School officials celebrate drop in chronic absenteeism, but are still shy of goal

By: Pera Onal

Outlets: Maryland Matters

Published: September 29, 2026

Words: 962

Last Updated: 2 weeks, 3 days ago

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Maryland school officials Tuesday celebrated a sharp drop in chronic absenteeism since the pandemic, despite uneven results across school districts and not reaching their goal of cutting post-pandemic rates in half.

The Maryland Department of Education announced earlier this month that nearly 23% of students were chronically absent during the 2025-26 academic year, down from almost 32% in the 2021-22 academic year.

But data released during Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting showed rates ranging from …

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