My sixth grade student Dalton wasn’t in school when his class went outside for an air temperature experiment in science. He wasn’t there when they analyzed photographs from World War II as part of a literacy lesson. And he wasn’t with his classmates for the Cleopatra papyrus-drawing activity in social studies.
During one month this fall, Dalton missed half of it. There were doctors’ notes for his migraines, bouts of the flu, and even absences because members of his family were sick. He fell further and further behind, making it harder and harder for me to catch him up and for Dalton to feel confident about his academic progress.
Across Arkansas, about 21% of students are chronically absent, defined as missing 10% or more of the days in a school year. In my school district, 11% of students were chronically absent in 2023-24 and 25% in 2024-25. For every day that Dalton and students like him miss school, they lag behind on skills and content…