Washington's chronic-absenteeism crisis: where it's worst, what's recovering
OSPI's pre-pandemic statewide regular-attendance rate was about 84% (2018-19). It cratered to 66% in 2021-22 and has clawed back to 72% in 2023-24 — still 12 points below where it was. Only 12% of Washington public schools have reached the 90% benchmark again. About 32,000 students attend a school where fewer than half of kids meet the regular-attendance threshold.
Published May 14, 2026 · updated May 15, 2026attendancechronic absenteeismpandemic recovery
72%
Washington's enrollment-weighted regular-attendance rate, 2023-24. OSPI's pre-pandemic statewide figure was around 84%.
"Chronically absent" is OSPI's term for a student who misses 10% or more of school days in a year. The inverse — "regular attendance" — counts students who hit 90%+. Pre-pandemic, OSPI reported a statewide regular-attendance rate of about 84% (2018-19). In 2021-22, the first full year back from remote instruction, that cratered to about 66%.
Washington enrollment-weighted regular-attendance rate, 2021-22 through 2023-24 (pre-pandemic baseline ~84%)
OSPI Washington State Report Card; weighted by school enrollment across all public schools with reported data. We exclude 2020-21 from the chart: OSPI reported it at about 80%, but most districts were partially or fully remote that year and OSPI's methodology counted logged remote-learning participation rather than in-person attendance, so it isn't directly comparable to the in-person years.
The recovery from the 2021-22 floor is real — six points in two years is meaningful — but the state is still about 12 points below its pre-pandemic 2018-19 reading of 84%. Only 12% of Washington public schools now hit the 90% regular-attendance benchmark, which pre-pandemic was the median.
By school level
Elementary schools track best; high schools and middle schools have been the slowest to recover.
Median regular-attendance rate by Washington public school level, 2023-24
OSPI Washington State Report Card; median across schools in each level grouping.
Where it's worst
114 Washington public schools have a regular-attendance rate below 50% — meaning more than half of kids miss 10% or more of school days. These are concentrated in three categories: a small set of alternative and option high schools (where chronic absenteeism is part of why students enrolled there), some large comprehensive high schools in the lowest-recovery districts (Aberdeen, Highline, Marysville, Clover Park, parts of Tacoma SD), and a handful of small rural K-12 schools.
32,034 students
Washington students attending a public school with regular-attendance rate below 50% in 2023-24
The 2018-19 baseline of about 84% comes from OSPI's own published statewide figure (it is not in this dataset's history.json, which starts at 2020-21). The 2020-21 number OSPI publishes (about 80%) reflects logged remote-learning participation, not in-person attendance, so we don't chart it. Treat 2018-19 as the pre-pandemic anchor, 2021-22 as the trough, and 2023-24 as the latest readable point.
Share / cite this
Washington's regular-attendance rate (% of students who attend ≥90% of school days) was around 84% pre-pandemic. It cratered to 66% in 2021-22 and has clawed back to 72% in 2023-24 — still about 12 points below where it was. Only 12% of schools meet the 90% benchmark today.
Source: WA K12 Academic Atlas · https://waschools.org/research/chronic-absenteeism-map/
Methodology
Source is OSPI's regular-attendance rate, surfaced through the Washington State Report Card and the WA K12 Academic Atlas (regular_attendance at the school level, on a 0-1 scale; per-year history in history.json's attend series). Statewide rates are enrollment-weighted. School-level statistics use all public schools with reported attendance (n=2,332 in 2023-24). "Below 50%" means regular_attendance < 0.50; "below 90%" means < 0.90. The pre-pandemic baseline (~84% in 2018-19) comes from OSPI's own state Report Card aggregate; this dataset's history file does not carry 2018-19. The 2020-21 figure OSPI publishes (~80%) reflects the agency's then-current reporting of attendance during a remote year and is not directly comparable to in-person years, so we exclude it from the chart and mention it only as a caveat.
Sources
OSPI Washington State Report Card — regular-attendance rate, 2020-21 through 2023-24
WA K12 Academic Atlas history.json (per-school attendance trend file)
These figures come from the WA K12 Academic Atlas — an interactive map of every K-12 school in Washington, assembled from twelve public data sources. Browse the map · see the rankings. Reporters: see the note on the research index.