Attendance Support

It is important for every student in Ohio to attend school every day. Attendance studies routinely show the connection between regular attendance and critical school measures such as reading proficiently, performing well academically, and graduating from high school.

Chronic absence is defined in Ohio as a student missing 10% or more of the school year for any reason – excused, medically excused, unexcused and suspensions. Chronic absenteeism is part of Ohio’s report card as part of Ohio’s Every Student Succeeds Act Plan. Ohio, along with 35 other states, uses chronic absenteeism as a measurement of student success under the Gap Closing Component.

For more information about chronic absence rates at schools and districts, visit Student Recovery Dashboards or Ohio School Report Cards.  On the 2022-2023 State Report Card, chronic absenteeism in the state remained high, yet declined 3.4% from 2021-2022 (30.2%) to 2022-2023 (26.8%).

Chronic absence is different from other commonly tracked attendance metrics such as truancy and Average Daily Attendance (ADA). In Ohio law, a student can only be considered truant based on unexcused hours of missed school. Average Daily Attendance is a school-wide measurement which shows the total hours all students attended school divided by the total hours all students could have attended the school year. Average Daily Attendance tends to mask chronic absence and can make it difficult to see when a school or district has an attendance issue.

Ohio's Attendance Guide emphasizes the importance of focusing on early intervention and prevention strategies to improve student attendance and lower chronic absenteeism by providing district- and school-level activities and resources.

Attendance in Ohio

Ohio law requires schools and districts to notify families of students who are excessively absent and habitually truant. Schools and districts report dates of written notification and attendance intervention plans.
 
Schools and districts develop local attendance policies, including reasons students may be excused from school, in compliance with Ohio law.
 
Visit Ohio's Attendance Laws FAQ  for more details in implementing attendance laws.

Resources for Schools and Districts

These two samples can be modified by schools and districts for use in communicating attendance thresholds to students and families.

• Sample Habitually Truant Notification for Families
• Sample Excessively Absent Notification for Families

 
These four documents may be helpful for schools and districts in designing and maintaining their Absence Intervention Plans and Teams.

• Absence Intervention Plan Template
• Absence Intervention Team Communication
• Absence Intervention Plan Determination
• Documentation for Filing a Truancy Complaint

Other Resources

• Stay in the Game! Network
• Attendance Works
• Ohio Supreme Court Toolkit: Developing an Effective School Attendance Program
• Attendance Playbook by FutureEd and Attendance Works

Last Modified: 11/1/2023 3:53:44 PM

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