Student Absentee Rates: How Does Simsbury Rank?

SIMSBURY, CT – Simsbury had a chronic absenteeism rate of 4.7 percent last year.

Hartford had the worst chronic absenteeism rate in the state last year, at 22.4 percent; the best chronic absenteeism rate in the state was Hebron, at 1.6 percent.

Chronic absence is defined as missing 10 percent or greater of the total number of days enrolled during the
school year for any reason.

It includes both excused, unexcused, out-of-school suspensions, and in-school suspensions that last more
than one-half of the school day. For example, a student who has been enrolled for the first 30 school days at the beginning of the school year and has been absent three of those days is chronically absent.

Over the last school year, rates of chronic absenteeism in Connecticut schools fell in every student subgroup and in the state overall, continuing a trend that started during the 2012-13 school year. From the 2014-15 school year to the 2015-16 school year, the rate of chronic absence fell from 10.6 percent to 9.6 percent statewide.

“Tackling chronic absenteeism is critical to improving outcomes for all of our students so that they receive an
adequate education that prepares them to succeed in life,” Governor Dannel Malloy said in a prepared statement. “We need to do everything we can to ensure that all students, regardless of the life circumstances into which they are born or what town or city they live in, receive a quality public education. Because of
the recent efforts of teachers, school districts, the state, and families, nearly 10,000 more students are consistently attending class than four years ago. We need to do everything we can to make progress in our efforts to provide students with the best educational opportunities possible.”

Written by Jack Kramer (Patch Correspondent)

Patch file photo