Chronic Absenteeism

A student is considered chronically absent in New Jersey when they are absent for 10% or more of their total days enrolled. A day absent is any day in which a student participates in instruction or instruction-related activities for less than half a day, regardless of whether the absence is excused or unexcused. Certain state-defined absences, including religious observance, college visits for 11th and 12th graders, and participation in one civic event per year for students in grades 6–12, are excluded from this calculation.

The chronic absenteeism rate is calculated by dividing the number of chronically absent students by the total number of students in grades K–12 identified as accountable to the school or district. For 2024-25, students are included in the calculation only if they were enrolled in the school for 90 or more days during the year. This is a change from prior years, when the threshold was 45 days with active enrollment at year end. Prior year rates reflect the methodology used at that time and have not been recalculated.