School Absentee Data to be Doctored
Mississippi to adopt federal chronic absenteeism threshold
The Mississippi Department of Education will stop using a state-specific threshold for chronic absenteeism and instead report against the federal standard, the agency's leadership told the State Board of Education.
At the board's October 15 meeting, the board chair introduced the superintendent's report by saying, "we go straight into your report, Dr. Evans," before a speaker identified as State Superintendent Lance Evans addressed the board. That speaker said, "the federal definition of chronic absenteeism is set at 50% of the day. Well, in our state, it's currently at 63% of the day." The speaker added that Mississippi is believed to be the only state still using a threshold above 50%.
According to the report, this year's chronic absenteeism figures will be the last calculated under the 63% standard, with future reports based on the federal 50% measure. The board did not take a formal vote on the change as described in the material provided.
The shift means Mississippi's reported chronic absenteeism rate will be measured against a less strict bar than before — counting students absent for half the school day rather than nearly two-thirds of it. That change, by definition, is likely to make the state's reported numbers look better regardless of whether actual student attendance improves.
The timing is notable because Mississippi has recently adopted a new, controversial mandatory-attendance law. How the state measures and reports absenteeism going forward will bear directly on whether claims about that law's effects on attendance can be verified using consistent, comparable data.