Senate study committee hears data and local strategies as Georgia tackles chronic absenteeism

Senator John F. Kennedy convened a study committee on combating chronic absenteeism at Mercer University's President's Dining Room, bringing state and national experts, local superintendents and legislators together to review data and possible remedies.

The meeting opened with Kennedy, chair of the committee, describing chronic absenteeism as a "quiet crisis" that predated the pandemic and surged afterward: "pre-COVID it was about 9.5 percent; it spiked during COVID and got as high as about 26 percent," he said, and added that "that's 360,000 school children in our public school systems in Georgia that are chronically absent," defined in the meeting as missing 10% or more of the school year.

The nut graf: committee members and presenters urged early detection, school-climate improvements and cross-sector partnerships as the most effective strategies. Presenters emphasized that data tools, prevention and supportive responses outperform punitive approaches and recommended expanding school health and mental-health services, using tiered interventions (MTSS/PBIS) and building local attendance teams empowered to respond quickly to student- and school-level patterns.

Attendance Works executive director Hedy Chang summarized national research and practice: "Chronic absence is referring to missing 10% or more of the school year," and warned that absence patterns beginning in early grades predict later reading and achievement loss.…