The Colorado Department of Education has released data for the 2024-25 school year, showing that statewide student attendance and chronic absenteeism rates remain largely unchanged from the previous year. The average daily attendance rate declined slightly by 0.1%, reaching 91.4%, while chronic absenteeism increased by 0.7% to 28.4%. Despite these overall trends, the department noted that 60% of school districts and BOCES reported improved attendance rates, and 59% saw declines in chronic absenteeism.
Education Commissioner Susana Córdova said: “Good attendance is a critical component for school and life success. We are concerned to see attendance and chronic absenteeism rates moving in the wrong direction, particularly for our students of color.”
Department data shows significant disparities among racial and ethnic groups. Chronic absenteeism rates for students of color are between 6.2% and 30.1% higher than those of white students. Latino students had a chronic absenteeism rate of 38.4%, which is about 10 percentage points above the state average.
Cordova said: “In 2024-25, Colorado added 3,500 more chronically absent students compared to the year prior. These are more than data points. These are young people who are disengaged, disconnected, and missing out on the critical learning experiences that they need to be successful.
“This is a call to action for every single Coloradan: the future of our great state is created in our schools and classrooms today. We need everyone – students, parents, teachers, community partners, civic leaders – focused on keeping students engaged in learning and attending school regularly.”
The department observed some improvement in early grades; kindergarten through second grade saw decreases in chronic absenteeism ranging from 0.2% to 0.6%. However, all other grade levels (third through twelfth) experienced increases.
More than one in four Colorado students were chronically absent during the school year—a trend linked with ongoing learning loss and an increased risk of falling behind or dropping out before graduation. In total, there were 244,622 chronically absent students in Colorado for the year—making it the third-highest figure since such data began being collected in 2016.
Looking back at pre-pandemic figures from the 2018-19 school year, Colorado’s average daily attendance was higher at 92.3%, while chronic absenteeism was lower at an average rate of 22.5%.
In response to ongoing concerns about student engagement post-pandemic, CDE launched its Every School Day Matters! campaign in 2024 with a goal to reduce chronic absenteeism by half from its pandemic high point. Commissioner Córdova stated that their target is to bring down chronic absenteeism to 17.8% by the end of the 2026-27 school year; so far, forty-five schools and districts have joined this initiative and receive continued support as well as resources aimed at improving attendance.
Families and educators can find further information about student attendance efforts at www.cdeinfo.org/attendance; detailed statistics on statewide and district-level attendance as well as truancy rates are available on the CDE website.
The department states its vision is to create equitable educational environments where all Colorado students thrive by supporting high-quality education across all districts.
