States / Wisconsin

Chronic absence in Wisconsin

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

School year 2024-25

17.3%

of students were chronically absent²

Chronically absent means missed more than 10% of possible attendance days (has an attendance rate that is rounded to 89% or below).⁷

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²³

Five-year trend

Wisconsin, year by year

Wisconsin chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2019-20	12.9%
2020-21	16.1%
2021-22	22.7%
2022-23	19.5%
2023-24	17.7%
2024-25	17.3%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 17.3% of Wisconsin public school students were chronically absent, down from 17.7% in 2023-24^1,2.
The rate spiked to 22.7% in 2021-22 and has fallen each year since, but the 2024-25 drop was the smallest yet^5,6.
Wisconsin is still more than four percentage points above pre-pandemic levels; in 2019-20 the rate was 12.9%^6,4.
Gaps are wide: in 2024-25, 46.3% of Black students, 38.9% of American Indian students and 27% of Hispanic students were chronically absent, compared with 12.8% of Asian students and 10.8% of white students⁶.
Milwaukee Public Schools, the state's largest district, had a 46.2% rate in 2024-25, down from 47.5% the year before².
Wisconsin's 17.3% is below the US rate of 22.6% for 2024-25^2,23.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Teachers must send daily attendance reports on all their students to the district's school attendance officer; the school board must require this (§ 118.16(4)(a))⁹.
No public school may deny a student course credit solely because of unexcused absences or suspensions (§ 118.16(4)(b))¹⁰.
When a parent excuses a child in writing before an absence, the school must require the child to make up the missed course work; parents may excuse no more than 10 days a year this way^11,10.
State guidance (not law) encourages teachers to make a personal phone call to families about absences, on top of automated calls¹².

Counselors

Before a truancy case can go to court, school staff must give the student an opportunity for educational counseling to see whether a change in curriculum would resolve the truancy, unless the child's absences prevented it (§ 118.16(5)(b))⁹.
Staff must also evaluate whether learning problems are causing the truancy and take steps to address them, unless tests from the previous year show the child is performing at grade level or the child's absences prevented it (§ 118.16(5)(c))⁹.
Staff must evaluate whether social problems are a cause and take appropriate action or make referrals, unless the child's absences prevented it (§ 118.16(5)(d))⁹.

Attendance team

The school attendance officer must determine every day which enrolled students are absent and whether each absence is excused (§ 118.16(2)(a))⁹.
For an unexcused absence, the officer must notify the parent before the end of the 2nd school day after the report, by personal contact, a phone call of which a written record is kept, or electronic communication (unless the parent has refused it), trying these before 1st class mail. This notice stops once the habitual-truancy notice has been sent (§ 118.16(2))⁹.
A student who misses part or all of five or more days without an acceptable excuse in a semester is a habitual truant¹⁰.
When a student first becomes a habitual truant, the officer must notify the parent by registered, certified or 1st class mail and request a meeting, set within 5 school days after the notice is sent, or 5 more school days with the parent's consent (§ 118.16(2)(cg))⁹.
Before court action, the officer must show that within the school year staff met (or tried to meet) the parent and carried out the counseling and evaluation steps listed for counselors. The parent-meeting step does not apply if the habitual-truancy meeting is not held within 10 school days after the notice, and the other steps are excused if the child's absences prevented them. Once the steps are completed or not required, the officer may file information with the juvenile court (§ 118.16)⁹.

Principals & districts

Each school board must adopt a written attendance policy listing the reasons students may be excused (§ 118.16(4)(a))⁹.
Each school board must have a truancy plan (required since September 1, 1989) and must review it at least once every 2 years^13,10.
At least once every 4 years, the district administrator of the county-seat district must convene a county committee to recommend revisions to all the county's districts' truancy plans¹⁴.
Districts report attendance to the state without separating excused and unexcused absences, so every absence counts toward chronic absence⁸.

Recent changes

What changed lately

2025 Wisconsin Act 101 removes registered nurses from the health care providers who can sign a written medical excuse for school; advanced practice registered nurses stay on the list. Effective September 1, 2026¹⁹.
On March 28, 2023, the state education agency launched a statewide program that lets districts refer chronically absent students to a personal academic success coach²⁰.
Two 2023 Assembly bills, one changing truancy definitions and one adding truancy information to school accountability reports, died when the Senate failed to concur on April 15, 2024^21,22.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Wisconsin's school and district report cards score four priority areas, and chronic absence is part of On-Track to Graduation^15,16.
On-Track to Graduation counts for 20% or 25% of a school's overall score, and chronic absence makes up 40% or 50% of that priority area when present¹⁶.
Chronic absence is also weighted 15% within the Target Group Outcomes priority area, which looks at a school's lowest-scoring students¹⁶.
The report card measure uses a weighted average of up to three years of rates and lags one year: 2024-25 report cards use 2023-24 absence data¹⁶.
Chronic absence is one of the indicators Wisconsin uses to identify schools for federal support and improvement under ESSA¹⁷.
The state also gives districts an early-warning dashboard that flags students as high risk at 10 or more absences and medium risk at 6 to fewer than 10¹⁸.

What’s working

Efforts with results

Kromrey Middle School in Middleton has made attendance a focus for a decade; its attendance team has seen a nearly 20 percent drop in absenteeism, and the school of about 1,200 students posted a 94.9 percent attendance rate⁴.
There, staff reach out to families as soon as students start missing school and frame the calls as support, not guilt⁴.

Working on chronic absence in Wisconsin?

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

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Sources

WEAU 13 News (reprint of a Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction press release). DPI: Wisconsin's on-time graduation rates climb to record high, mark fourth year of growth (opens in a new tab) (2026-03-05)
Spectrum News 1 Wisconsin. Wisconsin high school graduation rates show improvement (opens in a new tab) (2026-03-05)
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Wisconsin's high school graduation rates reach record high (news release) (opens in a new tab) (2025-03-06)
Wisconsin Public Radio. Latest data shows more Wisconsin students graduating (opens in a new tab) (2026-03-05)
The Monroe Times (reprint of a Wisconsin Policy Forum brief). Chronic absenteeism persists in all corners of Wis. (opens in a new tab) (2024-10)
Wisconsin Policy Forum. Wisconsin Exam Scores, Absenteeism Rates Have Not Returned to Pre-Pandemic Levels (media release) (opens in a new tab) (2026-07-24)
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. WISEdash Public Portal: About the Data - Chronic Absenteeism (opens in a new tab) (undated (accessed 2026-10-13))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. WISEdata: Attendance data element (opens in a new tab) (undated (accessed 2026-10-13))
Wisconsin Legislature (Legislative Reference Bureau). Wis. Stat. § 118.16, School attendance enforcement (opens in a new tab) (statutes as of 2026-10-01 (fetched 2026-10-12))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Answers to Frequently Asked Compulsory School Attendance Questions (April 2016, updated October 2020) (opens in a new tab) (2020-10)
Wisconsin Legislature (Legislative Reference Bureau). Wis. Stat. § 118.15, Compulsory school attendance (opens in a new tab) (statutes as of 2026-10-01 (fetched 2026-10-12))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Best Practice Approaches to Truancy Reduction: Information for School Attendance Officers (2022) (opens in a new tab) (2022)
Wisconsin Legislature (Legislative Reference Bureau). Wis. Stat. § 118.162, Truancy committee and plan (opens in a new tab) (statutes as of 2026-10-01 (fetched 2026-10-12))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. School Attendance Improvement (Absenteeism and Truancy Prevention) (opens in a new tab) (undated (accessed 2026-10-13))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Report Cards Home (opens in a new tab) (undated (accessed 2026-10-13))
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Technical Guide: 2024-25 School and District Report Cards (opens in a new tab) (2025)
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. Example ESSA Accountability Report (2024-25) (opens in a new tab) (2026-01)
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. WISEdash for Districts Absenteeism Early Warning Dashboard (opens in a new tab) (undated (accessed 2026-10-13))
Wisconsin Legislative Council. Act Memo: 2025 Wisconsin Act 101 (2025 Senate Bill 920) (opens in a new tab) (2026-03-17)
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. DPI Offers Partnership to Address Chronic Absenteeism (letter to district administrators) (opens in a new tab) (2023-03-28)
Wisconsin Legislature (Legislative Reference Bureau). 2023 Assembly Bill 1025 (definitions related to truancy): bill history (opens in a new tab) (2024-04-15)
Wisconsin Legislature (Legislative Reference Bureau). 2023 Assembly Bill 1029 (truancy information in accountability reports): bill history (opens in a new tab) (2024-04-15)
American Enterprise Institute. From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)