About 27.2% of students with disabilities in Connecticut schools were chronically absent in 2023-24, according to the Department of Education.
Overall, the state’s chronic absenteeism rate at all school districts was 18.7% in the 2023-24 school year, compared to a high of 24% in 2021-22.
In almost all years, students with emotional disabilities have had the highest rate of chronic absenteeism (defined as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of the total number of days enrolled during the school year).
According to the Department of Education, emotional disability is defined as a student experiencing significant difficulties in learning, relationships, behavior, mood or other physical symptoms that are not explained by intellectual, sensory or health factors.
In the past six years, students with emotional disabilities have had a chronic absenteeism rate between 41% and 57%, with the lowest rate recorded in the 2019-2020 school year and the highest in the 2021-2022 school year. Since 2020-2021, the chronic absenteeism rate among students with emotional disabilities has remained over 50%.
Students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), traumatic brain injury (TBI) and dyslexia or other specific learning disabilities showed the biggest increase in chronic absenteeism in the past six years among students with disabilities. For students with ADHD, the rate of students who have been chronically absent in the 2023-2024 school year was up 22.32 percentage points from the 2018-2019 school year. The rate for students with TBI increased 17.41 percentage points, and for students with learning specific disorders, the rate increased 17.34 percentage points.
Despite the increases of some student groups, the overall number of chronically absent students with disabilities has decreased from 30.8% during COVID in 2020-2021 to 27.2% in the 2023-2024 school year.
Other groups also have had high rates of chronic absenteeism.
In the 2023-2024 school year, 18.7% students were chronically absent. Students who have experienced homelessness, who are eligible for free or reduced meals, who are English learners, or who are students of color all had higher absenteeism rates, according to Department of Education data.
Students experiencing homelessness have absentee rates more than 2.5 times higher than their peers. Nearly 48% of students who have experienced homelessness are chronically absent, in comparison to almost 18.5% of students who have not experienced homelessness.
When comparing absent students by race, Asian students have the fewest chronically absent students and an 11% chronic absenteeism rate, the lowest compared to other race groups. Hispanic and Latino students have absentee rates 2 times higher than white students. Black or African American students have absentee rates almost 1.9 times higher than white students.
Students eligible for free meals have absentee rates almost 2.5 times higher than students not eligible for free or reduced-price meals. In comparison, students eligible for reduced-price meals have chronic absentee rates 1.5 times higher than those not eligible.
