absent from class at her Baltimore City high school.
Young is the principal of Excel Academy at Francis M. Wood High School, an alternative high school that serves adult students who are often many credits away from graduation. Excel Academy had an attendance rate of 44% last school year, according to Baltimore City Public Schools.
“Our kids don’t get educated, they will struggle,” Young said. “That means the country will struggle, that means the city of Baltimore will struggle.”
Despite Excel Academy’s high rate of chronic absenteeism, the high school won an award from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott after increasing its daily attendance by 16% between 2023 and 2024.
Effective strategies to combat absenteeism included putting students on attendance contracts and scheduling parent conferences, Young said. The school also provided incentives like gift cards or snow tubing trips.
“Kids really want to do those experiences, because they know in a normal setting, that’s not something that their parents may be able to afford for them to do,” Young said. “They’re still kids at the end of the day.”
Sebastian Harris, a senior at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in Baltimore City, said he has barely missed school throughout his academic career. Some students will still skip school because they get bored or can drive somewhere else, he explained.
“It’s a problem because it’s affecting more than just what you’re learning today,” Harris said. “It affects tomorrow and the day after and the day after.”
But Harris doesn’t just have strong attendance because of the incentives his school offers. Sometimes, it’s the teachers who make a difference. Many students attend Harris’ Spanish class, for example, because his teacher keeps students engaged.
Monique Keene-King, a pupil personnel worker in Montgomery County Public Schools, said relationship-building can improve student attendance. This can range from dropping by a family’s house or simply complimenting a student in the hallway, she said.
Ultimately, school staff must let students know that they will not give up on them, Keene-King said.
“We care about kids,” she said. “We want our young people to be productive and successful community members.”
How is chronic absenteeism being addressed at a state-wide level?
Beyond citywide approaches, state education leaders are taking the initiative to address chronic absenteeism across Maryland schools. The Maryland State Department of Education stated it is committed to reducing the chronic absenteeism rate to 15% by next school year.
A Maryland General Assembly bill introduced in January aims to create a chronic absenteeism task force that will make recommendations to the governor by the end of 2025. Another bill introduced in the same month mandates each county board of education to identify the root cause of chronic absenteeism.
Delegate Deni Taveras (D-Prince George’s County), the second bill’s primary sponsor, said finding the root cause of chronic absenteeism at the local level will be a smart use of taxpayer dollars.
“This will help inform the task force so that they can develop the recommendations that they need,” she said.
Mary Gable, assistant state superintendent at MSDE, said the education department’s current attendance task force is developing a toolkit to address student absenteeism.
Ultimately, school needs to be a place where students feel safe to learn and improve, Gable said. It should be a place, she said, where someone can look at a student and say, “We’re glad you’re here today.”
