Melissa York Commissioner | Colorado Department of Education
Statewide student attendance in Colorado for the 2024-25 school year showed little change compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Colorado Department of Education (CDE). The average daily attendance rate declined by 0.1% to 91.4%, while chronic absenteeism increased by 0.7 percentage points, reaching 28.4%.
Despite these statewide averages, the department reported that 60% of school districts and Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) improved their attendance rates, and 59% saw declines in chronic absenteeism.
Education Commissioner Susana Córdova commented on the results: “Good attendance is a critical component for school and life success. We are concerned to see attendance and chronic absenteeism rates moving in the wrong direction, particularly for our students of color.”
The data show significant disparities among student groups. Chronic absenteeism rates for students of color ranged from 6.2% to 30.1% higher than those for white students. Latino students had a chronic absenteeism rate of 38.4%, which is about 10% above the state average.
Cordova highlighted the scale of the issue: “In 2024-25, Colorado added 3,500 more chronically absent students compared to the year prior. These are more than data points. These are young people who are disengaged, disconnected, and missing out on the critical learning experiences that they need to be successful."
She called on all community members to take action: “This is a call to action for every single Coloradan: the future of our great state is created in our schools and classrooms today. We need everyone - students, parents, teachers, community partners, civic leaders - focused on keeping students engaged in learning and attending school regularly.”
There were some positive trends noted in early education grades—kindergarten through second grade saw small decreases in chronic absenteeism ranging from 0.2% to 0.6%. However, grades three through twelve experienced increases.
More than one in four Colorado students were chronically absent during this period—a factor associated with sustained learning loss and an increased risk of falling behind or dropping out before high school graduation. In total, there were 244,622 chronically absent students in 2024-25, marking it as the third-highest number since such data began being collected in 2016.
Looking back at pre-pandemic figures from the 2018-19 school year, Colorado’s state average for attendance was higher at 92.3%, while chronic absenteeism was lower at 22.5%.
To address these challenges, CDE launched the Every School Day Matters! campaign in 2024 with a goal of cutting chronic absenteeism rates by half from their pandemic peak and reducing them to 17.8% by the 2026-27 school year. So far, forty-five schools and districts have joined this initiative and are receiving support aimed at improving student attendance.
Additional resources for families and educators are available at www.cdeinfo.org/attendance; statewide attendance data can be found on the CDE website.
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