Kate Callahan, Iowa City School District director of student services, reported improved attendance levels for the 2024-25 school year, reaching levels not seen since before the pandemic, at the district’s board meeting Tuesday.
Average daily attendance, or the percentage of daily attendance for all students in the school district in a given year, jumped from 93 percent during the 2023-24 school year to 95.3 percent this year.
Attendance levels had previously dipped due to the pandemic. During the 2020-21 school year, attendance was at 93.7 percent. In 2021-22, it fell by over 2 percent.
Callahan explained the school’s accountability in implementing plans and working toward increased attendance in the district to achieve the revived attendance numbers.
“The district has really placed a big responsibility on the schools for increasing attendance, doing what’s even beyond requirements of the law, because it’s in the best interest of students to be in school and to be in seats learning,” she said.
Chronic absenteeism, the percentage of students absent for more than 10 percent of school days for any reason, has also decreased within the district. The amount of chronically absent students dropped from 19.9 percent during the 2023-24 school year to 11 percent in 2024-25, a noticeable 8.9 percent decrease.
The decrease of chronic absenteeism comes following the Iowa Legislature passing a law in April 2024 and placing substantial limitations on what absences can be excused by districts.
Callahan listed various changes made within the district that could be attributed to the improving statistics.
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A standardized process for the district notifying families of children with high numbers of absences was among those mentioned, relieving the communication burden on individual schools. Ensuring that any notifications sent are in families’ preferred language was also notable.
In comparison to other schools within the Urban Education Network of Iowa, a consortium of the largest public school districts within the state, Iowa City schools were in the bottom three of 10 percent of chronic absenteeism.
“We’re right behind Waukee and West Des Moines and tied with Ankeny at this time,” Callahan said. “We’re pretty proud of those numbers.”
Callahan did mention a slight 3 percent increase in absenteeism rates since January compared to the first five months of the year, though she said it was pretty typical for the winter and would be closely monitored by the district.
“In January, you also notice, due to weather and also illness, students are missing school,” she said. “It is something we just want to take a closer look at and monitor.”