“Addressing chronic absenteeism is an all-hands-on-deck effort.”
Governor Dan McKee
On this site, you will find
Data & Leaderboards
Access to dashboards that are updated daily to better help school leaders identify attendance issues early and often
Links to Always Be Learning
Access to learning resources to help Rhode Island students learn 365 days a year
Toolkits & Best Practices
Providing resources, from informational flyers to social media posts, that are easy to use and share
What is chronic absenteeism?
School attendance is a powerful predictor of student outcomes. Rhode Island defines chronic absenteeism as the percentage of students who miss 10% or more of school days during the year (or two days per month). Attending school every day is even more critical in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
To help raise awareness, Rhode Islanders are lending their voices to #AttendanceMattersRI. Head to our Video page to hear from dozens of familiar faces and join the effort by sharing the Attendance Matters message on social media or by submitting to AttendanceMatters@ride.ri.gov. Additional videos can be found on RIDE’s #AttendanceMattersRI YouTube playlist.
Learning Impact
Significant performance gaps exist for students who are chronically absent. In Rhode Island, chronically absent students, on average, performed lower than their not chronically absent peers by 19.9%-26% on 2023 assessments. Click the photo to learn more about why attendance matters.
Activities we can work on together
There are toolkits, posters, positive messages and advice for school leaders, teachers, parents and students provided by our friends at Attendance Works.
Click the graphic to find a tool that works for you.
