Alaska 55.2 Percent Chronic Absenteeism: Top 10 US States by CRDC Data

Civil Rights Data Collection shows Alaska (55.2%) Arizona (53.5%) Michigan (45.9%) and Hawaii (45.7%) leading US states in chronic-absenteeism rates — more than half of Alaska students miss 10 percent or more of school days.

Research period:

Research Question

Across 51 US state school systems which has the highest chronic-absenteeism rate — and what is the gap between the highest-absenteeism states and the US median?

Methodology

We queried PlainSchools school_resources table for chronically_absent_pct across all 95891 schools with valid submission data in the most recent Civil Rights Data Collection release. We aggregated to state level by taking the school-weighted state average of chronically-absent-percentage. Chronic absenteeism in federal definition is a student missing 10 percent or more of enrolled school days. We ranked states and cross-referenced absenteeism with AP-course-offering rates and counselor-ratio data to identify patterns across the state distribution.

Findings

Alaska tops the list at 55.2 percent chronic absenteeism

PlainSchools records Alaska's state-average chronic-absenteeism rate at 55.2 percent across its public schools, the highest value among 51 US jurisdictions. This rate covers students missing 10 percent or more of school days under the NCES definition. The schools table holds chronic-absenteeism data for each of 95891 US public schools with valid CRDC submissions. Alaska schools contribute to this total, enabling state-specific averages. Alaska school profile displays the full list of schools driving the 55.2 percent figure. Student-teacher ratio reaches 20.0 in Alaska, paired with 61.5 percent free-lunch eligibility in the same dataset. These columns join to chronic-absenteeism measures in PlainSchools.

The school_resources table tracks counselor-fte, nurse-fte, psychologist-fte, AP-course-offering, gifted-programs, IDEA-students, and suspension counts next to chronic-absenteeism for all 95891 schools. Alaska entries in this table reveal resource patterns at the school level. Users drill down from Alaska's 55.2 percent average to individual schools via the schools table. Civil Rights Data Collection reports chronic-absenteeism under federal civil-rights monitoring for 95891 schools. Data methodology details how PlainSchools loads CRDC fields verbatim into the schools table and school_resources table. Alaska's profile page lists every school with its chronic-absenteeism value from CRDC.

Arizona Michigan Hawaii complete a 45+ percent top cluster

Arizona posts the second-highest state average at 53.5 percent chronic absenteeism in its public school system. Michigan follows at 45.9 percent, Hawaii at 45.7 percent in the same CRDC dataset. These states form a top cluster above 45 percent, drawn from 95891 schools nationwide. PlainSchools aggregates school-level chronic-absenteeism from CRDC into state averages. Arizona school profile shows contributing schools. Michigan school profile lists its schools with 45.9 percent driving the average.

The school_resources table pairs chronic-absenteeism with counselor-fte and psychologist-fte for Arizona's schools. Hawaii schools in the schools table report 45.7 percent, joining to free-lunch-eligibility rates from NCES Common Core of Data. Michigan's 45.9 percent average spans schools tracked in CRDC submissions. PlainSchools enables queries across these states' school_resources table entries. 13403 US schools offer at least one Advanced Placement course amid the 95891 total. Arizona schools contribute to this AP-course-offering count in school_resources table.

Oregon records 43.4 percent, New Mexico 41.9 percent, New York 41.3 percent in the next tier below the 45+ percent cluster. Montana hits 39.8 percent, Nevada 39.5 percent as the tenth-ranked state. These values aggregate from CRDC school-level data loaded into PlainSchools schools table. District of Columbia reports 43.7 percent, ranking fifth overall. School-level drill-down reveals which Arizona schools push the 53.5 percent average higher than Michigan's 45.9 percent.

The national distribution spans Alaska's 55 percent to New Hampshire's low teens

Alaska's 55 percent chronic-absenteeism rate stands approximately 4 times the rate in lowest-absenteeism states under NCES standards. This span covers all 51 jurisdictions in the CRDC dataset of 95891 schools. PlainSchools schools table holds chronic-absenteeism for every school, aggregating to state values like Alaska's 55.2 percent. All 51 state profiles display these averages with school lists. Maryland leads with 16.3 average AP courses per school, a school_resources table metric.

13403 schools nationwide offer AP courses, per the school_resources table AP-course-offering column. Chronic-absenteeism varies from Alaska's peak through Arizona's 53.5 percent down to lower states. CRDC enforces reporting of chronic-absenteeism as a civil-rights metric across 95891 schools. PlainSchools joins school_resources table fields like gifted-programs and IDEA-students to absenteeism data. State profiles enable comparison of Michigan's 45.9 percent against the national distribution.

The schools table supports per-state rankings from CRDC aggregates. Nevada's 39.5 percent anchors the top ten, while lowest states fall to levels 4 times below 55 percent. Methodology loads NCES Common Core of Data fields like student-teacher ratio alongside CRDC absenteeism. 13403 AP-offering schools distribute unevenly by state, with Maryland at 16.3 per school average. Civil Rights Data Collection covers suspensions and nurse-fte in parallel with chronic-absenteeism for full context.

PlainSchools state averages derive strictly from school-level CRDC data for 95891 entries. Users access school_resources table for counselor-fte tied to absenteeism rates. The distribution places Hawaii's 45.7 percent in the upper band, contrasting lower states.

Alaska leads US states at 55.2 percent chronic absenteeism, followed closely by Arizona at 53.5 percent and a 45+ percent cluster including Michigan at 45.9 percent and Hawaii at 45.7 percent, all from CRDC school-level data across 95891 public schools; this top group towers over the national distribution where 55 percent equals 4 times lowest-state rates per NCES standards, with school_resources table metrics like 16.3 AP courses per Maryland school and 20.0 Alaska student-teacher ratio providing context for high-need patterns via data methodology.

Context and methodological notes

Public-education performance measurement aggregates several federal data flows: the National Center for Education Statistics Common Core of Data (school-level enrollment, teacher counts, expenditure), the Civil Rights Data Collection (discipline disparities, course access, restraint incidents), state assessment results reported under federal accountability provisions, and the Stanford Education Data Archive normalizing results across state-test variations. Researchers parsing district performance distinguish proficiency rates (point-in-time achievement), growth measures (within-cohort change), college-readiness indicators (AP coverage, dual enrollment, FAFSA completion), discipline equity gaps, chronic absenteeism prevalence (ten-percent days absent threshold), and per-pupil expenditure adjusted for cost-of-education differences across regions. Methodological complications include pandemic-era assessment gaps, opt-out rates affecting score representativeness, charter and choice school inclusion criteria, English-learner inclusion rules, and special-education identification rate variation. Comparative researchers emphasize that headline graduation rates conceal cohort-stability differences, transfer adjustments, and credential-mix variations between traditional diplomas, certificates, and equivalency credentials.

For the underlying calculations and assumption set, see our methodology page.

What this analysis cannot tell us

Chronic absenteeism is a reported metric that depends on school and district recording practices — jurisdictions vary in how they track excused versus unexcused absences and in how they count remote-learning or sick days. Post-pandemic CRDC data shows elevated absenteeism nationally so the 55 percent Alaska figure must be read against a national baseline that is itself higher than historical norms. Chronic absenteeism is an outcome metric influenced by transportation housing and family-economic factors as well as school-climate factors. State averages mask within-state variation between urban rural and tribal school systems — Alaska in particular has large remote-area school systems with distinct absenteeism patterns. The CRDC release timelag means the most recent data in PlainSchools is from the last completed collection cycle not the current school year.

Related data

Sources