States / Arkansas

Chronic absence in Arkansas

Where things stand, what state rules ask of each role, and what is changing. For school and district leaders.

School year 2024-25

29%

of students were chronically absent¹

Chronically absent means miss 10 percent or more of the school year.¹

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²

Five-year trend

Arkansas, year by year

Arkansas chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2019-20	22%
2020-21	17%
2021-22	26%
2022-23	22%
2023-24	27%
2024-25	29%

Dashed bars mark years the state did not publish a rate.

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 29% of Arkansas students were chronically absent, in AEI's compilation of state-reported data¹.
The rate fell from 26% in 2021-22 to 22% in 2022-23, then rose to 27% in 2023-24 and 29% in 2024-25¹.
In grades 7 through 12, 52,390 of 228,410 students (22.9%) were chronically absent in 2024-25, in statewide figures reported by the University of Arkansas Office for Education Policy; grade 11 was highest at 26.0%³.
In those grades, rates were highest for students experiencing homelessness (35.0%), English learners (28.4%) and Black students (27.4%), compared with 20.4% for white students³.
University of Arkansas researchers found the K-12 rate averaged 13.2% before the pandemic (2016-17 to 2018-19) and 21.2% after it (2021-22 to 2022-23), about 100,110 students a year⁴.
Arkansas is above the national picture: across reporting states, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, which AEI labels 2025².

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

The daily attendance record must be kept by a teacher or other officially designated person, who notes each student's attendance or absence every day, in a format the state education division sets⁵.
For state reporting, a student is absent if he or she is not participating in instruction on school grounds, unless the student is in a district approved activity off grounds for the school day⁶.
Each district and open-enrollment charter school must have a policy on how attendance is recorded for students in virtual or remote learning, if that method differs from the daily record⁵.

Counselors

State law says a student with unexcused absences because of illness, accident or other unavoidable reasons should be given help in obtaining credit for the courses⁷.
Before a student reaches the policy's maximum number of unexcused absences, the student or parent may petition the school or district administration for special arrangements to address them⁷.
If the administration grants special arrangements, they will be put in a written agreement with its conditions and the consequences of not meeting them, signed by the administration's designee, the parent and the student⁷.
A district may waive the attendance requirement so a student aged 16 or 17 can enroll in adult education only after all listed requirements are met, including a meeting of the student and parent with the school counselor about academic options⁹.

Attendance team

Parents, and the community truancy board if one has been created, must be notified when a student's unexcused absences reach one-half of the absences the district's policy permits per semester⁷.
Notice to parents must be by phone by the end of the school day of the absence, or by regular mail with a return address sent no later than the next school day; notice to a truancy board is by letter to its chair⁷.
If a community truancy board has been created, it must schedule a conference with the parent to set a plan to eliminate or reduce the absences; if the parent does not attend, the conference may be held with the student and a school official, and the parent must still be told the steps⁷.
When a student exceeds the policy's number of unexcused absences, or breaks a special-arrangements agreement, the district must notify the prosecuting authority and the community truancy board, if one has been created; the parent is then subject to a civil penalty of up to $500 plus court costs and any reasonable fees the court assesses, through a family in need of services action in circuit court⁷.

Principals & districts

Each district board must adopt student attendance policies, and each district must include strategies for promoting maximum attendance in its six-year educational plan, such as alternative classrooms and in-school suspensions in lieu of suspension from school⁸.
The policy must set a number of unexcused absences that may be used to deny course credit, promotion or graduation, but unexcused absences may not be a basis for expulsion or dismissal⁷.
District boards may create a community truancy board, or use an existing board such as a diversion board if that board agrees; its duties include recommending ways to improve attendance, such as helping families get services that address the causes of absences¹⁰.
Districts must keep basic attendance records on file electronically for three years, audited as the State Board of Education requires, and the state education division may inspect them to verify attendance is reported accurately⁵.
Districts and open-enrollment charter schools must not grant excused absences for political protest; they may excuse absences for social or public policy advocacy or attempts to influence legislation or other government policy only with written parent consent¹¹.

Recent changes

What changed lately

In September 2024, Arkansas joined a group of states that committed to cut chronic absenteeism by half over a five-year period, with each state choosing its own starting point¹².
At the time, Arkansas planned to use the previous school year's rate as its baseline and had not yet released those figures¹².

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Arkansas's ESSA plan includes student engagement as a component of each school's ESSA Index Score, and student attendance is part of student engagement, according to a 2018 state memo⁶.
Absences of any kind, excused or unexcused, that meet the state's definition of a state-reported absence should be included in the attendance data districts report to the state⁶.
Attendance from the combined reports for the first three quarters of the school year is the official data used to compute certain types of state aid for the following year⁵.
A district that does not file those reports by April 15 has the rest of its state foundation funding withheld in escrow until the reports arrive, unless the state education division grants a waiver on the district's petition⁵.
If a district or prosecuting authority does not comply with the unexcused-absence law, the State Board of Education may petition the circuit court to issue a writ of mandamus⁷.

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Sources

American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025, Table A3. State-Reported Chronic Absenteeism Data, by State, School Years 2017-25 (columns are spring years 2017 to 2025: 2020 = 2019-20, 2021 = 2020-21, 2022 = 2021-22, 2023 = 2022-23, 2024 = 2023-24, 2025 = 2024-25; rates rounded to whole percent) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
University of Arkansas, Office for Education Policy. Student Absenteeism Root Causes Survey: Arkansas Student Survey Results, Volume 23, Issue 6 (July 2026) (opens in a new tab) (2026-07)
University of Arkansas, Office for Education Policy. Chronic Absenteeism in Arkansas K-12 Public Schools, policy brief (April 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-04)
FindLaw copy of the Arkansas Code (current as of March 28, 2024; the official code is not on the legislature's site). Ark. Code § 6-18-213, Attendance records and reports generally (opens in a new tab) (current as of 2024-03-28; accessed 2026-10-13)
Arkansas Department of Education. Commissioner's Memo COM-18-093, State Reported Absence (memo date May 8, 2018) (opens in a new tab) (2018-05-08)
FindLaw copy of the Arkansas Code (current as of March 28, 2024; the official code is not on the legislature's site). Ark. Code § 6-18-222, Penalty for unexcused absences--Revocation of driving privilege (opens in a new tab) (current as of 2024-03-28; accessed 2026-10-13)
FindLaw copy of the Arkansas Code (current as of March 28, 2024; the official code is not on the legislature's site). Ark. Code § 6-18-209, Adoption of student attendance policies--Effect of unexcused absences (opens in a new tab) (current as of 2024-03-28; accessed 2026-10-13)
FindLaw copy of the Arkansas Code (current as of March 28, 2024; the official code is not on the legislature's site). Ark. Code § 6-18-201, Compulsory attendance--Exceptions--Waiver (opens in a new tab) (current as of 2024-03-28; accessed 2026-10-13)
FindLaw copy of the Arkansas Code (current as of March 28, 2024; the official code is not on the legislature's site). Ark. Code § 6-18-226, Community truancy board--Members--Duties (opens in a new tab) (current as of 2024-03-28; accessed 2026-10-13)
Arkansas General Assembly (Arkansas State Legislature). Act 341 of the Regular Session, 2025 (HB1512, the Arkansas ACCESS Act), new Ark. Code § 6-18-237 (opens in a new tab) (2025-03-18)
Chalkbeat. 14 states pledge to cut chronic absenteeism rates by half over 5 years (September 9, 2024) (opens in a new tab) (2024-09-09)