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Hurricane Helene Disaster Relief

Update: Chronic Absenteeism in Tennessee

Cropped shot of elementary school children raising their hands to ask questions in the class

June 2023

Author: Dana Spoonmore

Legislative brief

OREA has produced an update on student attendance in Tennessee public schools. The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on recent school years has been significant, affecting chronic absenteeism rates and disrupting the collection of attendance data and related accountability measures. Tennessee’s chronic absenteeism rate rose by 7 percentage points (55 percent) between 2019 and 2022.

This legislative brief is an update to OREA’s 2021 report Student Attendance in Tennessee.