States / West Virginia

Chronic absence in West Virginia

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

School year 2024-25

22.8%

of students were chronically absent³

Chronically absent means missing 10 percent or more of instructional days for any reason, except allowable deductions (absences when the bus does not run, and students out because of disciplinary measures).⁵

U.S. rate: 22.6% (2024-25)²

Five-year trend

West Virginia, year by year

West Virginia chronic absence by school year
School year	Chronically absent
2017-18	19%
2018-19	20%
2021-22	29%
2022-23	28%
2023-24	24%
2024-25	22.8%

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

Where things stand

The numbers

In 2024-25, 22.8% of West Virginia students were chronically absent, according to the state's Balanced Scorecard results³.
The rate peaked at 29% in 2021-22, then fell to 28% in 2022-23 and 24% in 2023-24, a decline the state education department has also reported^1,4.
In 2018-19, before the pandemic, the rate was 20%¹.
Attendance improved in 76% of the state's districts in 2024-25 compared with the year before³.
The state education department reports that chronically absent students have lower proficiency: nearly 15% lower proficiency rates in English language arts and 20% lower rates in math across all grades⁶.
Nationally, 22.6% of students were chronically absent in 2024-25, so West Virginia's 22.8% was just above the national rate^2,3.

Requirements by role

What state rules ask of each role

Teachers

Schools must keep accurate attendance records for every student, including an up-to-date daily record of attendance, and must have written procedures for notifying parents about absences, monitoring absences, and notifying the attendance director of unexcused absences when the director's services are required⁵.
State policy measures absence in parts of a day: a full-day absence is being absent 80 percent or more of the school day; a three quarter-day absence, 60-79 percent; a half-day absence, 40-59 percent; and a quarter-day absence, 20-39 percent⁵.
Each school must appoint a school attendance coordinator (the principal or a designee) who collects classroom attendance data and makes appropriate referrals to the attendance director⁵.
Each county's attendance policy must include procedures and reasonable timelines requiring students with excused and unexcused absences to make up schoolwork⁵.
The county attendance director and assistant directors must take part in school teachers' conferences with parents and students⁷.

Counselors

Each school's System of Support (SOS) Plan must include a targeted-intervention tier: school-based student support teams or the Student Assistance Team (SAT), with an attendance focus, identify students with a pattern of excessive absenteeism⁵.
At that tier the school sets procedures for finding the root causes of the absences to choose evidence-based interventions based on need, for reviewing whether interventions work, and for reporting unexcused-absence cases that need the attendance director⁵.
The plan's intensive tier means working with outside agencies on interagency case management, truancy diversion and the judicial system when necessary, with procedures for identifying agencies to help, providing adequate counseling for issues related to attendance, and working with truancy diversion and the courts when necessary⁵.
For a student whose services are guided by an existing SAT plan, IEP or Section 504 plan, a pattern of single, multiple or chronic absences may warrant special consideration, and the student's status should be reviewed by the SAT, IEP team or Section 504 team as appropriate and in line with state and federal law⁵.

Attendance team

Documentation for an absence must reach the school no later than three instructional days after the first day the student returns; if it does not, the absences are unexcused⁷.
At three total unexcused absences of a student during a school year, the attendance director, an assistant, or the principal must make meaningful contact with the parent, guardian or custodian to learn the reasons and what the school may do to help the student attend and avoid more unexcused absences⁷.
At five total unexcused absences, the attendance director, an assistant or the principal must again make meaningful contact with the parent, guardian or custodian. Meaningful contact is two-way communication about the student's attendance record; methods include, but are not limited to, phone calls, video conferencing, home visits and digital platforms⁷.
At 10 total unexcused absences of a student during a school year, the attendance director or an assistant may make a complaint against the parent, guardian or custodian before a county magistrate. Under state board policy, unexcused absences from suspensions or expulsions are not counted for this. A child exempt from compulsory attendance under the state's exemptions (each subject to confirmation by the county attendance authority) is not subject to prosecution, and for an enrolled student 18 or older the attendance law is enforced against the student, not the parent^7,5,8,9.
The county attendance director and assistants must promote regular attendance, ensure the state board's SOS Plan is carried out, including encouraging attendance and stressing its importance to parents, and make home visits for students with excessive unexcused absences or when the chief administrator, principal or assistant principal asks⁷.

Principals & districts

Each county board must, no later than August 1 each year, employ the equivalent of a full-time county director of school attendance if its net enrollment is more than 4,000 pupils, or at least a half-time director if it is 4,000 pupils or fewer, plus assistant directors as deemed necessary; each attendance director must have the county superintendent's written recommendation¹⁰.
The principal must promptly report to the county attendance director all cases of unexcused absences in the school that require the services of an attendance worker¹¹.
If the principal finds that an enrolled pupil has five instructional days of unexcused absences during any one half of the instructional term, the principal must contact the parent, guardian or custodian and hold a meeting with the person contacted, the pupil and anyone else the principal considers a relevant participant¹¹.
State board policy also requires the school to meet with the parent, guardian or custodian of a student who has five unexcused absences during any quarter of the school year, and says a student may not be suspended solely for failing to attend class⁵.
Each school must create an SOS Plan for prevention and for targeted and intensive interventions on absenteeism; its universal-prevention tier sets procedures for making and documenting meaningful contact with families after three and five days of unexcused absences and as needed⁵.

Recent changes

What changed lately

Senate Bill 568, in effect since June 7, 2024, required the state board to put in place a System of Support Plan to promote attendance, with county attendance directors ensuring it is carried out, and required schools to make periodic meaningful contact with families of children who miss school^13,12.
The same law made referral to a truancy diversion program discretionary. Now, for a truancy offense, the prosecutor may refer the matter to a state department worker, probation officer or truancy diversion specialist, who must then develop a diversion program; if the prosecutor does not refer it, the prosecutor may file a petition with the court^12,13,14.
Since July 1, 2024, under Jaycie's Law, a student's absence because of pregnancy or parenting needs is an excused absence. The state board's policy for pregnant and parenting students must excuse all absences due to pregnancy or parenting-related conditions, including labor, delivery, recovery and prenatal and postnatal medical appointments^15,13,16.
That policy must give a mother at least 8 weeks of excused absences for the birth of her child and the father two weeks; a doctor's or medical excuse is required for up to the first 8 weeks, with a separate excuse for each period of absence after the first 8 weeks. A parenting student's absence for a sick child is excused with a doctor's excuse for the child¹⁶.
The state board's revised attendance policy took effect September 16, 2024. It defines chronic absenteeism and requires each county to have an attendance policy and help its schools build plans to address attendance⁵.
Since July 11, 2025, under Senate Bill 581, excused absences include up to five college visits and activities of state-recognized and sanctioned student organizations. A student in such an activity is credited as present, like a student on an educational field trip, but not during a suspension, expulsion or alternative placement that would bar the student from a field trip^17,7.
The organization must document the student's participation, and the student must make up missed schoolwork; class grades may not be hurt by the missed attendance. Excused absences for school- or county-approved activities, college visits and these organization activities together may not exceed 10 per school year⁷.

Accountability

How the state holds schools to it

Chronic absenteeism is one of the student success indicators on the state's Balanced Scorecard, which every public school and district receives³.
Under state board rules, the attendance indicator for elementary, middle and high schools measures the percentage of students attending 90 percent of their enrolled instructional days¹⁸.
Only students enrolled in a school for at least 135 days (a full academic year) count in the student success indicators, and a subgroup's results count when it has at least 20 such students¹⁸.
Each school earns a performance level on each indicator, from Exceeds Standards to Does Not Meet Standards, shown on the balanced scorecard; the state board sets the cut scores¹⁸.
Counties are also rated on attendance. In 2025, a county indicator that does not meet standard is On Watch; with no improvement for two consecutive years the county is designated Support for that indicator, and for three consecutive years Intensive Support. For attendance, improvement means progress from one year to the next¹⁹.
Absences when the bus does not run, and students out because of disciplinary measures, are allowable deductions that are not included in the chronic absenteeism calculation; schools are not held accountable for them⁵.

What’s working

Efforts with results

In the state's 2024 county accountability report, 91% of districts designated On Watch for attendance in 2023 showed a reduction in chronic absenteeism, and 100% of districts designated Support showed a reduction²⁰.

Working on chronic absence in West Virginia?

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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)
American Enterprise Institute. From Attendance Crisis to Chronic Condition? Tracking Post-Pandemic Chronic Absenteeism into 2025 (opens in a new tab) (2026-06-30)
West Virginia Department of Education. WV Balanced Scorecard Shows Continued Positive Trends (press release) (opens in a new tab) (2025-09-11)
West Virginia Department of Education. WV Board of Ed. Receives County Updates and Harvard Recovery Scorecard Overview (press release) (opens in a new tab) (2025-02-12)
West Virginia Board of Education, Policy 4110 (W. Va. 126CSR81), Attendance, via the West Virginia Secretary of State Code of State Rules. Attendance (Policy 4110), legislative rule 126CSR81, final file (Word); filed August 14, 2024, effective September 16, 2024 (opens in a new tab) (2024-08-14)
West Virginia Department of Education. WV Dept. of Education Releases Annual Assessment Results (press release) (opens in a new tab) (2026-08-12)
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-8-4. Duties of attendance director and assistant directors; complaints, warrants, and hearings (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-8-1. Compulsory school attendance; exemptions (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-8-1a. Commencement and termination of compulsory school attendance; public school entrance requirements; exceptions (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-8-3. Employment of county director of school attendance and assistants; qualifications; salary and traveling expenses; removal (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-8-5. Duties of principal, administrative head or other chief administrator (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, Bill Status. Senate Bill 568, 2024 Regular Session (bill history) (opens in a new tab) (2024)
West Virginia Legislature. Enrolled Committee Substitute for Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 568 (2024 Regular Session) (opens in a new tab) (2024-03-02)
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §49-4-702. Prepetition diversion to informal resolution; mandatory prepetition diversion program for status offenses and misdemeanor offenses; prepetition review team (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-34-3. Effective date (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature, West Virginia Code. §18-34-2. Policy enacted (opens in a new tab) (current code (page state 2026-10-13))
West Virginia Legislature. Enrolled Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 581 (2025 Regular Session) (opens in a new tab) (2025-04-12)
West Virginia Board of Education, Policy 2322 (W. Va. 126CSR12), West Virginia System of Support and Accountability, via the West Virginia Secretary of State Code of State Rules. West Virginia System of Support and Accountability (Policy 2322), legislative rule 126CSR12, final file (Word); filed June 12, 2024, effective July 15, 2024 (opens in a new tab) (2024-06-12)
West Virginia Department of Education, Office of Accountability. County Approval Status and Accreditation, 2025 Report (opens in a new tab) (2025)
West Virginia Department of Education. Gov. and First Lady Update WV Board of Ed. on Communities In Schools’ Success (press release) (opens in a new tab) (2024-10-09)