States / Tennessee

Chronic absence in Tennessee

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

School year 2024-25

18.3%

of students were chronically absent¹

Chronically absent means absent for 10 percent or more of the instructional days for which they are enrolled.²

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)⁴

Tennessee chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2018-19	13%
2020-21	15%
2021-22	20%
2022-23	20%
2023-24	18%
2024-25	18.3%

Tennessee chronic absence by school year

School year

Chronically absent

2018-19

13%

2020-21

15%

2021-22

20%

2022-23

20%

2023-24

18%

2024-25

18.3%

The numbers

In 2024-25, 18.3% of Tennessee students were chronically absent, according to state data reported by Chalkbeat Tennessee¹.
Tennessee counts a student as chronically absent when the student misses 10 percent or more of the instructional days for which they are enrolled².
The rate has eased from the post-pandemic peak but remains above the pre-pandemic level: AEI's state table shows 13% in 2018-19, 20% in 2021-22 and 2022-23, and 18% in 2023-24³.
Some districts are far above the state rate. In Memphis-Shelby County Schools, just over 30% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25¹.
Chalkbeat reported in July that final state data for the most recent school year would not be released until December¹.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, above Tennessee's 18.3% that year^4,1.

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Schools must keep daily attendance records, verified by the teacher who makes the record. The records must be open to inspection at all reasonable times by the director of schools or the director's authorized representative⁵.
This record-keeping rule also covers children under six (6) who are enrolled in kindergarten⁵.
After meeting conditions that include at least one public hearing, a district may enter an agreement with local law enforcement and local government to help enforce compulsory attendance. If it does, every public school principal or teacher must promptly report to the director of schools, or the director's designated representative, students who reach five (5) days of unexcused absences, and keep reporting each later unexcused absence. The five days need not be consecutive⁵.

Counselors

Tier two of the district's truancy plan must start when a student reaches five (5) unexcused absences, as the plan specifies. At a minimum it must include an individualized assessment by a school employee of the reasons the student has been absent⁶.
Tier two must also include, if necessary, referral of the child to counseling, community-based services, or other in-school or out-of-school services aimed at the student's attendance problems⁶.

Attendance team

When a student reaches five (5) days of unexcused absences, the director of schools or attendance supervisor must serve the parent or guardian of a child subject to compulsory attendance who is unlawfully absent from school written notice that the child's attendance is required by law, and send a new notice after each further five (5) unexcused absences⁵.
After five (5) unexcused absences, if the parent or guardian has not turned in documentation to excuse them within the adequate time the director or attendance supervisor allows, the director or supervisor must put tier two of the truancy plan in place. A local board may adopt a plan that lets the district act earlier^5,6.
Tier two must include a conference with the student and parent or guardian, and an attendance contract signed by the student, the parent or guardian, and an attendance supervisor or designee. The contract must state the school's attendance expectations, how long it lasts, and penalties for more absences and alleged school offenses, including more disciplinary action and possible referral to juvenile court⁶.
Tier two must also include regularly scheduled follow-up meetings to discuss the student's progress; these may be with the student and the parent or guardian⁶.
If tier two is unsuccessful, tier three must be put in place. It may consist of one or more of: school-based community services, a school-based restorative justice program, referral to a school-based teen court, or Saturday or after-school courses. Schools must not use in-school or out-of-school suspension in the truancy plan for unexcused absences⁶.

Principals & districts

By the beginning of each school year, the principal or head of school of a public, nonpublic or church-related school must give the parent or guardian of a student subject to compulsory attendance written notice that they must monitor the student's attendance and require the student to attend. The notice must say that a student who accumulates five (5) days of unexcused absences during the school year is subject to the district's progressive truancy interventions, and that continued unexcused absences may result in a referral to juvenile court. The five days need not be consecutive⁵.
The principal of a public school must promptly report to the director of schools or attendance supervisor the names of students who have withdrawn or who reach three (3) days of unexcused absences. At three (3) days, the director or attendance supervisor may serve the parent or guardian of a child subject to compulsory attendance who is unlawfully absent from school written notice that the child's attendance is required by law. The public school principal must also promptly report students who have withdrawn or who reach five (5) days of unexcused absences, and each further five (5) days⁵.
The director of schools or attendance supervisor must devise and recommend, and the local school board must adopt, a progressive truancy plan with tiers of intervention used before a truancy petition or a criminal prosecution for educational neglect. Tier one must include schoolwide, prevention-oriented supports. A district that already had an effective program that substantially conforms may instead ask the commissioner of education to approve it⁶.
If the district has applied a compliant truancy plan and its interventions have failed to meaningfully address the student's attendance, the director of schools, after written notice to the parent or guardian, must report the student to the juvenile court judge. Each referral must include the school's statement certifying that it applied the plan's interventions and that they failed; a court must dismiss a referral that does not comply⁶.
If any tier is unsuccessful and the school can document that the parent or guardian is unwilling to cooperate, the director of schools or the director's designee may report the student's absences to the judge without first using later tiers⁶.

What changed lately

In 2024-25, the state added a Medically Excused (M) attendance code in response to Chapter 1005 of the Public Acts of 2024. Districts may use it for absences due to medical or health reasons, but under federal requirements it still counts as an absence in the chronic absence rate⁷.
For 2026-27, the department put a planned change to its growth measure on hold, citing federal ESSA flexibility that will allow the state and federal accountability models to be unified⁸.

How the state holds schools to it

Chronic absence is part of Tennessee's federal school accountability as the Chronically Out of School indicator. Schools serving K-8 students are evaluated on four indicators, and this is one of them; high schools are evaluated on it too^9,7.
The indicator counts out-of-school suspension as absence and carries 10% of the school score for both K-8 schools and high schools. Schools are measured on absolute performance or on AMO targets set to decrease the percent of chronically absent students, and receive the better score. The 2026-27 protocol keeps the 10% weights^7,8.
Points run from 4 to 0. A K-8 school earns 4 points at 6% chronically absent or less and 0 points above 20%; a high school earns 4 points at 10% or less and 0 above 30%⁷.
District and school rates include only students enrolled for at least 50 percent of the instructional days of the year⁷.
Districts are also rated on the indicator through three pathways: absolute performance, AMO targets, and a value-added measure based on the percent of students who were chronically absent in the prior year and are not in the current year^10,7.
Tennessee's A-F school letter grades use other measures: K-8 schools are graded on three key indicators (achievement, growth, and growth for the bottom 25%), and high schools also on college and career readiness¹¹.
Chalkbeat reports that the district's history of high chronic absenteeism was one of four criteria behind the state's contested takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, which a federal court temporarily blocked¹.