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9/2/2025
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Legislative leaders join kickoff of Attendance Matters campaign
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 STATE HOUSE — Rep. Jospeh M. McNamara, chairman of the House Education Committee, and Senate President Valarie J. Lawson (D-Dist. 14, East Providence), joined state officials today to kick off the Attendance Matters RI campaign for school year 2025-26 with a third consecutive year of decreased chronic absenteeism.
Officials released the Attendance and Academic Achievement Guidance prioritizing early identification, engagement, and support for students. Joining the legislative leaders were Governor Dan McKee, Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green, Providence Public Schools Acting Superintendent Dr. Paula Dillon, 2026 Rhode Island State Teacher of the Year Sarah Dully, educators and community leaders.
“Attendance matters in every grade,” said Representative McNamara (D-Dist. 19, Warwick, Cranston). “Being chronically absent in kindergarten and first grade increases the likelihood that a child won’t be reading at grade level in third grade. At all grade levels, there are huge gaps in test scores between students who are in school and those who are chronically absent. As we kick off another school year, I look forward to the progress continuing through the engagement of kids at all grade levels and their parents; the partnership of educators and school leaders; and the leadership at the local and state levels, including Gov. McKee and RIDE Commissioner Infante-Green, who have made attendance a priority through this program.”
Post-pandemic, Rhode Island has been recognized as a national leader for curbing chronic absenteeism. Chronic absenteeism (defined as missing 10% of school days in a year, about 2 days a month) during the 2024-2025 school year declined approximately 2.6 percentage points, bringing the statewide chronic absenteeism rate from 24.7% in school year 2023-2024 to 22.1%. This represents 142,360 fewer absences from the previous year. The state has experienced a 12-percentage point drop from the 2021-2022 school year, when chronic absenteeism peaked statewide with 34.1% of students being chronically absent. Through the reduction over the years, approximately 3.7 million learning hours were recovered. This is the third consecutive year of decreased chronic absenteeism statewide.
“Rhode Island’s collective work to improve school attendance continues to deliver positive results that will help raise student academic achievement across the Ocean State,” said Governor Dan McKee. “My Administration will continue to remind students, families, and educators that: Attendance Matters!”
“I’m incredibly proud that through the partnership of students, families, educators, and community members, Rhode Island continues to lead the way in reducing chronic absenteeism,” said Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green. “As we kick off the campaign for the upcoming year, it’s important we recognize our progress but also keep in mind that too many kids are still missing school too often.”
Education leaders reinforced a need for continued focus on improving attendance. SurveyWorks, the state’s school climate survey for students, families, and educators, shows higher awareness of the impact of missing school among families, educators, and administrators in recent years, but not among students.
According to 2025 survey results recently released, only 30% of students in Grades 6-12 thought that missing 18 days of school would have a significant impact on their chance of graduating high school, compared with 58% of families, 68% of educators, and 84% of administrators. In 2025, RIDE received nearly 132,500 responses to the survey, an increase of nearly 2,000 responses compared to the responses received in 2024. The most recent survey results can be found at the SurveyWorks Resource Center.
For more information, contact:
Daniel Trafford, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401)222-1922
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