Report puts Detroit kids' chronic absenteeism at nearly 58%

Source: Detroit Free Press

A new report on chronic school absenteeism says half of the country's chronically absent kids are in just in 4% of school districts — including Detroit, where more than half the kids in the city's school system are chronically absent.

Detroit is one of the cities, along with Philadelphia, Baltimore, Milwaukee and Cleveland, highlighted in the report released publicly today.

Chronic absence occurs when a child misses so many days of school — whether the absences are excused, unexcused or suspensions — that it negatively impacts his or her academic achievement.

The report, created by Attendance Works and the Everyone Graduates Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Education, said nearly 58% of students in Detroit's school system are chronically absent. The national rate is about 13%.



Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/education/2016/09/06/chronic-absenteeism-detroit/89784112/