Statewide school attendance rates for the current school year through January 2024 have increased over previous school years according to recent data from the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE).

As of January 2024, the statewide attendance rate for all students was 93.1 percent, up from 92.6 percent for the 2022-2023 school year. Attendance rates for all measured student groups remain below the 2019-2020 school year, although attendance rates for that year are based only on in-person school days through mid-March 2020, when schools closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attendance rates for school years between 2020-2021 and 2022-2023 were calculated using both in-person and remote learning days. The rate for the current school year to date is based on in-person learning.

For all student groups measured by the CSDE’s data, including students with high needs, students without high needs, English learners, students with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, and students eligible for free and reduced price meals, attendance has increased each school year since 2021-2022.

Across all groups, the attendance rate for students experiencing homelessness has recovered the least from pre-pandemic attendance records. During the first part of the 2019-2020 school year, attendance for the group was 88.8 percent. For the current school year to date, it is 85 percent. The group also experienced the biggest decline in attendance numbers between 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, falling from 88.8 percent attendance to 80.4 percent.

Chronic absenteeism, defined as missing at least 10 percent of the days for which a student is enrolled, for the current school year to date has also declined. For all students, and across all student groups measured by the CSDE, chronic absenteeism peaked during the 2021-2022 school year. For all students, the rate of chronic absenteeism for the current school year to date is 19 percent, down from 20 percent during the 2022-2023 school year and 23.7 percent during the 2021-2022 school year.

Chronic absenteeism rates have declined for all students groups except for students without high needs for the school year to date. During the current school year, chronic absenteeism among students without high needs has increased from 10.2 percent in 2022-2023 to 11 percent.

Students experiencing homelessness continue to have a higher chronic absenteeism rate than all other student groups. During the 2021-2022 school year, the chronic absenteeism rate peaked at 60.2 percent. While that rate has fallen over the past two school rates, it remains at 48.4 percent for the current year.

For all student groups, chronic absenteeism remains above pre-pandemic levels but students experiencing homelessness have recovered the least.

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