PHOENIX — One in five Arizona children in elementary school and junior high is considered chronically absent.
That's according to a new report from the Helios Education Foundation.
"Kids who are chronically absent are at higher risk of dropping out of high school, which can divert them from going on to college and limit career options," said Doctor Paul Perrault, senior vice president of community impact and learning.
Dr. Perrault says COVID was just the beginning but it's not the only reason to blame for so much time missed at school.
"People got used to not being in school, and there were other issues that were happening, and daycare issues, family and job issues, mobility issues, people having to move because they lost jobs. All of those things really together have created more of this crisis around chronic absenteeism," he said.
Chronically absent means missing 18 days in a calendar school year.
Dr. Perrault hopes the results of this study will help to identify where support is needed most.
"I think the biggest takeaway is that it wasn't impacting all students equally. We started seeing rural students miss school more than urban students. We started seeing English language learners, missing school more than non-English language learners. Native American students were chronically absent before the pandemic but during the pandemic, almost 1 out of every 2 Native Americans were chronically absent," he added.
Dr. Perrault also says why the results of this particular study are so important for all students in Arizona, "It's important to make sure that we're thinking about this because if you're chronically absent in those early grades, what is that going to mean for third-grade reading? Because if that's the time that's really going to set the stage of how you're going to do academically across the spectrum."
