chronic-absenteeism
More Than One in Four Seniors Miss Too Much School
Wisconsin's chronic absenteeism climbs steadily from 3rd grade through 12th, with 27% of seniors (17,014 students) chronically absent in 2025.
Wisconsin
Education News & Data
Local education reporting from every corner of Wisconsin, grounded in Wisconsin Department of Education data.
Every Racial Absence Gap Widened After COVID
All six racial chronic absenteeism gaps versus white students widened between 2019 and 2025 in Wisconsin, led by Native American and Pacific Islander students.
Wisconsin's Kindergarten Classes Are 24% Smaller Than Its Senior Classes
For every 100 Wisconsin public-school seniors in the 2024-25 data, only 76 kindergartners entered five-year-old kindergarten. The gap has nearly doubled since 2006.
English Learners Saw the Steepest Attendance Decline of Any Subgroup
LEP students in Wisconsin went from 15.1% chronic absence in 2019 to 25.6% in 2025, the largest excess of any subgroup, with the LEP-overall gap quadrupling.
Beloit's Absence Rate Reversed Course, Getting Worse Again
After two years of improvement, Beloit's chronic absenteeism jumped 4.6 points to 42.7% in 2025 while the state continued recovering.
More Coverage
equity
The Poverty Attendance Gap Grew by 4.4 Points Since the Pandemic
Wisconsin's chronic absenteeism gap by income widened from 16.3 to 20.7 points since 2019, with nearly 1 in 3 lower-income students now chronically absent.
special-populations
1 in 7: Wisconsin's Special Ed Share Hits a Record
Wisconsin's special education share hit 14.7% in 2025, crossing the 1-in-7 threshold at an all-time high even as total enrollment fell.
district-spotlight
Madison's Chronic Absenteeism Rate Tripled in a Decade
Madison Metropolitan's chronic rate went from 7.1% in 2011 to 29.6% in 2025, a tripling that began before COVID and shows no sign of returning to baseline.
demographics
Multiracial Students Tripled in Wisconsin, and They're Still Growing
Multiracial enrollment tripled from 13,197 to 44,968 in 14 years, making it Wisconsin's fastest-growing demographic by a wide margin.
charter-schools
Wisconsin's Charter Schools Have Nearly Double the Chronic Absenteeism Rate
Charter schools in Wisconsin have a weighted chronic absenteeism rate of 30.6% versus 16.9% for traditional districts, a gap that nearly doubled since 2019.
enrollment
Two in Five Wisconsin Districts Hit All-Time Low
174 of 446 Wisconsin school districts recorded their lowest enrollment ever in 2025-26, including nine of the state's 10 largest.
equity
Three in Five Native American Students in Wisconsin Are in Class. The Districts Working to Lift That Number.
Native American students in Wisconsin show a 38.9% chronic absence rate against a state average of 17.3%, with tribal nations leading culturally responsive responses.
special-populations
Wisconsin's English Learner Population Grew 43% While Schools Shrank
Wisconsin's English learner population grew 43% to 55,772 while total enrollment fell 8%, reshaping staffing and funding demands across 384 districts.
district-spotlight
Racine's Recovery Has Stalled at 36.5%
Racine Unified's chronic absenteeism rate held flat at 36.5% in 2025, unchanged from the prior year, as the state's fifth-largest district faces compounding enrollment loss and attendance challenges.
covid-impact
Only 28% of Wisconsin Districts Have Recovered from COVID
Wisconsin lost 28,898 students during COVID and another 24,054 since. None of the state's 10 largest districts have regained pre-pandemic enrollment.
