Chronic absenteeism—defined as missing 10 percent or more school days during the school year—remains a concern for some K-12 school leaders and educators. According to the New Jersey Department of Education, chronic absenteeism can be a predictor of low literacy levels, high dropout rates, and poor health outcomes in adulthood.
During the 2021-22 school year immediately following the COVID-19 shutdowns, 18.1 percent of New Jersey’s students were chronically absent, up from the state’s pre-pandemic rate of 10.6 percent in 2018-19. Notably, rates were higher for historically underserved groups, including students who are Black, Hispanic, nonbinary, economically disadvantaged, multilingual learners, and students with disabilities (New Jersey Department of Education, 2025).
Over the 2023-24 school year (the most recent year for which data is available), New Jersey had the second lowest rate of chronic absenteeism in the country. With a rate of 14.9 percent, New Jersey trails only Alabama at 14.8 percent. Other leading states are separated by just a few percentage points:
| Table 1: 2023-2024 Top 5 States with Lowest Chronic Absenteeism Rates | |||
| Rank | State | Chronic absenteeism rate | Total K-12 student enrollment |
| #1 | Alabama | 14.8% | 718,716 |
| #2 | New Jersey | 14.9% | 1,426,840 |
| #3 | Idaho | 15% | 308,714 |
| #4 | Virginia | 16.1% | 1,262,262 |
| #5 | Connecticut | 17.7% | |
Sources: Alabama State Department of Education (Report Card) (n.d.), Connecticut Report Cards (n.d.), Idaho Report Card (2025), NJ School Performance Report 2023-2024 (2025), Virginia State Quality Profile (n.d.)
While New Jersey has made significant progress in getting students back to school, there is still work to be done to achieve full pandemic recovery. At the district level, chronic absenteeism rates differ substantially across the state. For example, districts that serve a significant number of historically underserved students, like those in Paterson and Camden, had chronic absenteeism rates above 35 percent in 2023-24, whereas districts in places such as Millburn Township and Westfield had rates below 8 percent.
Each state faces unique challenges in improving student attendance; however, New Jersey may benefit from exploring best practices in student engagement from its peer states. Two questions emerge: What similarities and differences exist among these states, and how do New Jersey’s historically underserved student groups compare?
In terms of total student population, Virginia (which matriculated 1.2 million students in its K-12 public schools during the 2023-24 school year) is most comparable to New Jersey (which matriculated 1.4 million students that same year) (see Table 1). While New Jersey enrolls a higher number of Black students overall, Virginia’s percentage of chronically absent Black students is lower (see Table 3), suggesting that Virginia may be implementing more effective strategies to support consistent attendance among these students.
Additionally, New Jersey served twice as many students as Alabama during the 2023-24 school year, yet more than half of Alabama’s students were economically disadvantaged as compared with 38.1 percent of New Jersey’s students (see Table 2). While it may be challenging to translate student engagement strategies from a smaller, more homogenous state to a larger, more diverse one, New Jersey might still learn from Alabama’s targeted efforts to reach economically disadvantaged students and consider implementing similar approaches at regional or district levels.
An initiative towards cross-state collaboration, especially in service of reaching New Jersey’s historically underserved student populations, could be key to helping the state get more learners back in school.
| Table 2: 2023-2024 Top 5 States with the Lowest Chronic Absenteeism: Student Enrollment Demographics by Historically Underserved Group |
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| State | Hispanic or Latino | Black or African American | Economically Disadvantaged | Students with Disabilities | Multilingual Learners |
| Alabama | 11.8% | 31.9% | 64.7% | 18.0% | 6.7% |
| New Jersey | 34.0% | 14.2% | 38.1% | 19.3% | 10.6% |
| Idaho | 19.9% | 1.2% | 37.0% | 12.0% | 7.0% |
| Virginia | 19.4% | 21.5% | 43.5% | 14.4% | 14.1% |
| Connecticut | 31.1% | 12.5% | 44.0% | 17.9% | 10.5% |
Sources: Alabama State Department of Education (Report Card) (n.d.), Connecticut Report Cards (n.d.), Idaho Report Card (2025), NJ School Performance Report 2023-2024 (2025), Virginia State Quality Profile, n.d.)
| Table 3: 2023-2024 Top 5 States with the Lowest Chronic Absenteeism: Chronic Absenteeism Rates by Historically Underserved Group |
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| State | Hispanic or Latino | Black or African American | Economically Disadvantaged | Students with Disabilities | Multilingual Learners |
| Alabama | 11.9% | 18.4% | 18.4% | 18.3% | 10.0% |
| New Jersey | 18.4% | 21.4% | 21.2% | 21.0% | 17.2% |
| Idaho | 20.0% | 18.1% | 21.9% | 23.0% | 21.9% |
| Virginia | 19.6% | 19.2% | 22.7% | 21.5% | 18.3% |
|
Connecticut |
25.7% | 24.5% | Free lunch – 29% Reduced-price lunch – 16.5% |
27.2% | 24.3% |
Sources: Alabama State Department of Education (Report Card) (n.d.), Connecticut Report Cards (n.d.), Idaho Report Card (2025), NJ School Performance Report 2023-2024 (2025), Virginia State Quality Profile (n.d.)
References:
Alabama State Department of Education (Report Card). (n.d.). Alabama State Department of Education. Retrieved 2025, October 20, from https://reportcard.alsde.edu/OverallScorePage.aspx?ReportYear=2024&SystemCode=000&SchoolCode=0000
Connecticut Report Cards. (n.d.). EdSight. Retrieved 2025, October 20, from https://edsight.ct.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest?_program=%2FCTDOE%2FEdSight%2FRelease%2FReporting%2FPublic%2FReports%2FStoredProcesses%2FConnecticutReportCard&_district=State%20of%20Connecticut&_select=Submit
Idaho Report Card. (2025). Idaho Department of Education. Retrieved 2025, October 20, from https://www.idahoreportcard.org/about-us/state?stateId=ID
New Jersey Department of Education. (2025). Chronic Absenteeism in New Jersey: What We Know. https://nj.gov/education/safety/sandp/attendance/docs/CAWhatWeKnow.pdf
NJ School Performance Report 2023-2024. (2025, August 15). New Jersey Department of Education School Performance Reports. Retrieved 2025, October 20, from https://www.nj.gov/education/sprreports/202324/State-Detail/St.pdf
Tryens-Fernandes, S. (2023, August 21). Thousands of Alabama students miss weeks of school. This group helps. AL.com https://www.al.com/educationlab/2023/08/thousands-of-alabama-students-miss-weeks-of-school-as-attendance-tanks-across-us.html#:~:text=According%20to%20The%20Associated%20Press%20and%20Stanford,Dropping%20out%20*%20Missing%20crucial%20classroom%20time
Virginia State Quality Profile. (n.d.). Virginia Department of Education. Retrieved 2025, October 20, from https://schoolquality.virginia.gov/virginia-state-quality-profile#desktopTabs-3