23.9% of Mississippi public school students were chronically absent in 2022-23, marking a decrease from 28% in the previous year, according to the latest report from the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE).

During the 2022-23 school year, 108,310 students were chronically absent, down from 128,275 in 2021-22. The rates decreased across all K-12 grades, with the highest absenteeism in kindergarten at 26.4%, grade 8 at 25.4%, and grade 12 at 39.5%.

Chronic absenteeism is when students miss 10% (18 days) of the school year for any reason, including both excused and unexcused absences. This differs from Average Daily Attendance (ADA), which measures the daily average of enrolled students attending school.

Dr. Raymond Morgigno, interim state superintendent of education, commented, “Seeing Mississippi’s chronic absenteeism rate decrease is a welcomed sign. The MDE encourages everyone to make regular attendance a priority.”

MDE has been reporting on chronic absence since 2016, with the lowest rate of 13% recorded in 2018-19. The spike in 2021-22 rates is largely attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To address this issue, MDE recently launched an attendance campaign titled “Every School Day Counts – Attend to Achieve.” The initiative stresses the importance of regular attendance and offers strategies to reduce chronic absenteeism. MDE aims to extend these efforts beyond September.

For a detailed look at the data, take a look at the the 2022-23 Chronic Absenteeism Report