Each high school dropout costs $300,000 over a lifetime due to lost income that would have been higher if the student had completed 12th grade.
Part of the cost includes possible incarceration or increased reliance on social services, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Chronic absenteeism — students who miss 10% of the school year or about 18 days — damages a student’s future.
According to Indiana Department of Education statistics, in the 10 years leading up to 2025 Indiana’s chronic absenteeism rose from 8.6% to 16.7%, amounting in 2025 to 195,344 students deemed chronically absent. That is a drop from 2022’s rate of 21.1%.
Of those, 2,078 students were in Anderson schools, amounting to a 31% chronic absenteeism rate among 6,733 total students. The second-highest number of students with chronic absenteeism in Madison County was 357 in South Madison schools, the second-largest district behind ACS.
The highest rates of those chronically absent in Anderson were recorded at Edgewood Elementary, 39%, and Anderson High School, 38%.
To Anderson’s credit, COMPASS Alternative School is geared to help students in grades 7-12 overcome obstacles to their education. The district is expanding classes to third grade. When students pass the program’s supportive elements, they are integrated back into their home schools.
COMPASS enrollment is posted at 89 by the Department of Education, and the chronic absenteeism rate is a whopping 73%. That figure might be inflated by COMPASS’s partnership with outside health services to help students during the school day.
In September, Kojak Fuller addressed the Anderson school board about his time as a mentor at COMPASS. He referenced COMPASS students in his remarks: “For two years there wasn’t one fight. But we failed them academically because now, when I look at those children, 90% of them are either dead, locked up or strung out on drugs.”
He urged positive relationships between students and teachers. Recent research has emphasized that students struggle in school when any of the following are lacking: health and safety, a sense of belonging, academic engagement, and the development of social and emotional skills.
Indiana legislators have pushed for quicker responses by schools to deal with the chronically absent. The law also addresses students with five days or more of missing classes without an excuse during a 10-week period. Parents are typically contacted for a meeting. In some cases, Indiana prosecutors file charges against parents.
Educators need to look beyond simply counting the number of days a student doesn’t show up.
In May, Attendance USA held a conference in Indianapolis suggesting in part that before a school year begins districts communicate the importance of attending school and nurture a sense of belonging.
Little things count. Some districts offer laundry facilities for students who don’t have clean clothes. Barbers sometimes drop by after classes to give kids “cool” haircuts.
Some districts visit RV parks and motels to find students in need. Others train teachers to look for signs of a student’s housing instability. Some even offer gas cards, grocery cards or food baskets to overcome barriers to students getting to school.
Consistent attendance, however, should be considered a priority for all students.
Innovative approaches to chronic absenteeism can help create a positive future for students.
Otherwise, the costs are great.
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