Chronic absenteeism down in Harford County schools, officials say

Chronic absenteeism in Harford County Public Schools declined during the 2022-23 school year, according to a presentation at a Harford County Board of Education meeting last month.

Harford County high schoolers saw the highest percentage of chronic absenteeism throughout the district at 28.3% during the last school year, according to the presentation. However, an HCPS spokesperson said this is a decrease from the 35.3% chronically absent high schoolers in 2022-23.

Of the county middle school cohort, 23.9% of students were chronically absent, while 19.8% of elementary schoolers were, down from 29.1% and 24.5%, respectively.

The data stems from this year’s Maryland Report Card, the state’s annual performance scoring that rates schools on a five-star scale based on criteria such as student achievement and chronic absenteeism.

A student is considered chronically absent if they miss 10% or more school days in a year. Students with high rates of absenteeism are more likely to fall behind academically, data from the U.S. Department of Education shows.

Although absenteeism rates are improving in Harford County, the district saw a decrease in its star ratings. Harford County’s overall average score dropped from 3.9 in the 2021-22 school year to 3.6 in 2022-23. Comparatively, the statewide average score is 3.2, a decrease of 0.2 from 2021-22.

HCPS now has four two-star schools, 17 three-star schools, 28 four-star schools and four five-star schools.

But the Maryland State Department of Education cautioned against comparing star ratings from previous years, as some metrics that were left out in past years have returned this year, such as student absenteeism.

Essentially, the points a district could’ve earned in the chronic absenteeism category in 2022-23 were “as adjusted by MSDE due to the continued absentee rates after the pandemic,” the HCPS presentation states. This metric returned to pre-pandemic standards in 2022-23, and to earn all the points in the category, a district could not have more than 4% of students chronically absent.

“This is a new baseline year for Maryland, in terms of where we are and where we want to be,” Interim State Superintendent of Schools Carey Wright said in a news release. “Due to the difference in calculating results between the two school years, we cannot make perfect comparisons.”

Phillip Snyder, supervisor of accountability at HCPS, said in an interview Wednesday that although it’s accurate to compare the percentage rates of chronic absenteeism, it is unfair to compare the number of points the district got in the absenteeism category calculated by MSDE due to the methodology changes.

Likewise, Sean Bulson, HCPS’ superintendent, said in an emailed statement earlier this month: “It can be difficult to accurately gauge improvements in our schools when the way the star ratings are measured continues to change. Our student data improved in each, but the metrics to evaluate these categories changed, and so some star ratings went down. We know there is still a long way to go.”