Today, the Office of the State Superintendent of Education (OSSE) launched a new public Attendance Dashboard to help families, educators, community members, and policymakers better understand student attendance trends and respond earlier when students are missing too much school. The dashboard will be updated monthly and shows chronic absenteeism and chronic truancy rates for District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) and public charter schools.
Student attendance remains a serious challenge in the District and nationwide. A student is chronically absent if they miss 10 percent or more of the school year for any reason—excused or unexcused—including days when they attend less than 60 percent of the day. Chronic truancy refers to 10 or more unexcused full-day absences.
The District’s chronic absenteeism rate was 39.5 percent and chronic truancy was 36.8 percent, according to OSSE’s 2024-25 Attendance Report. Rates were highest among high school students, with 57.6 percent chronically absent and 50.1 percent chronically truant. Nationally, chronic absenteeism was approximately 23.5 percent in school year 2023-24 and remains above pre-pandemic levels—increasing the need for timely, transparent data and early intervention.
“Students cannot learn if they are not in school,” said State Superintendent Dr. Antoinette S. Mitchell. “This dashboard gives schools, families, and the District another practical tool to spot attendance trends earlier, ask better questions, and respond faster. But attendance is about more than counting absences. Students are more likely to come to school consistently when they feel safe, supported, challenged, and connected to adults who know them and care about them.”
The dashboard builds on sustained work already underway across the District to improve attendance. OSSE has joined the Attendance Works 50% Challenge, a national initiative to cut chronic absenteeism in half over five years. OSSE also supports schools through attendance guidance, and multilingual family outreach, and convenes a Community of Practice where some school teams share strategies to improve attendance.
The District is also investing in what keeps students engaged. The Mayor’s proposed FY27 Grow DC budget expands access to high-impact tutoring, which is one of the most effective interventions for accelerating learning and re‑connecting students who have missed significant instructional time. Research from the National Student Support Accelerator has shown that middle school students receiving tutoring were 11.4% less likely to be absent on days they had scheduled tutoring sessions (equivalent of 3.1 more days of school). The budget also increases funding through a 2.55 percent boost to the Uniform Per Student Funding Formula and continues modernization of school facilities and expansion of career and technical education opportunities.
These efforts are part of a broader strategy to make school more engaging and relevant, including reimagining high school graduation requirements, and ensuring students graduate with the skills they need to succeed through a District-wide Graduate Profile. At the same time, OSSE is expanding access to Career and Technical Education, internships, and Advanced Technical Centers—connecting students to college credits, industry credentials, and high-demand careers while still in high school.
School climate is also central to improving attendance. Through the DC Survey About Your School (DC SAYS), OSSE collects feedback from students, families, and staff on safety, belonging, and overall school experience—key factors in whether students show up consistently.
The Attendance Dashboard replaces OSSE’s midyear attendance briefs by providing a more frequent, interactive view of data by school, sector, and student group.
The OSSE Attendance Dashboard is available at osse.dc.gov/attendancedashboard. OSSE looks forward to continuously improving this resource by welcoming questions and ideas via the feedback form that is embedded at the bottom of the page. For more information about OSSE’s attendance work, visit OSSE’s attendance resources page. For attendance and truancy guidance, families and educators can also visit attendance.dc.gov.