Greater than 1 in 4 Colorado college students missed greater than 10% of faculty over the last faculty yr, in line with an evaluation launched Wednesday by the Colorado Division of Training.
The findings — which level to shut to 270,000 college students being chronically absent throughout the faculty yr — are a worrisome development for state training officers and lecturers, notably as college students largely proceed to path behind in educational efficiency popping out of the peak of the pandemic.
“Each day a pupil is at school is a chance for them to study, construct relationships and entry assist,” Susana Córdova, Colorado’s training commissioner, mentioned in a press release. “We all know districts are working laborious to make sure college students attend faculty recurrently. However we’d like everybody, together with educators, dad and mom, college students and neighborhood members, to make a renewed effort on this necessary matter.”
The speed of continual absenteeism throughout Colorado faculties final yr was 31%. A pupil is marked chronically absent after they miss 10% or extra of the varsity yr, in line with the state training division.
That price is a step in the appropriate path from the 2021-22 faculty yr, when a file 36% of scholars had been chronically absent. Nonetheless, it far exceeds charges of continual absenteeism earlier than COVID-19, which ranged from 18% to 24%, in line with state knowledge.
“The surest technique to make enhancements in our restoration from the disruptions of the pandemic is for teenagers to be at school,” Córdova mentioned.
One brilliant spot: Many of the state’s faculty districts had higher attendance charges final yr than throughout the 2021-22 faculty yr, with 124 of Colorado’s 185 faculty districts bettering in attendance.
This can be a growing story that can be up to date.
