Ohio Launches Tools Tracking Student Attendance in Schools

Columbus, Ohio – Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Education and Workforce Director Stephen D. Dackin have launched Ohio’s new Statewide Attendance Dashboard, a public tool that will provide an unprecedented level of speed and transparency in tracking student attendance across the state.

“The new dashboard will help schools, families, and local leaders identify attendance challenges earlier and support proactive strategies to ensure more students are present and learning,” said Governor Mike DeWine.

The dashboard will be updated weekly and allow users to view chronic absenteeism trends statewide or drill down by district, school building, or grade level.

“Every child in Ohio deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential, and that starts with being in school.

“This dashboard is a tool for the entire community – for parents, educators, local leaders, and neighbors – to start a conversation and work together to help students show up, stay engaged, and succeed.”

The dashboard displays a trend line showing the percentage of students who are on track to be chronically absent over the course of the school year. Users can hover over each week to see the chronic absenteeism rate at that point in time. The dashboard is updated weekly using the most recent data available.

In addition to statewide data, users can search for individual districts and school buildings and view attendance data down to the grade level. The tool also allows users to compare school districts and other cohorts to see how their attendance trends compare over time.

Users can also view the percentage of students in each of the following attendance categories:

• Satisfactory (absent less than 5% of hours)
• At-Risk (absent between 5–10% of hours)
• Moderate Chronic Absence (absent between 10–20% of hours)
• Severe Chronic Absence (absent more than 20% of hours)

“This is a major step forward in how we track and respond to attendance issues in Ohio. To our knowledge, Ohio is only the second state in the country to develop an attendance dashboard that provides weekly updates,” said Director Dackin.

“For the first time, schools and communities in Ohio will have access to weekly attendance information that can help them spot trends, identify challenges early, and respond with the right supports before students fall behind.”

During his recent State of the State Address, Governor DeWine highlighted that more than 25% of Ohio students were chronically absent last year, underscoring the need for stronger community-wide action to keep students in school.

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