States / Illinois

Chronic absence in Illinois

Where things stand, what state rules ask of each role, and what is changing. For school and district leaders.

School year 2024-25

25.4%

of students were chronically absent³

Chronically absent means misses 10 percent of school days within an academic year with or without a valid excuse.²

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁴

Five-year trend

Illinois, year by year

Illinois chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2019-20	11.0%
2020-21	21.1%
2021-22	29.8%
2022-23	28.3%
2023-24	26.3%
2024-25	25.4%

Dashed bars mark years the state did not publish a rate.

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 25.4% of Illinois students were chronically absent, the third yearly drop in a row³.
That is down from a peak of 29.8% in 2021-22; the rate was 28.3% in 2022-23 and 26.3% in 2023-24².
It is still well above the pre-pandemic rate of 17.5% in 2018-19².
Illinois law counts a student as chronically absent after missing 10 percent of school days in a year, excused or unexcused².
Measured the same way, Illinois's 25% is above the US rate of 22.6% for 2024-25^1,4.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Teachers, like other school officers and staff, must give truant officers the help and information they have (§ 26-9)⁵.
When a parent fails to send a child to school, the truant officer (or, where a district has none, the regional superintendent or designee) gives the parent notice and, at the same time, notifies the child's teacher or superintendent, who must report any non-compliance to the truant officer or regional superintendent (§ 26-7)⁶.

Counselors

Each district's absenteeism and truancy policy must describe how staff will find the causes of unexcused absences; at a minimum this includes interviews with the student, the parent or guardian, and any school officials who may know the reasons (§ 22-92)⁹.
The policy's supportive services for truant and chronically truant students must include at least parent conferences, student counseling, family counseling, and information about community services available to them (§ 22-92)⁹.
When a principal or teacher excuses a temporary absence for illness, illness must include a student's mental or behavioral health for up to 5 days with no medical note. The student must get the chance to make up missed work and, after the second mental health day used, may be referred to the appropriate school support personnel (§ 26-1(2))⁷.
The same paragraph keeps an older exception: its exemptions do not apply to a student who is pregnant or a mother, unless she cannot attend because of a pregnancy complication that a physician certifies to the truant officer (§ 26-1(2))⁷.

Attendance team

Valid cause for an absence is illness (including mental or behavioral health), a verified medical or therapeutic appointment, an appointment with a victim services provider, a religious holiday, a death in the immediate family, a civic event, a family emergency, other situations beyond the student's control as the local board decides, or circumstances that give the parent reasonable concern for the student's health or safety (§ 26-2a). For students who are parents, expectant parents, or victims of domestic or sexual violence, valid cause also covers parenting responsibilities and addressing circumstances resulting from that violence. A district may require the student to verify a domestic or sexual violence claim under § 26A-45 before approving such an absence of 3 or more consecutive days (§ 26-2a)¹⁰.
A truant is a child subject to compulsory attendance who is absent without valid cause for more than 1% but less than 5% of the past 180 school days; a chronic or habitual truant, for 5% or more of the previous 180 regular attendance days. A truant minor is a chronic truant for whom supportive services were provided and failed, or were offered and refused (§ 26-2a)¹⁰.
In grades K-8, when a child is absent with no record of valid cause and no notice that a parent authorized it, an employee or agent the school designates must, within 2 hours after the child's first class, make a reasonable effort to phone the parent. The duty is met by calling the 1 or 2 numbers the parent gave, whether or not anyone answers, or by telling a household member aged 10 or older (§ 26-3b)¹¹.
When notified of violations by the superintendent, a teacher or another person, the district truant officer must investigate all cases of truancy or non-attendance and, if the children are not exempt, proceed as the law provides (§ 26-5). If a parent fails to send a child to school, the truant officer (or, where there is none, the regional superintendent or designee) must, as soon as practicable, give notice in person or by mail that the child must be at school the day after the notice is received. The notice must state the start date and that attendance must be continuous for the rest of the school year (§ 26-7)^12,6.
Except in a district organized under Article 34 of the School Code, if 3 notices go unheeded and the parents knowingly and willfully let the truancy continue, the regional superintendent or designee must hold a truancy hearing. If the hearing finds the child truant, the regional superintendent must, if age appropriate at their discretion, require 20 to 40 hours of community service over 90 days (§ 26-8). Outside Article 34 districts, if truancy persists, the regional superintendent must either file a complaint against the parents with the state's attorney or circuit court, or hold truancy mediation and encourage the student to enroll in a graduation incentives program. If truancy continues after the notice and the child is beyond the parents' control, a truancy petition must be filed under the Juvenile Court Act (§ 26-8)¹³.

Principals & districts

Since July 1, 2018, every district, charter school, alternative school and other school receiving public funds must collect and review its chronic absence data, including an analysis for each attendance center or campus, and decide what supports and resources are needed to engage chronically absent students and their families (§ 26-18). The law encourages, but does not require, schools to support students at risk of reaching chronic absence levels and to offer families resources such as the state's Family Engagement Framework (§ 26-18)¹⁴.
For this review, chronic absence means absences totaling 10% or more of school days in the most recent school year, counting absences with and without valid cause and out-of-school suspensions; students with a documented homebound or hospital record on file during the absence are excluded (§ 26-18)¹⁴.
Each district, charter school, alternative school and other school receiving public funds must give students and parents an absenteeism and truancy policy every year. It must define valid cause under § 26-2a, describe diagnostic procedures and supportive services, and incorporate the chronic absence rules of § 26-18; it must be updated every 2 years and filed with the State Board of Education and the regional superintendent (§ 22-92, § 26-13)^9,15.
No punitive action, including out-of-school suspension, expulsion or court action, may be taken against truant minors for truancy unless appropriate and available supportive services and other school resources have been provided. A truant minor may not be expelled for nonattendance unless they have 15 consecutive days of absences without valid cause and the district cannot locate them or, after exhausting all available supportive services, cannot compel them to return (§ 26-12)⁸.
A district may not refer a truant student to another local public entity to be fined or charged a fee for truancy. It may refer a parent for a fine or fee only if the truant officer, regional office of education or intermediate service center has been notified and all appropriate and available supportive services and other school resources have been offered to the child, and it must document the services offered (§ 26-12). Before referring a parent to a municipality, the district must: for a homeless child, hold a meeting of the child, the parent, relevant school personnel and a homeless liaison to discuss barriers to attendance from the child's transitional living situation and build a plan to remove them; for a child with a documented disability, hold a meeting of the child, the parent and relevant school personnel to review the child's needs, placement and services, which for a child under Article 14 must be an individualized education program meeting including relevant members of the IEP team, and for a child with a disability under Section 504 must be a Section 504 plan review including relevant members of the 504 plan team; and complete the evaluation and eligibility decision for a child who is being evaluated for a disability or whom the school has a basis of knowledge has one. If a meeting does not happen, the district must document reasonable efforts to convene it and that it would have occurred but for the parent's conduct (§ 26-12)⁸.

Recent changes

What changed lately

A 2025 law, Senate Bill 407 (Public Act 104-0355), created a state Chronic Absence Task Force to study chronic absenteeism; a news report published Aug. 29, 2025 said it would take effect the following Monday. The task force must report to the General Assembly by December 15, 2027, and is dissolved on February 1, 2028^20,21.
In spring 2026 the State Board of Education approved a redesign of school accountability, and a letter dated April 16, 2026 asked the U.S. Department of Education to amend the state's ESSA plan; the redesign turns chronic absenteeism into a consistent attendance indicator^16,19.
The redesigned system applies starting with school year 2026 designations; the state's March 2026 timeline planned it for the October 2026 State Report Card, after federal review and approval^18,17.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Under the redesign, the attendance indicator is consistent attendance, which takes the place of chronic absenteeism¹⁶. Under the 2026 business rules, the consistent attendance rate is the number of students who are not chronically absent divided by the number of students, times 100¹⁸.
A K-12 student counts as chronically absent, and so not consistently present, when absences (excused, unexcused and mental health days) divided by total days enrolled are greater than or equal to 0.10, that is, 10% or more of the school year¹⁸.
Total days enrolled counts days in person, e-learning, remote learning, absent days, mental health days and detention center days, and leaves out days hospitalized or medically homebound. Enrollments of less than 10 school days are excluded. Students with no attendance record count in the denominator but not the numerator¹⁸.
Consistent attendance is an elevating indicator: strong results can raise a school's designation but never lower it^17,16.
For the 2026 designations, Exemplary consistent attendance means at least 88% for K-8 schools and at least 85% for high schools¹⁸.
The Illinois Report Card publishes the statewide chronic absenteeism rate; its 2025 release reported 25.4%³.

What’s working

Efforts with results

New Trier High School reported in November 2023 that chronic absence early in the school year under a new attendance plan was down about 67 percent from a year earlier, from 24.1 percent to 8.5 percent of students; officials noted it was early data²².
On the state report card, New Trier's chronic absenteeism rate reached 31% in 2023 and came in at 13% in the latest year; officials credited a collaborative approach led by its graduating class teams²³.

Working on chronic absence in Illinois?

Agenteach helps counselors, teachers, and attendance teams follow up with students who are missing school, and keeps a record of every step.

Book time Become a pilot school

Sources

American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025, Table A3. State-Reported Chronic Absenteeism Data, by State, School Years 2017-25 (columns 2017 to 2025 by spring year; the last value is 2025 = the 2024-25 school year; rates rounded to whole percent) (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Illinois State Board of Education. Chronic Absenteeism (state web page; labels school years by spring year, as on the Illinois Report Card) (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
WCIA 3 News (reporting the state board's 2025 Illinois Report Card release). ISBE releases state report card: How did Central Illinois schools do? (report-card year 2025 = the 2024-25 school year) (opens in a new tab) (2025-10-30)
American Enterprise Institute (Nat Malkus). From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-9 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-9 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-7 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-7 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-1 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-1 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-12 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-12 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/22-92 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/22-92 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-2a (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-2a (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-3b (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-3b (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-5 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-5 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-8 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-8 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-18 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-18 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois Compiled Statutes, 105 ILCS 5/26-13 (text via FindLaw). Illinois School Code, 105 ILCS 5/26-13 (opens in a new tab) (2025-01-01 (FindLaw: current as of January 01, 2025))
Illinois State Board of Education. Executive Summary: Amendment to the Illinois Every Student Succeeds Act Plan (ESSA Amendment 5) (opens in a new tab) (2026-04)
Illinois State Board of Education. Accountability Redesign Update (2026-03-16) (opens in a new tab) (2026-03-16)
Illinois State Board of Education. Illinois Report Card Public Business Rules: 2026 Summative Designation Requirements and Business Rules (version 1.0, October 1, 2026) (opens in a new tab) (2026-10-01)
Illinois State Board of Education. ESSA Amendment 5 cover letter to the U.S. Department of Education (opens in a new tab) (2026-04-16)
Illinois State Board of Education. Chronic Absence Task Force (state web page) (opens in a new tab) (accessed 2026-10-13)
WAND / 25 News Now. Illinois to launch student chronic absence task force to examine ongoing impact of COVID-19 pandemic (published Aug. 29, 2025) (opens in a new tab) (2025-08-29)
The Record North Shore (nonprofit community newsroom). New Trier absenteeism plummets to start the school year, according to early data (November 14, 2023) (opens in a new tab) (2023-11-14)
The Record North Shore (nonprofit community newsroom). New Trier officials tout ‘exemplary’ state report card (January 5, 2026) (opens in a new tab) (2026-01-05)