An examination of the geography of chronic absence by district in Arizona showed that the chronic absence rates were high in rural districts in the northeast and northwest corners of Arizona and on the Navajo Nation or Hopi land. Some of these districts reported over 30 percent chronic absenteeism. In contrast, school districts in the center of the state generally reported lower percentages of chronically absent students. As a geographic region, the districts in the Phoenix metroplex generally had lower rates of chronic absence than the districts in the Tucson and Flagstaff areas.
An examination of the variability in chronic absence rates at the student, school, and district levels showed that a larger part of the variation (about 80 percent) in chronic absence was among students in the same schools, highlighting large gaps in attendance between students in the same schools.
In 2019, American Indian or Alaska Native students, economically disadvantaged students, and special education students had the highest rates of chronic absence. While differences in chronic absence rates were smaller across school characteristics than student characteristics, students enrolled in rural schools and schools with high concentrations of poverty were more likely to be chronically absent than their peers.
