York High's Absenteeism Rate No Longer So High

ELMHURST, IL – A few years ago, York High School's chronic absenteeism rate was worse than that in schools with far greater numbers of students from low-income families.

Since then, York has seen much improvement.

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At Wednesday's school board meeting, officials revealed that York had the third-highest chronic absenteeism rate in 2022-23 among the 14 schools in the West Suburban Conference. York's rate was 37 percent.

The state tracks chronic absenteeism – the rate of students who are absent 10 percent or more of the days in a school year, whether excused or not. For a 180-day year, that means a student missed at least 18 days, or 3½ weeks.

Schools such as York with relatively wealthy student populations typically do better on most state indicators.

In 2022-23, only Proviso West and East had worse rates of chronic absenteeism. More than half of their students are low-income, while York is at 18 percent.

Schools such as Leyden, Willowbrook, J. Sterling Morton and Addison Trail recorded lower rates of chronic absenteeism than York in 2022-23.

All of them have substantially more low-income students, with J. Sterling Morton at 84 percent.

At the board meeting, York officials said they worked to reduce the rate. By 2024-25, it dropped to 18 percent, the second lowest in the conference.

"That's a big, big jump in a short period of time," said Tim Dykes, assistant principal for culture and climate. "A lot of it has to do with creating a space where people want to be. So we're proud of those numbers."

Mark Talbot, York's head of counseling, said one of the school's methods was drilling down on students who are absent from particular classes.

When a student misses a class two or three times, emails start going out. By the fourth, students are asked to speak with counselors, he said.

In some cases, students are struggling in the classes in question, so the school tries to get them extra support, Talbot said.

"Almost a third of the students who meet with a counselor for their fourth absence in a class don't get a fifth absence in the class," Talbot said. "So right there, we eliminate that concern before it becomes an ongoing thing."

Schools nationwide have seen surges of absenteeism since the pandemic.