Nearly 1 in 4 Ohio Students Chronically Absent as Schools Battle Attendance Crisis
Although there has been improvement in attendance over the years, nearly 1 in 4 students in Ohio missed 10% or more of school days during the 2025-26 school year, a concern for children’s learning and development.
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce reported that the state’s chronic absenteeism rate dropped to 23.7%, from 24.9% in 2024–25 and 30.2% in 2021–22. The rate is still much higher, however, than the 16.7% in the 2018–19 school year prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chronic absenteeism is defined as the absence of at least 10% of school hours, for any reason, including excused and unexcused absences.
“Progress was slowing, and continued efforts would be needed to get attendance back to pre-pandemic levels,” said Arya Ansari, a faculty associate at Ohio State University’s Crane Center for Early Childhood Research and Policy.
Children’s learning, social development and behaviour may be impacted by regular absences. The Crane Center cited research that indicated that a student’s absence from school may result in a significant loss of mathematics and language and literacy opportunities.
Other factors that may hinder children from attending school regularly include poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity, health issues and parents’ work schedules, experts say.
The highest chronic absenteeism rates in the state were in Garfield Heights City Schools (61.9%), Youngstown City Schools (56.7%) and Lorain City Schools (56.5%).
Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, serving over 200 school districts, promotes schools to recognize the reasons for absenteeism and create specific interventions.
Experts in the field of education believe that long-term collaboration between schools, families and communities is essential to improving attendance and ensuring that children learn consistently and achieve their full potential.
