Identification and Tracking Absences
Chronic absence is defined by the National Center for
Children in Poverty (NCCP) as missing 10% of school days
(18 or more days of the 180; Chang & Romero, 2008).
Nationally, more than 11% of children in kindergarten and
9% of first graders are chronically absent, but the rates of
chronic absence have been reported to be as high as 55%
in different grades in some schools (Chang & Romero,
2008). Romero and Lee (2008) found that the majority of
chronically absent first graders were also chronically absent
children in kindergarten.