Schools across the country saw students chronically absent post-pandemic, with New Mexico one of the hardest hit. However, the state public education department recently reported a significant decrease in students missing school last year.
Students who miss 10 percent or more of school, which amounts to about 18 days, are considered chronically absent. These absences include any days missed either for illness or other reasons.
During the 2022-23 school year, over 39 percent of students were in this category. But for the most recent school year, the New Mexico Public Education Department (NMPED) is now reporting a decline, to about 32 percent.Deputy Education Secretary Candice Castillo said that this is a complex issue, with no one-size-fits-all solution. Rather, it’s about working with individual school districts to learn their specific needs, since repeated absences can hurt a student’s academic success.
“They increase their risk of falling behind academically, they increase their risk of not graduating from high school—there’s also alot of research [that shows] when students start missing that many days, their social-emotional health can get compromised,” said Castillo.
She states that the department’s goal is to get attendance rates where they were before the pandemic, if not better. This comes as the state has seen little improvement over the last few years.
Castillo added that the decline the state is seeing now is due to several factors. That includes about $5 million in funding from the state legislature to support the state’s seven largest school districts, as well as NMPED providing more technical assistance to support schools’ attendance improvement plans.
Also, Castillo credits the new Be Here NM campaign that focuses on bringing awareness to strong communication between parents and schools with tools and resources to support attendance efforts.
NMPED has scheduled a New Mexico State Attendance Conference in late October that will bring together over 400 school professionals and community members to talk about strategies for getting students engaged in learning.
