Empty Desks: Key Trends In Chronic Absenteeism in Missouri Schools

By : Courtney Vahle, Ed.D.

Published On: March 21, 2025

The newest data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education finds that more than one in five K–12 students were chronically absent in the 2023–24 school year. From 2019 to 2024, nearly 91% of Missouri districts (499 total) have experienced a rise in chronic absenteeism—defined as missing at least ten percent of scheduled school days. Here, we explore key trends from the most recent Missouri attendance data.

PAR = Proportional Attendance Rate., defined as the percentage of students who are in attendance at least 90% of the time. A PAR from 90-100% means that less than 10% of students are chronically absent. A PAR from 0-79.9% means that more than 30% of students are chronically absent.

Chronic absenteeism—missing at least 10 percent of school days—remains a significant concern.

More than one in five (21.8%) of Missouri K–12 students were documented as chronically absent during the 2023–24 school year. According to the last year of pre-pandemic data, only 12.7% were chronically absent in the 2018–19 school year.

From pre-pandemic (2018–19) to present, nearly 91% of districts—or 499—have experienced a rise in chronic absenteeism.

While the pandemic likely exacerbated the presence of chronic absenteeism, rates have been increasing since 2016.

The number of high-attendance districts (less than 10% of students chronically absent) plummeted after the pandemic. Conversely, the number of low-attendance districts (more than 30% of students chronically absent) is decreasing after an all-time high in 2022.

Still, of the more than 550 Missouri districts, 172 were low-attendance in the 2023-24 school year, while just 90 were high-attendance.

Missouri’s urban hubs experience significantly higher rates of chronic absenteeism than the state’s rural areas.

The median rate of chronic absenteeism in city locales was 35.2 percent in the 2023-24 school year. In rural locales, it was 14.4 percent. This gap has worsened in recent years. In the 2018-19 school those numbers were only different by 9.1 percentage points, now 20.8.

Rates of chronic absenteeism were higher among older student groups.

For the 2023–24 school year, elementary and middle school students averaged a chronic absenteeism rate of 16.7 percent. But the chronic absenteeism rate for high school students was 22.5 percent. This gap has remained relatively consistent over time.

The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education only publicly reports attendance using the grade bands K-8 and 9-12. It would be helpful to analyze grade-level data to isolate when exactly this decline in attendance occurs.

The average rate of chronic absenteeism for students who qualify for Free and Reduced-Price Lunch (FRL) is 30.7 percent.

This rate is 40% higher than the statewide average. Students qualifying for IEPs and students learning English as a second language have also had lowered rates of attendance than the Missouri average in recent years.

While still much lower than historical rates, the state average proportional attendance rate and that of all measured subgroups has increased from the 2022–23 to 2023–24 school year.

That is, there were fewer students chronically absent in than 2023-24 school year than in the 2022-23 school year. Whether or not attendance rates will return to pre-pandemic norms remains to be seen. Research suggests addressing chronic absenteeism requires a data-driven approach to identify root causes and tailor interventions, alongside collaboration with local community stakeholders to mitigate barriers to attendance.

This blog post contains data and analysis from Empty Desks: An Analysis of Chronic Absenteeism in Missouri Schools. To learn more, read our full report here.

Access our attendance dashboard, datasets, or interactive map on the DATA tab or by clicking here.

MORE FROM THE PRiME BLOGS