Montgomery County Schools has a plan to fight chronic absenteeism

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. — Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) has unveiled a new "action plan" to address chronic absenteeism in Maryland classrooms. A student who misses 18 or more days of school a year without permission. According to district data, 27% of students were considered chronically absent last school year. 

MCPS launched a new Attendance Action Plan to try to address the problem as kids head back to class. "ALL TOGETHER NOW: In School Together, Learn Together, Achieve Together" hopes to tackle the critical issue through a data-driven, collaborative and multi-faceted approach. 

First, the school system plans to conduct a comprehensive analysis of school-based absenteeism data, examining student groups, days of the week, departments, courses, teachers and periods. MCPS says the analysis will help identify root causes and develop targeted interventions to improve attendance. 

Each of Montgomery County's 211 schools will develop a customized attendance plan with specific goals. The plan calls for regular attendance review meetings in which numbers will be analyzed and individual students will be identified for support. 

The action plan also calls for a system-wide attendance promotion campaign to raise awareness about the importance of regular school attendance. 

A closer look at the data shows chronic absenteeism is up across all age groups compared to pre-pandemic data. In the 2018-2019 school year, just under 30% of Montgomery County high schoolers were chronically absent. Last year, 35.79% of high school students were considered chronically absent.

In elementary school, 12% of students were considered chronically absent pre-pandemic. That number sat at 19.99% last school year. 

Superintendent Dr. Monifa McKnight said she hopes a shift in culture around attendance will help students succeed. 

"We believe that every student deserves equal opportunities to succeed academically, and regular school attendance is an important factor in achieving that. By implementing our multifaceted approach, we aim to create a culture of attendance and engagement that supports the well-being and academic growth of all our students," she said.