Absenteeism Goal Pacer

Chronic absence means missing 10% or more of enrolled days, for any reason: excused, unexcused, and suspensions. In a 180-day year that is 18 days, or about two days a month.

The default goal cuts your 2021-22 rate in half by the end of 2026-27. Use Custom if your state or district set a different target.

• Pace you need: points between today's rate and the target, divided by the school years left.
• Pace you are on: your drop last year, or your average drop a year since 2021-22, whichever is slower. Without last year's rate, the average is used.
• This pace: today's rate minus your pace for each year left.
• On pace when this pace reaches the target. Close when the goal needs up to 1.5 times your pace. Behind up to 3 times. Far behind beyond that.
• Under 100 students, one student moves the rate by a point or more, so the tool does not call a pace.

The human number is a net count: how many fewer students would be chronically absent at the target than today, at today's enrollment. More students than that will need support, because some students on track today slip later in the year.

The math is a straight line on purpose. The last points are usually the hardest, because the students still chronically absent tend to face the biggest barriers. Plan more support for the final stretch, not less.